Palawan - Underground River & Honda Bay

I realized I owe you a map of where we are!

Here is the map of Philippines & then a close-up on Palawan. We stayed in Puerto Princesa, but as many recommended, if you're planning a trip out here, head to El Nido (even the people in Puerto told us to go there and Puerto is beautiful!) It just involved a 6hr bus ride which we didn't have time for. Sore subject on the planning front on our end. Anyways, we were off for our tours!

Our first tour in Palawan was to the Underground River which was about 1.5hour drive away. We hopped into the shuttle and luckily Kelly & Ben were on this trip with us and they were also exhausted so we all slept during the drive, but I'm sure it was beautiful.

Once we arrived at the departure spot we were supposed to also do another tour on Ugong Rock, but it started to sound logistically complicated so instead Matt & I went for a quick zip line! it involved a little ATV ride, a quick mountain hike and then you're ready to go. Now, if you're afraid of heights, I don't know if I'd recommend this as they didnt really explain anything to you and you had to figure it out on your own. Luckily, Matt and I are pros at this. So they buckled us in and we went for our running start and we were off! It was quick but fun and worth the $10 since otherwise we would've just been waiting at the dock.

view from the zipline start

view from the other side. that's me!  (no poo face this time, you know what I mean, Hay, Tiff, Dani, Scott & Chris) ;)

view from the walk back from the zipline

After that and then lunch we took a boat over to the Underground River spot where we took some pics before getting in our river boat to head into the caves. First thing you notice is how gorgeous the entrance is with the clear aqua water and then the rocks going into the caves. Just beautiful. 

our boat for the ride over

oh and there were monkeys & monitor lizards at the park!

just a littl tree relaxing while we wait our turn

the gang's all ready!

Second thing you notice is the bats. Ugh. I do not like bats. Not sure why I didn't think about these creatures being a possibility but they are alive and well in the cave area.
Anyways, I swallowed my hatred and we hopped in the next boat and were headed into the caves. 

The Undergound River was recently named one of the 7 new natural wonders of the world. (link here) It was amazing!!! 

Entryway

Inside - Stalagtites & Stalagmites

  

The Holy Family

The bats hanging & 1 flying in the middle

Headed out

 My pictures of the inside are awful. Here is what is really looked like from a pro 

(stolen from the internet).

Our guide has been doing these tours for 20years and pointed out all the different types of rocks and how they looked like a variety of different people/ places/ things. Quite a few Christian references in here: Virgin Mary, Last Supper, Holy Family and even more Jesus representations. The pictures really don't do it justice. Our guide has even spent the night in the caves when scientists come in to do research he is their host. (He told us after we were out of the caves about the spiders and snakes.) We did see a black mamba nestled in the trees once we were out. A little creepy... but worth it! I definitely won't be spending the night in there, ever.

I'm so happy we went and saw this!

The next day our tour was to Honda Bay for some Island hopping. Again, incredibly beautiful. We started off at Star Fish island, named for all of the Star Fish living on the island! Shocker... We are not talking your simple east coast star fish either, these suckers are huge! And all over the place! We did some snorkeling here and saw even more beautiful tropical fish, which if course I know the names of none of them.

The ride out to the islands

Our captain & first mate. hehe.

 Just practicing my best "Chinese tourist" poses 

Matt made another new friend!

It was high tide so I didn't actually get any good pics of the star fish so I'm posting some from online... again. Embarrassing, I know.

Here's an example of how big the starfish are:

Haha, JK!!! This is more accurate. And they are all over the place.

After Star Island, we headed to the reef for some more snorkeling.

Our last stop was Lulu island. Another beautiful spot complete with diving board, relaxing beach and more snorkeling. All in all a relaxing day out on the different island beaches. 

Matt's flip

My toe touch. Honestly, I'm pretty proud of myself to drawing back to my cheerleading days. I know my form isn't great, but I still think Coach Michelle would be impressed. Ha!

One of my favorite parts of the Philippines was how colorful everything is! Seriously there are vibrant colors everywhere. Not to mention the people are so kind. I love being called "ma'am" everywhere I go! :)

You might be surprised to learn that I got a little sunburnt. But only on the back half of my body. I could play red light / yellow light without needing to say a thing. So we are off to our next spot and I'm looking pretty great.

Adios Palawan!