Palawan, We Shall Return!

Next to our Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour was our time to bid goodbye to the amazingly superb City of Puerto Princesa. Our flight going to Manila was at 7:35 PM.

at the van heading to Ren's pad

After the tour, we hurriedly went back to Renwick’s pad to take a bath and change clothes. Kuya Allan and the driver were kind enough to wait for us outside. When we’re finished, I took the chance to have a glimpse at Palawan State University, where Ren studies.

Palawan State University

We also went to a market where different kinds of “pasalubongs” can be purchased.

Our Palawan Trip was our first time travelling as a couple, which made it so unforgettable and memorable for the both of us. This also started our eagerness to travel and explore more of Philippines’ exemplary beautiful, and wonderful places that will make us more proud as a Filipino.

As of now, we are looking forward seeing more of Palawan’s paradise on its north part, like El Nido and Coron. For us to meet our desire on travelling, we need more cheap airfare. And I can say, Im a certified avid fan of Cebu Pacific’s promo fares. ^__^ Goodbye for now Palawan, we shall return!

Bye Puerto Princesa, see you soon!

Honda Bay - Island Hopping

Sepo and I woke up early and prepared our things as we were about to check out at Circon. Kuya Allan, with a driver fetch us and brought us at Renwick’s place. We left our things there and headed to Honda Bay together with Ren and Redge.

We travelled half an hour and reached St. Lourdes Wharf. Our driver and Kuya Allan left after they dropped us, they’ll just come back after our island hopping tour. We paid for the boat rental and some other fees. Afterwards, we went to a store near the cashier and rented snorkeling gears. We bought also bread for the fish feeding. 

@ the cashier, paying for our boat rental

Entrance fees at each island

paying for the bread

First stop was Star Fish Island. We just roamed around and looked for starfish! ^_^ Our boatman was kind enough to search for us much bigger starfish for picture purposes, then after the photo session we sent it back where they belong.

Sepo, me and Ren at Starfish Island

hindi ko po sila sinaktan, hinawakan ko lang po
at nagpapicture tapos ibinalik ko din po sa dagat.. ^__^ 

Next was Snake Island. Here, we had our lunch, took lots of pictures, snorkeling and fish feeding.

@ Snake Island

sige try mo mangutang ^_^ 

these are what we had for lunch - paluto, plus rice and crabs

Third stop, Pandan Island. Of course, lots of photo opps, swim and rest for a while.

at Pandan Beach..

Then we headed to our last destination, the Pambato Reef, for our major snorkeling experience. This was what I enjoyed most! ^_^ We saw a breath-taking paradise underneath the sea. The corals were magnificent! I saw different kinds of fish and lots of schools of fish, they were beautiful! Yiiiiee! ^_^ I was just so overwhelmed with this God’s creation! The feeling was exquisite! 

1.. 2.. 3.. Jump!

Palawan Rocks! \m/

I was amazed with our boatman, because he guided us along Pambato's perimeter without life vest. There's this rope tied at his waste while me and Sepo held on it. ^__^ (Ang bigat namen db?!) You can not do snorkeling here if its low tide. 


We ended our island hopping with a big smile! ^___^ It was so enjoyable! Hours of exposure under the sun, unforgettable first time experiences, all of these will be forever cherished!

Puerto Princesa City Tour

Following our Underground River Tour was “bahala na”. We didn’t have any particular plans where to go. So, we went back to Circon to change clothes and unfortunately, there’s still no electricity (malas! :c ). We rest for a while and then went outside. The weather was still gloomy. We decided to go to my cousin’s place, it was just a 10 mins. jeepney ride from Circon. Renwick suggested going to Baker’s Hill and Mitra’s Ranch and so we did! We took a tricycle and brought us first at Mitra’s Ranch. Unluckily, rain dropped! In addition to our misfortunes, they also don’t have electricity (sabi na nga kasing major blackout eh!) and our cameras had ran out of battery (waaaaaah! Wala tuloy masyadong pictures! :c). But these won’t stop our urge to enjoy our stay at Puerto Princesa, at least I had my 3.2mp nokia phone! Haha!

eto lang kinaya ng phone ko sa gloomy afternoon na yan.. :(

Solo hit!

cousin Ren @ Mitra's Ranch

♥ shot shot shot ♥

The view from Mitra’s Ranch was similar to Tagaytay’s. There’s an overlooking of the nearby islands and Honda Bay, where we happened to be for the next day! That made me more excited! We took some photos and roamed around.

mahal ko anu meron? ehehe..

Later on, we moved to Baker’s Hill. We walked a bit ‘til we got to the highway, and again we rode a tricycle.

At Baker’s Hill, we bought some sweets and pastries for “pasalubong”. I can’t really forget the taste of their crinkles! They’ve got the best crinkles in the whole wide world! They serve their pastries and sweets freshly baked and made. Baker’s Hill has generator that’s why they have electricity. It was a kind of theme park which has a mini zoo, stores for pasalubongs, and restaurants. The place was cute! ^__^

@ Baker's Hill. Wala ng ililinaw pa? haaayz.. :(

After strolling around Baker’s Hill, Renwick took us at Haim Chicken Inato for dinner. We ordered their specialty, chicken inato combo meal. The word Inato was new to my vocabulary. For me it’s like chicken inasal, with value meals but without unlimited rice and what they have for sauce was fish sauce. ^_^

eto lang pic namen sa Haim Chicken Inato :(

It’s not just a restaurant, they as well have some rooms for rent. I inquired because they have generator and thought of transferring there from Circon, but all their standard rooms was occupied and the available rooms was a bit expensive. Luckily, when we left the resto, there’s already electricity at the whole Puerto Princesa, yey! ^_^ We hurriedly went back to our lodge to rest, excited for our island hopping the next day! ^_^

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

January 16, 2010, our second day in Puerto Princesa. As we expected, the electricity shut down early. But we managed to fix ourselves before it happened. At around 7 AM, the van came, with two other guests inside, plus the driver and a lady tour guide. There were eight more passengers after us. And then we headed to Sabang, where the jump-off point going to the Underground River was. On our way to UR, I thought the weather will spoil our trip.  It was constantly changing.

At our room - not that fancy but good enough
Has attached toilet & bath, airconditioned, a table and chair, two single beds,
 a cabinet and a dresser.

stop over @ Buenavista Viewdeck

My photog, ehehe. ♥

and he got hungry taking pictures, lol

It took us almost two hours travelling to Sabang. We had some stop-overs along the way for photo opps and nice views.

A Couple Shot - thanks to our tour-guide, unfortunately I forgot her name ^__^ 

made of limestone

nice view ^__^ 

^__^ 

with our Transport Service

At Sabang, we rest for about an hour and took some photos. While they were preparing our buffet lunch. 

@ Sabang Beach

@ Sabang Beach

Mountain view ^_^ 

Because of the weather I think?

To the left, to the left ♪♫♪

At our beach-front table - it was too windy

Ewan ko ba naman kung bakit ganito itchura namen dito, busog na siguro, ehehe..

Fresh Buko Juice - Hindi naman mahangin sa labas eh ^_^

And it was superb! Sepo and I did enjoyed the foods, a lot! We kept coming back at the buffet table to get foods, (p.g. mode?) haha! There’s also fresh buko juice which made our lunch complete!


After our sumptuous lunch, our tour guide took us to Sabang port and there we rode a big boat. The waves were a bit strong but for me it was fun! I just love the waves splashing inside our boat! Haha! It was probably more or less than 30 mins. travel time to UR’s drop-off point. 

Couple shot - sariling sikap # 1 ^___^ 

Couple shot - sariling sikap # 2 ^__^ 

sariling sikap no more! ^_^ thanks to kuyang inglisero

sepogi ^_^ 

Palawan rocks! \m/

we're almost there! ^__^ 

We took some photos before going inside and along our way to the cave. There’s a queue for tourists who will go inside UR, you have to write down your names first before going in. There were different sizes of paddle boats. Then we just waited for our turn and had photo session as well. 

there's another couple on our batch, they were kind enough to take this
shot in exchange of taking them picture as well..^_^

couple shots - thanks to other couple ^_^ we forgot to get their names, haha!

our solo shots ^_^ 

Dami-dami tao.. :(

That's not the boat we used, for picture purpose lang to, hihi.. ^_^ 

I changed my hard hat from blue to pink! Haha! Arte much! ^_^

Our boatman was so articulate to both English and Tagalog. He’s got a lot of sense of humor. And the moment we entered UR was breath-taking, because of his introductions. It was cold. The boatman just kept on talking and showing us those magnificent rock formations. We can hear also bats chirping. Funny thing, as we were getting farther from the cave's entrance, I was imagining that there might be an anaconda waiting for our boat to flip over (paranoia! Haha!). But overall the experience was one-of-kind.

before entering the cave

that's kuyang boatman at my back, he's the coolest! ^_^
kudos to you kuya 

some of the views captured inside UR

some views inside the underground river

The trip lasted less than an hour. All the passengers of the paddle boat including me and Sepo went out of the cave with a big smile on our faces. We were really satisfied with the trip plus the super-energetic and super comedian boatman made it so worth it.