Save the Best for Last! Our Great Palawan Adventure Part 3

Yep! This is the final installment of our great Palawan adventure in 2011 and what better way to end this series than to show how much we've had fun during our 4th and 5th days in photos!

So without further ado, let's get the story and the photos rolling!

DAY 4

Before I start firing away photos, let me just give you a quick recap of what we did the entire day. HONDA BAY ISLAND HOPPING. Yes, we consumed our entire day visiting one island after the other, taking pictures, swimming and snorkeling in the waters and getting toasted under the sun. Haha!

Unfortunately, my memory could not help me remember exactly the number of islands we visited during that day. Babs said we visited three to four islands but I remember less than those. BUT don't worry because I remember the two main islands where we had so much fun and those are Pandan Island and Snake Island.

Pandan Island was called such because of the many Pandan plants found in the island. We stayed there for a good amount of time that we were able to snorkel (We found Nemo AND Dory!), take loads of pictures and eat lunch (seafood all the way baby!).

The name Snake Island was derived from the shape of the island that is similar to of course, a snake. In aerial view, the shape can be very obvious during low tide. Now, when you are on the island, you can still quite see the snake like shape since you can see the sand wriggling it's way all the way up to the other end of the island. We stayed here the longest so we swam, snorkeled and took lots of photos.

 

We had a blast that day that when we arrived back at our hotel, we had wide smiles on our faces even though we were bloody tired and got roasted by the sun.

DAY 5

Our flight back to Manila was scheduled early in the afternoon so we just enjoyed our last few hours in Palawan at our hotel. After eating breakfast, we just roamed around the hotel, took pictures then prepped up for our flight.

There you have it guys! Our 5D4N honeymoon adventure in the beautiful province of Palawan, Philippines!

Hope you enjoyed the entire journey as much as we did!

If you have not read the first two installments of this series, you can find them below.

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Just Got Better! PART 2

Now for my next post, I'll be sharing with you guys where we stayed and ate in Palawan during our five day adventure.

Laters!

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Just Got Better! PART 2

It's funny because our 3rd day of activities in Palawan only started after lunch time but still, our itinerary for that day was so jam packed so I've decided to make it as one separate post.

Babs and I spent our morning at the resort with him snorkeling and me just popping cashew nuts in my mouth while I admire our view from our tree house. I mean, even if I wanted to snorkel at that time, the sight of jellyfishes all over the water scared me even if staffs from the resort said that those invertebrates were harmless.

Anyway, back to our day 3 adventure, after eating lunch, our van fetched us and together with our groupmates that day, our first destination was the most famous Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Puerto Princesa. Too bad we weren't able to take a good picture of that place. Old people say that if you visit a church for the first time, you can make a wish and that it will come true. But remembering that moment in Palawan now, I don't think I made a wish. Oh well, whatever I pray for anyway, God still gives it to me.

Moving forward, after the church, we went to Plaza Cuartel, a historic place where American soldiers during WWII were tortured and burned alive by the Japanese troops. Now, the place looks like a garden with trees and flowering plants everywhere although if one will really think about what happened in that location, one would not help but shudder.

After Plaza Cuartel, our group headed to the famous Binuatan Creations that sells handmade woven products made by the locals using indigenous raw materials. Visitors like us are given the chance to have a feel of how it is to weave mats and based on my experience, anyone who wants to weave should have lots of patience in his/her system plus a strong back (because it's a back breaking task in case you're wondering why a strong back. haha!).

Aside from seeing and experiencing the production floor, we also raided the pasalubong (souvenir) area of Binuatan Creations. Luckily, we found a really nice straw hat from the shop which I used on our island hopping activity the day after.

We proceeded with our day tour by visiting Mitra's Ranch in Santa Monica Heights which is owned by the late Senator Ramon Mitra's family. It has a nice viewdeck where people can see the entire Puerto Princesa from the hillside.

Of course, a visit in Santa Monica Heights will not be completed if we will not buy some yummy breads and pastries from Baker's Hill. And if only we have the luxury of time at that moment, I would have love to stay there for at least an hour to sample their other dishes at Baker's Kitchen. Maybe next time.

After filling our pasalubong hoard with breads and pastries from Baker's Hill, we continued our trip and found ourselves surrounded with crocs and other wild animals (mosquitoes included) at Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center.

Our tour at the center kickstarted with a trivia about the biggest croc Palawan has ever captured and killed (or later died, I couldn't quite remember) with its skin pinned on the wall and its bones preserved in a humongous glass box. But I guess that historic croc will already be replaced by Lolong, also found in the Philippines, the largest croc ever captured in the entire world until last 2013 when the animal died and that's a different story actually.

So yeah, aside from seeing lots of reptiles in all sizes and shapes (we saw some crocs that have abnormalities in their physical appearances), we also enjoyed seeing some birds like ostriches (my first time) and an eagle.

Just a tip for future travelers, you should apply some mosquito repellant lotion to your exposed body parts before heading to this place because there's an awful lot of mosquitoes in there.

We capped off our tour by visiting Palawan's famous prison called Iwahig Prison and Penal Farm. Now, what makes it famous and special you may ask. It's the fact that prisoners are free to roam around this huge piece of land that even if they try to escape from this place, there's just no way they can do that. And of course, prisoners who are allowed to enjoy and bask in the sun earned their spots. And the special thing about this place is that prisoners who have talents are given the chance to use their gifts to become productive people and raise money. And for those who aren't as talented as their prisonmates, they can still help out by creating products that they can sell in their souvenir shop. Tourists can even mingle with some of the prisoners who are manning the souvenir shop.

It was already night time when we finished our city tour so we just ordered at Jollibee and ate our grub at the hotel.

Hope you enjoyed our 3rd day!

Find out what we did on our 4th and 5th day in Palawan! If you like sun and water, then you'll definitely enjoy my next post!

And if you haven't read the part 1 and part 3 of our Great Palawan Adventure, you can find them below.

And So Our Great Palawan Adventure Begins! PART 1

Save the Best for Last! Our Great Palawan Adventure PART 3

Laters!