Palawan, Part I: Puerto Princesa

After a couple of days in Manila, we flew to Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan. This island has a reputation for unspoiled beaches and reefs, and everywhere I looked online, people were talking about it. We only had 2 weeks in the Philippines and I wanted a little more adventure than the resort areas like Boracay have to offer, so it seemed the obvious choice.

Puerto Princesa isn't much of a city. The diesel fumes are heavy and the biggest place in town is Jollibee's. However, it has one outstanding feature: Kalui restaurant. We had the special for two, and it included an appetizer, a vegetable dish, three seafood dishes (fish steaks, a whole-fish dish, and lobster), and fresh fruit salad in a green coconut shell. We also had fresh pina coladas, but the bill still only came out to $10. Needless to say, we ate there a couple of times!

The other great thing about the area is Honda Bay, home to several tiny, pristine islands. It's a bit of a hassle to get to--the bay is about 30 minutes out of Puerto Princesa, and then you have to rent a boat to get to the islands--but if you're in the area, it can't be missed. You can go to three islands per day, but we only went to two: Starfish Island and Snake Island.

The deserted picnic area of Starfish Island.

Starfish Island is famous for having a lot of starfish, but we must have been there at a bad time because we missed them. It has a nice reef and we did a bit of snorkeling, but the coolest thing about it was the eeriness of being alone on an island in what feels like the middle of the ocean.

Lone tree on the island.

Snake Island, so named because of its shape, not because it's home to snakes (I had to double-check this before going), is bigger and more crowded than Starfish Island. It even has a snack stand where they'll cook fresh fish or shellfish for you. It also has decent snorkeling, but we spent most of our time walking down the tail, hoping to reach the end (we turned around after an hour).

The tail of Snake Island stretching into the horizon.

Beyond Honda Bay, there's not a lot to see in the immediate area. There's an underground river a couple of hours out of Puerto Princesa, which is basically a cave with a river in it. You can take a boat inside, which would probably be fun, but we didn't feel like braving the public transportation (more on that later) and the tours were a bit pricey, so we skipped it.

All told, we spent a week on the island, but only half that time was in Puerto Princesa. The other half we spent in the storied town of El Nido--stay tuned!