Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan -- City Tour

We capped our Palawan Experience off with a half day city tour.

Since our hotel stay is good for 3nights/3days, we set our tour on afternoon schedule for us to have ample time to fix our things before flying back to Manila (right after the tour).

The tour started off at Plaza Cuartel (where Japanese invaders burnt around 150 American soldiers during World War 2 in 1944), though the actual place was already renovated, the arc/passageway of Cuartel stood the test of time.

 

Plaza Cuartel's arc

Few steps from Plaza Cuartel is Immaculate Conception Cathedral:

Church's facade.

 

We made stops to 2 different souvenir shops and our group being ever ready, already did our own shopping the night before. So no rush for us right there. ;)

 

Souvenir shirts sold in one of the stores.

Probably the highlight of our city tour was the short "field trip" at Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center (widely known as the Crocodile Farm). There are lots of FYIs about crocs and so are crocs themselves of different forms, sizes and ages. We also chanced on having photos with a baby croc for P30.

Preserved skeleton of a huge crocodile (but Lolong is still bigger than this)

Baby croc seemed unhappy unlike me :p

We also made a stop at Mitra's Ranch for a quick over-looking experience. The Mitra family owns a real wide span of property and the scenery is just beautiful. There are parts where you can see the China Sea, another part will let you see the city as whole and on another side you'll see a herd of cow peacefully eating grasses by. They also offer different recreational activities like horseback riding, zipline, trampoline but prices are quiet expensive.

Mitra's Ranch overlooking.

Our last top was Baker's Hill - famous for their bakeshop and hopias. We hoarded up stocks for pasalubong, made a quick round and stopped to have some snack. The place is full of colorful statues and life-sized cartoon character figures kids will surely enjoy.

When we were taken back to hotel, we rushed to Jollibee and grabbed our quick dinner. When we were back, our service was already set since our flight back to Manila is 8PM. We hurried up and bid Palawan our final goodbyes. 'Til then, Palawan! :) We'll meet again for El Nido and Coron, that's a promise!

Karen, Eka and Jehn - sporting their plastic bags :p

Ready to fly back to Manila!

Thank you, friends for a fun vacation! :)

Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan -- Honda Bay Tour (Pambato Reef, Isla Pandan, Starfish Island). Dinner at Ka Lui.

Day 2 of our Palawan Adventure is laid for Honda Bay Island Hopping.

After munching on a quick breakfast, we again boarded the van and fetch some other tourists who'll be joining our group. The van will take you to a snorkeling gear rental place where you can fit and choose what to use for the whole day. Rental fee is P300 (P150 for snorkeling gear, P150 for booties) and lost item will be charged P1000, so better be careful in using your rented swimming gears. Travel to St. Lourdes wharf is a shorter ride compared when going to Sabang wharf (for Underground River tour) it'll only take about 30 mins from city proper. Once all the papers are set and your boat is docked on the wharf, then, off the sea you go!

We passed by several islands and our tour guide was cheerful enough in giving us brief background of each. First is Cowry Island (one popular island visited during Honda Bay tour), Bat Island (named so because island is inhabited by huge bats know as kabog, we're also told that island is not included on the usual island hopping list because of the strong pee&poo smell of the bats) and Luli Island (Lulubog-lilitaw -- island gets submerged in waters during high tide).

Pambato Reef

First stop of our tour is Pambato Reef.
Our boatman guided as through the floating flatform (turtle shaped) that served as the base station for snorklers. The "turtle camp" is surrounded by shallow waters where fishes and corals were stone's throw away from you.

Pambato Reef

Since most of us didn't know how to swim, the boatman helped us snorkel around the area by dragging an improvised life buoy, we then gripped tightly and paddled around enjoying the bed of corals and fishes of different kind.

Fish feeding is not allowed in Pambato Reef, and we're glad that we experienced this in our next stop, Isla Pandan (Pandan Island).

Isla Pandan

While the guide and our boatmen were preparing our lunch, we roamed around the island and soaked ourselves in its clear waters. Isla Pandan is the most commercialized island in Honda Bay. Amenities are all in here. They've got food stalls, electricity, cellular signal, rooms for overnight stay.

Where the island got its name.

In for the feast!

Fine white sand + scenic beach

Lucky that the place wasn't crowded. Seems like we own the whole stretch!

Fresh haul we bought from the locals. SARAP!

We spent most of the day staying at Pandan since this is the best place to swim play around. We had photo ops courtesy of our boatman and his tricks, had some halo-halo, played and just swam the whole day. The last stop of our island tour is Starfish Island.

Starfish Island

The place looked deserted and we had a few to zero things to do there. The shores are not good for swimming since it's composed of sharp, starfish remains and so the name of the island is.

We just took few photos and called it a day.

Starfish Island.

We had to rush ourselves preparing for dinner after the van dropped us off our hotel. Since Ka Lui in Palawan is a word of mouth and a sure hit, landing a slot requires a pre-dinner reservation. Our hotel was able to arraged a 7PM schedule, thus the hurry.

Ka Lui

Ka Lui has great ambiance and place is well-decorated/maintained. Rule number 1 when dining here : NO FOOTWEAR.

Now we are ready to eaaaat!

Past the dining area.

And true enough, our verdict is: THE PLACE LIVED TO ITS NAME.
The rumors are not rumors at all. Ka Lui served the most delicious dinner we had in Palawan. We were in awe when we tasted what we had on our plates. I totally forgot how those dishes were called but the Lepu-lapu's sauce was coconut-y creamier than what was expected, the breaded eggplant (what seems like a tempura to me) and it's sweet-tangy orange sauce was a sure hit, the tender piece of grilled tanigue was perfectly seasoned, the sisig was superb. Ka Lui is A MUST TRY.

Superb dinner.

Happy tummy!
(L-R) Eka, Jehn, Karen, Etey

(L-R) Jehn, Me. Eka, Karen

Our Palawan Tour ending soon, drafting our City Tour. Blogging 6 months after we traveled. :))