Philippines 2013: 7 - Puerto Princesa, Palawan to Cebu, Philippines

To fill in time waiting for our city tour we ordered lunch. The hotel had already cut off all liquor sales for the election, so we each ordered a soft drink and sandwich. Drinks took over half an hour and the sandwich an hour to arrive, and the later was inedible.

The vehicle and guide were on time. The van was the normal type provided, but when the door was opened it was full of people - I couldn't see a place I could sit with my long legs, so we promptly informed the guide it was to be a private tour and we weren't going. This caused a flurry of action by telephone between agencies - but we'd had it with waiting, so arranged a snorkeling tour with the hotel tour desk on our own. The hotel vehicle and driver were there in minutes. The original local company got me on the phone just as we were leaving and said they would send a private vehicle, but I told them we were on another tour, so their last words were "we won't give you a refund".

The guide was good. After a short drive we were on a motorized outrigger heading into Honda Bay. A reef was the first dive spot, but there were a lot of people and a regulation that everyone had to wear a lift vest. That finished me- diving in salt water without a weight belt is tough enough, but with a life vest, impossible. Life vests are compulsory when boating here, but the locals take them off when out of sight of the coast guard.

We motored to Pandan Island, run by the hotel in which we are staying, with beautiful white sand beach and individual palapas to sit in. The visibility was good, but less than I'd expected, however the profusion and variety of fish was greater than we'd seen anywhere. We were in the warmest ocean ever for over an hour before being served a meal of rice with BBQ pork, fish and chicken. The small shop was happy to sell me cold beer, so that capped off a great afternoon.

Puerto Princesa has a population of about 250,000. We found that far less people speak English, including hotel staff.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

The hotel told us we have a 7 AM start this morning. We were delighted to find a private van, driver and guide from a different company. After a two hour drive through beautiful mountainous countryside we boarded a motorized outrigger to take us to Underground River, a world heritage site. As we cruised along the coast we passed beautiful, deserted sand beaches divided by high rock cliffs with jungle clad mountains above.

The Underground River was first explored by an American in the 1800s, as the local people believed it to be haunted. It is 8.2 km (5.1 miles) long, however the standard tour travels only 1.5 km (1 mi) into the cavern. There is a special tour which takes 3-4 hours to venture in 4.3 km (2.7 mi). The water inside is 8-9 meters (26-30 ft) deep. All cave tours are in outrigger canoes paddled by a guide. It is said to be the longest navigable underground river in the world. It is inhabited by about 48,000 bats, and a lot of swallows soared inside the cave, eating insects.

There were about 7 people in our boat - they left the seat in front of us empty in consideration of my long legs. The paddler was a good guide. We were equipped with life vests and hard hats for the low points, but for the most part the cave was huge, reaching 65 meters (213 ft) in height at the highest point. Some of the formations were amazing. A passenger in the front of the boat was issued a powerful flashlight and instructed by the guide where to shine it to pick out various formation of interest.

Back in daylight we walked a short distance into jungle to see a number of giant monitor lizards. They looked identical to the dragons of Komodo Island, but smaller - these don't grow longer than 3 meters (10 ft) from nose to tail tip. Our guide paid one of the park rangers to call monkeys - so he went into the forest emitting an interesting call, and sure enough dozens of monkeys soon were running towards us from among the trees. Many had babies. They ran past very close on their way to get to the fellow who called - he obviously has a special relationship with them. Lizards and monkeys ignored each other.

After returning by boat we were driven to a beach front restaurant where we would have lunch in a private palapa. Marilynn and I swam in the warm, crystal clear water for half an hour before attacking a large lunch of rice, vegetables, BBQ chicken, pork, fish and big prawns. No beer here, but our guide stopped at a store on the way back to the hotel where he arranged cold beer delivered disguised as a box of canned tuna.

Dinner was at the very good Kinabuchs Restaurant - unfortunately we were not hungry enough to do justice to their extensive menu, but the food was excellent. It is mother's day, so there were quite a few people, but no booze. We were stuffed when we left, so we opted to walk, something made difficult by the lack of sidewalks and busy roads. About halfway to the hotel we flagging down a tricycle to take us the rest of the way.