Palawan: what a paradise!

As promised, here is part II of our travel in the Philippines. The past ten days at the island Palawan were really amazing, we really felt like we were in paradise. We camped on beautiful deserted beaches, made several snorkel trips and enjoyed the beautiful limestone cliffs in the northern part of the island.

At the 10th of February, we flew from Manila to Puerto Princesa. The map below shows the route that we traveled.

The route we traveled in Palawan

Taking the plane from Manila to Puerto Princesa

Arrived safely at Puerto Princesa

Our guesthouse in Puerto Princesa

The next day in Puerto Princesa we decided to hire a bangkas (boat) for a day to visit several islands in Honda Bay. We first visited so-called starfish island (and yes, there were lots of starfish in the water!), where we relaxed on the beach for a while and had an amazing lunch: fresh fish from the barbecue. After our lunch we snorkeled at the Pambato reef, which was very beautiful. The next island we visited was Cowrie Island, which was a very relaxed place as well, where we enjoyed a fresh mango/pineapple juice, before we headed back to the pier. 

Arranging the bangkas and paying the terminal fees at Santa Lourdes Pier

Our bangkas!

Islands in Honda Bay

It was such a relaxed day!

Arriving at starfish island

Our bangkas for a day!

Erik going for a swim

Walk to the other side of the island for a nice lunch

What to order?

We go for a fish from the barbecue!

So yammie!

Good food, nice view, what else do you want?

Cowrie island

Palm trees!

Enjoying a fresh juice

Such a cool place

On our way back to the pier

The next day in Puerto Princesa I worked for a couple of hours and Erik went to the local gym. In the afternoon I received the news that all the formalities in relation to my PhD defense were settled (we were still waiting for a form that had to be submitted) which made me so happy! When I received green light of the Doctorate Board of the university, I ordered my books and the invitations. :-) I was very excited!! In the night we decided to celebrate and we went to an Israeli restaurant for dinner and had a beer in a nice cafe afterwards. 

Me working at our guest house

Yeaaahh!! Submitted the order to print my books!!!

Just love falafel

Enjoying Israeli food

The next day we took a minibus to Port Barton. It proved to be quite difficult to find a place to stay, since it was Chinese New Year and therefore many Asians are on vacation. Many hostels, hotels, guesthouses and pensions were fully booked. However, we were very lucky to find a homestay in Port Barton for one night in the fishermen's village at the far end of the beach. We really liked Port Barton, since the atmosphere was great: many backpackers, lovely restaurants and cafes and no big hotels. In the night we went out for dinner with the other backpackers who stayed in the same dorm room, we had a beer and played card games before we headed back to our homestay.

Taking the minivan to Port Barton 

Arriving in Port Barton

Walk to the end of the beach to our homestay

Children playing on the beach

Beautiful sunset 

So nice and tranquil

Having dinner with other backpackers of our homestay

The next morning we checked-out and went to a nice cafe (Jambalaya) at the beach to have our breakfast. We texted Toby and Thelma, the owners of the camp site where we were going to stay, that they could come and pick us up when they were ready. An hour or so later, two men arrived with a boat on the beach asking: "Ma'am, are you Annemarie?" Yes sir! :-) We waited for a couple of other guests to arrive and then we headed on to the camp site, which was a 25 minute boat ride further up north. 

Having breakfast right on the beach

The chairs are so much fun!

Nice, isn't it?

The boat that brought us to the camp site

The water is so clear!

Arriving at our camp site, uhm paradise!

Bye bye sweet boat men! 

Our tent, it even had a bed inside! :-)

The water was so blue!

View from our tent

Enjoying the view: too good to be true

Pic can be used for a coca cola commercial, right? ;-) 

Thelma was an amazing cook! 

Reading my book

Beautiful sunset at Valentine's day

Nice colors!

Breakfast the next morning

It was really a small paradise

The water was very clear 

Children of a nearby fishing village

Taking the kayak to visit a waterfall

We're so happy together

Fishermen's village close to the waterfall

Donating some money for the village

Small hike up to the waterfall

It was a nice waterfall!

Check!

Refreshing dive in the water

Nice!

The next day we also took the kayak to visit the small island just in front of the camp site and a beach further north. 

Leaving the camp site

Small island that we visited

My view :-)

Children playing on the beach

Erik playing with the waves

Time for a refreshing coca cola!

Pooooose! 

Back at the camp site again

Reading a book: so relaxing

Beautiful sunset again

The sunset table

Quite a special sunset with the stripes

Camp fire!!

The next day we took the boat back to Port Barton. We arranged a minibus at 1pm from Port Barton to El Nido and in the spare hours Erik rented a Stand Up Paddle (SUP) board, while I continued reading my book.

First time on a SUP

Like a pro! 

Waiting for the minivan to arrive

Michael Schumacher arrived!

After a four hour drive, we arrived in El Nido. We had booked a nice pension in Corong Corong, close to El Nido, where we checked in just before the sun was setting. We quickly looked at tripadvisor which cafe we best could go to to watch the sunset, and ended up in a really cool Spanish tapas bar, where we had an amazing view over the towering limestone cliffs of the Bacuit Archipelago. It was really spectacular!

Spanish tapas bar

Beautiful sunset

We enjoyed it so much! 

The next day we booked a tour to go island hopping and it was just another amazing day in paradise. The scenery was really spectacular, the water so blue (and sometimes even greenish) and we were lucky with the weather: very sunny and only a few clouds! The group (around 20 people) was really nice as well (not unimportant if you spend a whole day on one boat).

Leaving El Nido

On our way to our first stop

Limestone cliffs 

First stop: Seven Commandos Beach

Having a fruit juice at the beach 

It's just so beautiful up here

Departing Seven Commandos Beach

I enjoyed it so much!

Arriving at Secret Lagoon

Bay of Secret Lagoon

The cliffs were so impressive!

Third stop: lunch at a beautiful beach

So beautiful!

Small lagoon

So much fun!

Entering the Small Lagoon

Erik going for a swim at the Small Lagoon

On our way out of the Small Lagoon

Kayaking in the Big Lagoon

Selfie time! 

Erik chillin' at our bangkas

What a beautiful day

The next day we woke up early morning to catch the 8am boat from El Nido to Coron. We were picked up by a tricycle that brought us to the port. 

Tricycle driver taking us to the port

Tricyle from the inside :-)

It was quite a long, but also amazingly beautiful boat ride from El Nido to Coron. The weather conditions were perfect: not much wind (and thus little waves) and we arrived one hour before schedule in Coron. However, it still took us seven hours. Most of the time we spent on the deck of the boat, enjoying the beautiful islands and cliffs that we passed, having nice conversations with fellow travelers.

The boat from El Nido to Coron

What we saw on the way

So beautiful

Our spot where we spent many hours

Nice boat

Nice hair :-p

Sunset from our guesthouse

Since we spent a bit longer than expected at Port Barton (because we liked the camp site so much), we had only one day left in Coron, before we had to catch our flight back to Manila. Therefore, we decided to book a tour again to go island hopping. 

Snorkeling 

Nice coral and colorful fish

Coral

More coral

So many fish

On our way to Kayangang Lake

Entrance to the lake

Kayangan Lake

Beautiful view in the bay

Like a post card :-)

After a bit of swimming, snorkeling and island hopping, we had lunch at Beach 91. A very nice buffet was waiting for us, with fish, pork and even lobster! 

Buffet lunch at Beach 91

Standing in line for the lunch

Beautiful beach and clear water

Snorkeling ship wracks

Beautiful fish

Ship wreck

Ship wreck

Free diving to the ship wreck

Erik snorkeling

Us on the boat

Next stop: CYC beach

A place to relax...

So relaxing!

On our way to Twin Lagoon

Local people living in this area

Swimming to Twin Lagoon (access below the ladder on the left)

We are in!

Enjoying the ride back to Coron harbour

Okay then, one more dive! 

Two days ago, we flew from Coron back to Manila. This time not with AirAsia, but with Cebu Pacific. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by three hours (which is apparently a normal thing in the Philippines). :-)  

Waiting for our delayed flight

Finally we're boarding!

In Manila, we stayed in a nice hostel (Our Melting Pot) in the neighborhood Makati, which was very different to the neighborhood Paco (where we stayed before). Makati is very modern, all the Embassy's are located here as well as many exclusive shopping malls. The difference between the rich and poor Filipino's is really visible here.

Enjoying our meal in another Israeli restaurant

Food market in front of our hostel

Time is flying, before we know we are back in the Netherlands. Tonight we take the overnight bus to Banaue. We planned to spend the last 10 days of our travel in the Phillipines north Luzon. The rice terraces are high on our list, as well as some surfing in San Juan.  

We'll keep you updated!

Big hugs,

Erik & Annemarie