Palawan

After a lazy morning in Manila, we headed back to the airport to catch our flight to Peurto Princesa, the largest town in Palawan, a long thin island, reaching south west almost as far as Borneo. We flew with Cebu, who seem to be the Philippines answer to Ryanair – extra charge for luggage, $5 for a pack of crisps on board and obligatory delayed departure with zero information. They did go the extra mile though by trying to get us to play party games in the middle of the flight - the first to hold up a bus ticket gets a prize etc, although this was really thinly disguised advertising for their tacky range of merchandise.


We landed in the pouring rain (rather a theme of Palawan), unfortunately not being able to see any of the tropical paradise island below. We were very pleased to be handed Cebu branded golf umbrella to protect us for the walk across the runway from the plane to shed which was acting as the arrival hall. Fortunately the hotel that we had booked (Puerto Pension) were waiting for us with a mini van, as I had no idea how we were going to pile our rucksacks on a tricycle without it toppling over and everything getting drenched. (Tricycles are the Philippines answer to the tuk-tuk or rickshaw – basically a motor bike with a side car).
















The next day we were up at the crack of dawn to visit one of Palawan's biggest attractions – the world's second longest navigable subterranean river. It is about a 2 hour drive from Peurto Princesa, about half of this on unsurfaced roads, providing what our guide tried to convince us was a free massage. Once at the park entrance you transfer to a traditional wooden outrigger which takes you to the entrance of the cave. As this is where many people have lunch it is also a great place to spot some local wildlife – monkeys and some pretty impressive monitor lizards. Unfortunately this is a popular tourist attraction so there then follows quite a long wait before you get into a large canoe to be paddled into the cave. This is a pretty impressive experience, the only thing spoiling the atmosphere slightly are the other tourist boats flashing their torch lights around. The river is over 5 miles long, and navigable for 3 mile, but as it gets a bit tight (for space as well as time) the tourist boats only go to miles or so, for a trip of 45 minutes. Along the way the guide points out some truly bizarre rock formations such as the giant mushroom, the coconut, the three kings and of course the face of Jesus. The highlight however was the the incredible Sharon Stone's derriere.














We spent the evening in Peurto Princesa, which didn't appear to have much appeal for tourists and a rather limited selection of resorts, although our hotel was very pleasant decorated in traditional style with lots of natural materials.

The next day was another early start to catch the bus to El Nido, in the north of Palawan. We successfully managed to pile all our bags and ourselves on a tricycle of the 15 minute ride to the bus stop. We were told that trip to El Nido takes between 7 to 10 hours, depending on whether the bus blows a tire or not, so when we saw the rusty wreck that was our bus we were quietly horrified. I'm not sure if it made me feel better or worse when we saw 4 spare tires been loaded on. After packing bags, people and chicken in (and on top of) the bus, the driver, fat belly hanging out over his trousers and fag in mouth, headed off at break-neck speed. As we careered down the dusty, unsurfaced, potholed and windy road we held onto the bar on the back of the seat in front and tried to pretend this was an amusement park ride.















On the plus side the air-conditioning (i.e. no windows) was pretty effective especially when accompanied by a dousing of muddy water as we ploughed through the puddles. In the Philippines (as with much of South East Asia) there is an excellent choice of seating options on a bus: inside on a seat, on the roof, or clinging onto the side. Our bus wasn't full enough for the later, but no problem if you can't decide between the roof or inside – whilst hurtling down the winding roads just climb out of the open door and up the side of the bus onto the roof.















Luckily, by some miracle our tires survived the potholes and we arrived seven-and-a-half hours later in El Nido. This is a small town set on a very pretty beach and backed by spectacular limestone cliffs. We easily found a basic but pleasant room on the beach front to stay in and headed out to find Sea Dogs, a dive operator that we had read good things about on the web. To my joy this very friendly outfit also has a lovely dog called Danzin.

We spent the next 5 days split between diving and doing nothing much at all. The diving was pleasant, with loverly corral and many varieties of small fish, although I think we have been spoilt a little by Palau so struggled to get that excited. Probably the best dives were Tunnel Helicopter and South Miniloc. The first starts with a 50m long tunnel which you swim through using torches. This has a chamber about half way along which has a small opening at the top letting through light which is very pretty. The second has a large area of cabbage corral and is teaming with small fish. We also saw a large shoal of grouper – when you swim into them they circle around you which is spectacular. Other good sea life spots included a lobster, a couple of blue spotted sting ray and a black and white stripped sea snake about a meter long which I swear tried to attack me!















The dive trips also provided the opportunity to see some of the spectacular islands around El Nido, which soar out of the water with dramatic limestone cliffs and some postcard perfect white sand beaches.

El Nido itself is a pretty small and basic town. It is actually the first place we have been on our trip that doesn't have 24 hour power, although according to the locals this is largely due to officials pocketing money from flogging some of the diesel than for purely practical reasons. Power runs from 1pm to 4pm then again from around 6:30pm to 6am. You can guarantee the switch off times but the switch on is often delayed. Unfortunately when the power is off and there are no fans it is unbearably hot and much of life has to just grind to a halt.














The plan was for us to get the boat to Coron, a little further north and famed for its wreak diving, on Thursday, but apparently the engine is broken so we have to wait until Friday. Oh well, I guess there are worse places to get stuck...