Sunday, February 15th;
One thing I wanted to see was the Subterranean River. It is the longest navigable underground river in the world. But as usual the package tours did not sound all that enticing. No one was really keen on getting up at 5:30 AM to be ready for pickup at 6:30.
After our van and driver experience, I wondered if there might be another way. I went to talk to the staff of hotel. Sure enough, it was possible to arrange your own trip. The slots to go into the river are staggered through the day. If you book a later slot with the park officials, you can hire a car and driver and plan it the way you want.
Now it sounds like something everyone can agree on. The hotel arranges for us to have Danilo A. Barone (Danny) as our tour guide. It was a great choice. Knowing we had problems with leg room, he came by with two vans the evening before. We picked the best as he recommended. He would pick us up at 9:00 AM and walk us through the arrangements with the Parks Service and also arrange our lunch for us. Unlike the package tours we would pay for the van and driver, the Underground River fees and the lunch separately but it actually came out to less than the Package Tours published prices. (They are negotiable and it actually comes out close to the same.) Add to that we had a very personable and knowledgeable driver, only the four of us in the group and a civilized start time!
We got up at our usual time, had our table set and breakfast waiting. Our cheerful little server had everyone’s order down pat by now. Just to be sure, Dan tested her every morning! We took our time over the meal, took more pictures of the flowers and visited with our neighbours. By 9:00 AM we were ready to go. We had our bags packed because we had to change hotels on our return. The Hibiscus Inn was filled and they were unable to find us one more night.
Danny loaded us up and took us to the booking office in town to get our Park Entry Permit. The two Dannys are in the front seats and getting along very well. I am not really sure if letting our Dan deal with government officials is a good idea but they come out with permits in hand. Then we were on our way north west across the island to Sabang. Danny has lived on Palawan all of his life and he gave us lots of information and answered our questions as we drove along. He pointed out Mahogany and Ebony trees. Stopped to show us cashews growing on a tree beside the road. Gave us time out at a lovely viewpoint where we could stretch our legs and look out over the forest to the bays and islands below. I could see the possibilities for some really good snorkeling.
It is a two hour drive to Sabang if you take it easy and stop en route so we were there well in advance of our 2:00 PM tour slot. Danny arranged for us to take an earlier slot available at 12:30 then we would lunch on our return. That would get us home earlier to be ready for our Valentine’s dinner.
First stop a washroom break at the Parks office. Not always a tourist destination you comment on but this one was an experience. In the Philippines it is important to know you must always carry paper. It is not available in most public places. In this case there was a very long line of people waiting when I joined. I was half way through the line when I noticed my pockets were almost empty of that most important commodity. Oh well, I had to stay in line. As I got closer, I watched the front of the line to learn the routine. There appeared to be a large barrel of water in the corner of the room and a small plastic dipper. Most people were using two or three dippers of water to “flush” the toilet when they exited the stalls. They would then hand a full dipper to the next person going in. I’m a fast learner and I did it all right when it was my turn. Smiles all around for the white lady!
I caught up with Riza and we watched the outrigger canoes jockeying for position at the dock and loading groups of tourists. In no time it was our turn. We took our shoes off to walk along the breakwater and climb on board. Watch for the waves coming in! You can get really wet and possibly injured by the movement of the boat. I had no problem - I was wearing shorts. Leroy had rolled up his jeans but not far enough. He did get wet! The boat ride out to the river entry was lovely. It was the perfect day to be messing about in boats! We were all glad we had made the trip.
The outriggers deposit you close to the shore once you reach the beach of the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. Not on shore - close to it. Again you need to pick your moment to climb off and head ashore. The water is lovely and warm. The beach is beautiful. There are picnic tables there and board walks to explore but we have to stay on schedule. I did stop to get a picture of a monitor lizard in the path. I was disappointed not to see any monkeys. There is a 4 km trail back to Sabang you can walk if you have the time and you are likely to see the lizards, monkeys and many species of birds as well.
Taking pictures, I got behind and never did stop to get my shoes on! I caught up just as we arrived at the starting point for the river ride. There was still time to wait as other boats went before us. Now we are no longer in a group of four but have to join a boat that has four others already. Don your helmet and your life jacket and climb in. Guess what? With four North Americans in the boat there is 1 inch of freeboard remaining! The life jacket may come in handy. Well not too handy - it doesn’t have any working fasteners and cannot be done up. The helmet is useful though - the cave is full of bats. The water in the cave is full of eels and sightless fish. I have no intention of getting out of the boat.
The cave is interesting. The rock formations are beautiful. In the dark it is impossible to focus the camera and pictures are difficult so I abandon the attempt and just enjoy the ride. I am not sure if what is hitting me is dripping water or bat droppings, either way I put my camera away for the remainder of the trip. It does not take long to paddle up the portion of the river open to the public. By the time we return to the starting point we are ready to get off the hard seats and walk freely again.
We walk back to the beach with a little more time to look around. It really is a gorgeous place. I wander on the beach until our crew is able to bring our small craft through the crowd to the shore and we climb on for the return trip.
As we land on the beach at Sabang, a caribou cart is coming toward us. The perfect picture. We walk up the beach to our restaurant and Danny has our lunch ready to be served. We each have a fresh green coconut full of liquid to refresh us. It may be good for you, but it is still not my favourite drink. I had some but I let Danny have most of it. I’ll stick to Mango shakes!
Lunch over we started back to town. It goes much more quickly on the return. We picked up or bags at the hotel and Danny kindly delivered us to our new residence, Kookaburra Travel Lodge. We asked for his contact information before he left. He gave it to us so if anyone is going to Palawan I would be able to pass it on. I highly recommend him as a tour guide.
The Kookaburra is a new bed and breakfast and is good condition. The rooms are very small but well fitted out. Unfortunately, when Dan had his shower, the water did not drain away but filled the bathroom. They came to fix the problem. Then I had my shower. It also filled the bathroom.
We left the staff to sort it out and we moved to another room to finish getting ready for dinner.
We got two tricycles and went back to Kalui for their Valentines special evening. We started with Pina Coladas all around. A nice start to a tropical dinner. Then I took Dan to the art gallery while we waited for dinner to be prepared. I had picked out a painting the day before and thought Dan might like a suggestion for a Valentine’s present. It is a lovely watercolour of a local man preparing his net along the riverside as the sun rises. I think Dan liked it too because there was no real discussion (unusual for Dan). The lady wrapped it for travel while we ate our dinner. I have seen the men net fishing on the Calibago and it reminds me very much of the sunsets on the river. The perfect souvenir.
Our dinner was a set menu on this occasion. Much of it similar to what we had eaten the day before but beautifully served as individual courses. The seaweed looks like little branches off of a succulent green stem. It comes with a very nice sauce and I enjoyed it. We had Tuna steak beautifully cooked. Large prawns, again with a tasty sauce. A rice dish and the vegetable was a stirfry of vegetables with the banana blossom as the main ingredient. That was my favourite. We had the coconut and fruit salad dessert. You scrape the coconut jelly off the sides with each mouthful of fruit. Then finished up with a second pina colada. A grand ending for our last evening in Palawan. We discussed carrying on at some other night spot but we had an early flight the next day so opted to get our tricycles and head back to the Kookaburra.
Bad move, there are not a lot of rooms in the Bed and Breakfast but it was almost full. The rest of the crowd was much younger and in party mode. It was not too bad on the second floor but Leroy and Riza were just off of the lobby where the activity seemed to be continuous. It died down about 3:00 AM which was a little too late if you had an early morning flight as we did.
The next morning, we were not really ready to be impressed by the beautiful third floor dining room looking out across the mangrove to the beach and the sea. Breakfast was not as well cooked as we had grown used to - eggs over easy were sunny side up. I really can’t face undercooked eggs at any time so Dan ate mine too. The fruit salad was one slice of watermelon. Coffee was instant. We really missed our lovely little server and breakfast at the Hibiscus!
The manager did come out to meet me and say good-bye to us. I let him know about the difficulties I had communicating with him both through his website and by email when making my reservation. I did not go into the less than stellar stay. It is a nice place, hopefully it was just one of those days.
My only remaining clean clothes were shorts and a T-shirt. I froze all day in air conditioned airports and planes. Add to that I felt really under dressed as everyone else knew better!
It was good to get back to Calibago.
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