We woke up early and had another fabulous custom-made breakfast at our hotel. The view from the restaurant and the simplicity of the food were just awesome. This time our pickup car was a little late, even later than our delayed time. It did arrive with a driver who spoke no English, but it was a large van, a comfortable ride for a long drive. We started around 9 and It was going to be a long day.

First, we had a 3.5-hour drive towards Puerto Princesa. It was a nice road, two lanes, but not bumpy at all. At that point, we picked up a guide, who spoke English and turned off towards the subterranean river. In about 30 minutes we stopped for lunch at what seemed to be a misdirected tourist attraction. It was a buffet with a dish each of chicken, beef, fish, and a few other local vegetable sides. Behind the restaurant, there was a ‘tropical garden’ that had been created. It was terrible, extremely artifical with some obviously artifical insects and birds sitting on trees. The food, though wasn’t bad, especialy the steams fish was delicious. While we ate, the guide had gone and bought tickets for the experience ans we had a time slot when we could go. I had very little idea on what to expect…

We then drove another 30 minutes to a boat dock where many boats similar to our ride from the prior day were waiting – wooden long boats with diesel engines and wooden stabilizers. In the sequence number given at the time of ticket purchase, each group was assigned a boat. We got one for ourselves and soon were in the middle of a rocky ride across the sea to the base of a mountain we could see in the distance. The water was emerald green and choppy. There was waves as parts of the ride were close to other beaches and the ride got shakier as we got close to the destination. It was a good 30 minute ride, a little more adventerous than I had planned, but totally beautiful scenery. There was no dock where we stopped but the boat got close enough to the beach to get off in less than knee deep water.

A short 10-minute walk got us to the boarding point of the small row boats that would take us further. The boat was shared among 10 passengers and a boatsman. We were about to enter the pitch-dark caves that would be lit up only by the headlamp of the boatman. We were told to keep our mouths shut, hands inside the boat, and look up very carefully.

The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is a unique ecosystem where the river flows under a limestone mountain. The cave system is 25 km which hosts about 8.1 km in length of the Cabayugan River. The river navigates through a maze of caves before it ends up in the West Philippine Sea. Nearly 4.3 km of this is navigable by boat, but the basic tour takes you only about 1.5 km inside. It is a whole different world inside, with a lot of flora and fauna unique to the cave. There are zones of darkness and as you get deeper inside, it is perfectly dark. The caves are full of bats and bat droppings are a key component of the evolution of this system – they are also the reason to not look up and keep your mouth shut.

As we were slowly rowed inside, it got darker and narrower, till the cave would open into some massive chambers and a lot of stalagmites and stalactites that could be imagined to look like a range of things. We let our imagination go wild and the features of the cave did not disappoint. It took a while before the mind could ignore the large number of bats of multiple species. It was a 40 minute ride with a mid-way turn around from a massive chamber where the boatman turned off his headlamp for a few seconds to give us a feeling of the true darkness. A majestic ride of a different sort, totally loved it.

We were one of the last boats for the day as the sea route gets too choppy in the afternoon for the boat ride. We didn’t wait much and got onto the boat quickly, it was rough but fun. We returned to the dock, had a quick bite from a nearby small shop, and started our 90-minute drive to Puerto Princesa. We arrived a little after sunset, but there wasn’t much to do here anyway.

It was a small hotel (Munting Pasaiso), I hadn’t invested much since we only had a night and a morning with a flight just after noon to Cebu. The hotel was about a km from the city center market on a tranquil lane, giving a very residential feel. The room was nicer than I would have expected for the price. I had heard that it was tough to get cash from ATMs and you needed cash in Puerto Princesa. I was running low on it, so I took a tuk-tuk to the city and tried to withraw. It took me visits to seven different ATMs before I found one that had cash. I had seen half the city in the process. I got back to the hotel and given the long day, we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. Not great, but not bad either. I wasn’t too sleepy and went out for a massage, not bad for the late night.

I went for a run in the morning, a good way to see the city. I only saw the quiet side. After a good breakfast in the hotel, we decided to look for the beach that was supposedly a 5-minute walk from the hotel. I hadn’t found a way, neither the night before nor in the morning run. Google Maps helped and we did locate a nice beach – no waves, no sand, but clear calm water. We waded in the water for a bit and then walked back to the hotel, had another small bite and got into a car to the airport for the flight to Cebu.