Palawan: Tours

It was a Wednesday and dad brought us 4 (me, my mom, and 2 siblings) to NAIA Terminal 3 early in the morning. Things went smooth without problems or delays. We totally forgot that liquids aren't allowed on board. We attempted to check them in but it would cost us P200+ per container so we just gave them away to a janitress. We only paid the P200 terminal fee per person.

Flight was only an hour long. So when we reached Palawan we headed on immediately for a city tour that costs P600/head as a package. But I read DIY blogs and it saved us a lot, though we weren't able to go to the Cathedral, Plaza Cuartel, and Baywalk.

DAY 1: CITY TOUR

Rented a trike (may seat 4-5 people) for P500 but you can still haggle up to P400. Good thing about doing your own city tour is that you control the time and the places you want to go to.

Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center a.k.a. Crocodile Farm
First stop is the Crocodile Farm  where you get to see live crocodiles and other cool animals like the bearcat. Tours are held every 30 minutes (except lunch break).

This a great way to experience nature and of course know about it because there are various informational posters everywhere. What I enjoyed most is getting to hold a bearcat for P20. Fluffy and heavy! And since we're not that too strict on time, we waited until everybody left and so we were able to have the bearcat all to ourselves! :) Don't forget to try their crocodile's meat sisig while you're here!

Baker's Hill
Time for lunch so we headed to Baker's Hill! The place was beautiful and clean, designed by lovely flora. I love their crinkles and hopia! For me, their hopia is better than those in Chinatown-- I prefer it more than Holland, Poland, and Eng Bee Tin.

So we ate lunch-- Palabok (P100 I think?), Tapa (P120), and Carbonara (P105). The carbonara is sulit because it was cheap yet creamy and yummy. We also tried their famous tamilok (woodworm). Tastes like oysters but still gross. :| The ambiance of the restaurant was refreshing (yay for alfresco dining). You could eat inside although it's a bit dark; outside if you like your feet on soft, green grass; or at the 2nd floor if you want to wind blowing on your face.

Mitra's Ranch
This is quite near Baker's Hill and entrance is free. There's not much to do, but to admire the panoramic view of Palawan and its bays. There are horses, trampolines, and a zip line, for a price.

Butterfly Garden
Butterfly garden is a small garden filled with various flora and butterflies that are free to pollinate around. Enjoyed the part where we got to hold scorpions, stick insects, and beetles! :))

Soooo... Instead of paying P600/head, that's P2400 for 4, we only paid:

 

DAY 2: HONDA BAY
I also consulted blogs about DIY Honda Bay tours because the package costs P1,300/person or P5,200 for the 4 of us! :o  We contacted our trike driver yesterday to drive us to Honda Bay for P600. We left early around 8:00a.m. When we arrived, there are booths where you can rent a boat for P1300 (for 6 people). Since we're 4, we accommodated 2 more, which we became friends with later on! They were so nice! Didn't feel like they were strangers. Since we shared the whole trip, we mostly did all our activities with them, and we enjoyed. :)

Luli Island
First, we passed by Luli Island, but we didn't stay for long since it was a high tide and we couldn't see the shore. We didn't want to spend P50/person on entrance fee. The name Luli, by the way, is short for Lulubog-Lilitaw and you can see or not see the shore depending on the tides.

The guy was calling us to join them. Seems that he's enjoying diving.

Pambato Island
This was my favorite because of the super clear water. My siblings got to snorkel for P100, complete with guide. But even if I didn't snorkel I still saw some fishies swimming. That was cool.

Starfish Island
Then we headed to a small island with many starfish called--- starfish island! :)) This was the most serene, relaxing island we went to since there weren't too many people here.

In the middle of our enjoyment though, the sky turned gray and it rained so hard! We couldn't see a thing and we were advised to stay here for the meantime before heading to the last stop. While waiting, might as well enjoy the waves.

Honda Bay Island
The last stop was the most commercialized island of all-- Pandan Island (which had many Pandan trees). The island was huge and divided into areas like the massage area, grilling area, activity area (large space for beach sports!), restobar, and they even have a community church.

Since the weather kept changing, our photos kept changing too. Sometimes the sand would look brownish, then when the sun rose it became white. Same with the waters. The colors kept changing too. But all in all, the place was beautiful.

We rented a hut and well, we asked for a discount so instead of paying P300, we only paid P200! :)

Around 4 p.m., we headed home. We texted our trike driver and we met him up at the port. Instead of paying P1,300 per person or P5,200 for 4, we only spent...

 

DAY 3: UGONG ROCK AND SABANG BEACH
In case you missed my blog entry here, we weren't able to go to the Underground River ((UR) tour since it was cancelled due to strong winds plus 5 fishermen went missing. My mom got really sad so we suggested that we go to the Sabang Beach Port (where you take off going to the UR) in case the coastguards would allow us to continue on.

But before reaching Sabang, we tried the Ugong Rock, which was super fun! We climbed the insides of a mountain and at least we were able to see stalactites and stalagmites too. The tour was educational with excellent tour guides plus there a lots of fun activities inside like spelunking. Then we tried the Zip Line, the fastest in the Philippines! It was soooo high, really got scared during take-off :|

Finally, we reached Sabang Port. It looked like a ghost town since there were no tours-- no people. The waves were, as expected, strong and huge. We stayed for around 2 hours, enjoying the peacefulness of the area. We shall miss then when we return to Manila.

Since we weren't able to avail of the UR tour at P1,500 each, we got our P6,000 back and just used them all up here:

And so that ended our trip. The following day we flew back to Manila and I was excited and preoccupied with thoughts of our next trip, hopefully not in the Philippines anymore. It was a long time since the family got to travel together and I realized that it was a great experience for all of us. :)