It all started in my kitchen nearly two months ago. Two of my friends and I were talking about traveling around, mainly because one of them is in the Philippines for his 3-months on the job training (and wants to take advantage of his weekends to explore). The other person said her next holiday is on Thanksgiving (fourth week of November) so we looked up plane tickets and found an amazing flight promotion with AirAsia - P1,500 from Manila to Puerto Princesa and P2,000 returning.
The first and last time I visited Palawan was exactly ten years ago with my family. I have so many happy memories from that trip, so the thought of going back made me very excited. The night that my friends and I were together planning this trip, my Dad reached out to his old friend in Puerto Princesa who recently turned her restaurant/home into a bread and breakfast. And that's where we headed straight to from the airport - Dang Maria.
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| located in Manalo ext. Bancao-Bancao. |
The host Jane Timbancaya-Urbanek is one of the sweetest, most spiritual women I've ever met. She has a very soft and gentle voice that whenever I listen to her, it's as if not just my ears but even my heart and soul open up to listen. She showed us around her beautiful place - inside the building and outside in the garden are tables and chairs because her restaurant is very popular; they were the first to introduce brick-oven baked pizza to the island. She showed us around the few rooms she recently renovated (each room is named after one of her grandchildren). My friends and I ordered cordon bleu for dinner and of course tried their famous pizza and I only had one word for our first meal "divine!"
Day 1: Honda Bay Island Hopping tour
After a good night's rest, we woke up early and had our Filipino breakfast (this is included in the room charge) and at around 7:30 our tour guide picked us up. We picked up other tourists from their hotels (we were almost 20 in our group), then drove off to Honda Bay. Along the way, we stopped at a shop where we could rent snorkels, swimming shoes and flippers (P100 - P150). We then got on our boat and zoomed off to our first island - Star fish island.
A very common price you'll find online or through travel agents for the Honda Bay island hopping tour (inclusive of land transport to and from your accommodation, buffet lunch, a tour guide and environmental fee) is P1,500 per person. But a few days before our trip, I found a promotion on travelbook.ph's Facebook page of only P800 per person (great find!) so I quickly booked it for the three of us. The service provider was Mayson's Travel and Tours.
A very common price you'll find online or through travel agents for the Honda Bay island hopping tour (inclusive of land transport to and from your accommodation, buffet lunch, a tour guide and environmental fee) is P1,500 per person. But a few days before our trip, I found a promotion on travelbook.ph's Facebook page of only P800 per person (great find!) so I quickly booked it for the three of us. The service provider was Mayson's Travel and Tours.
We stayed there for about an hour and very unfortunately we didn't get to see any starfish! We were told that at times they come near the shore and other times they shy away into the water. The swimming area was shallow, and full of corals...but the water wasn't very clear. I remember ten years ago I could see those corals very clearly without goggles, because the water was crystal blue and the corals even had more colors. Could this be the effect of climate change?
Next stop was Luli island. This was my favorite - there was a diving board at the deep side which I dove from a couple of times (this was my first time diving from such height) and a floating shed where we sat on and swam around most of the time. The sand on this island was very fine and white, and we also saw a lot of fish in the water. I almost didn't want to leave!
The last island was Cowrie island - we got to spend almost three hours there and have our buffet lunch. I was personally very disappointed with the lunch... If I had known, I would have gotten something grilled at Starfish island (there's fresh fish on Starfish Island and you can have the people there grill and pack it for you, to take to Cowrie island). We didn't swim much on this island; we mostly just relaxed together under a tree and played some music.
We got back to Puerto Princesa at around 4:30pm. Overall, we really enjoyed it, but it felt so rushed! I wish we either had more time at Luli Island or visited a 4th island! Here's a quick video I put together of our first day's adventure:
To end the night, we had dinner at a nearby restaurant, Captain Ribs. We absolutely recommend it! It has a very relaxing outdoor/garden sitting area. We loved the cheese sticks so much (we had two rounds) plus vegetable quesadillas, fish & chips and a burger and their dessert of the day - chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream (Price range P150 - P400).
Day 2: Underground River (or not)
We went separate ways this day. The other two did the Underground River tour from 6:30 - 4pm. I chose not to go because of my embarrassingly serious fear of the dark! I went to the Underground River a decade back (when I was braver) and now the thought of going back in to the dark, with bats flying around (despite my obsessive love for Batman) just made me cringe. So my friends went ahead and they had a great time! Their tour package (with a different travel agent) cost P1,800 each - inclusive of pick up/drop off, environmental fee, buffet lunch and zip-lining at Ugong Rock!
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| (photo from Sina) |
I, on the other hand, went to the butterfly garden. Instead of hiring a tricycle to go all the way there (it's about an hour away from the city center - a tricycle ride would cost P150), I asked the locals for directions. I took a tricycle to the main road (Rizal avenue) then took the Sta Monica jeep which dropped me off exactly at the butterfly eco-garden. I paid the entrance fee of P50 which also included a few minutes at the tribal village just behind the garden! The tribal village was very interesting for me - I got to see native tribesmen who only spoke their dialect (very different from tagalog). They showed us some tools they created, they demonstrated their native hunting tools (spears and arrows), and even made fire with just one scratch of a stone. They also played three musical instruments (one guitar like, two flute-like) very unique to their tribe.
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| Photos from my Instagram stories |
After that I went back to town and met my friend's Mom. Thereafter I went to a mall to buy groceries for our dinner/breakfast the next day. At around 5pm, my friends and I met up and headed to the bus terminal and got a ride going to Aborlan (It's an hour and a half drive away). That night we prepared dinner then had a devotional gathering with a family.
Day 3: D-I-Y
I woke up at 5 am to a text message from Air Asia saying our 7:55pm flight has been moved to 6:45am the next day! A few hours later I got up and prepared us a big breakfast (beacon, hotdogs, baked beans and french fries), then we headed back to Puerto Princesa. We went straight to the airport to check if there's an earlier flight, but there was none. The airline staff told us that they'll be putting us at a hotel this night, so that was good news (or else I was ready to fight for it). We were taken to Sunlight Hotel. It had a gorgeous view - not just outside (overlooking the sea) but also inside (the bathroom wall is made of glass!) We relaxed for a few hours, watched a movie and connected to wifi (the first time we had internet in more than 12 hours).
Later that evening we went back to Dang Maria. The Soroptimist group held a fund-raising dinner for their cause (to help battered women). We had a very romantic dinner under a tree, got to spend more time with Jane and even hear her sing her famous Plooning! Watch:
*If our flight hadn't been postponed, our original plan was to do a city day tour. A tour package normally goes for P400-P600... the tricycle driver will take you around for 4 hours, to the butterfly garden, crocodile farm, Mitra's ranch, Baker's Hill, Cathedral, plaza ... And then have lunch at Dang Maria's before catching our evening flight. The delayed flight gave us time to unwind...so we didn't return to Manila tired.
According to Rappler, Palawan is named the world's best island. There's more to Palawan than Puerto Princesa <Palawan is made up of 1,700+ islands> Coron and El Nido, for example, are far more popular with the tourists. I personally enjoyed Puerto Princesa - I loved the water, the sun, the food, the locals! I hope you find this blog post helpful, next time you plan a trip to Palawan. If you have any questions, feel free to write to me through the message box on the left side of the page.
According to Rappler, Palawan is named the world's best island. There's more to Palawan than Puerto Princesa <Palawan is made up of 1,700+ islands> Coron and El Nido, for example, are far more popular with the tourists. I personally enjoyed Puerto Princesa - I loved the water, the sun, the food, the locals! I hope you find this blog post helpful, next time you plan a trip to Palawan. If you have any questions, feel free to write to me through the message box on the left side of the page.