Travel Philippines

Kayangan Lake is said to be the cleanest and clearest lake in Asia! You can see the bottom as far as 15 to 20 ft. deep! Kayangan Lake is located in Coron Island, better known as Higantes island for the locals. On the way to Kayangan Lake, you’ll see a lot of these amazing limestone formation.

After your boat has docked, you will be welcomed by the caretaker (I think he’s one of the natives - Tagbanua) who collects the Php 200 entrance fee. Before going up the you’ll see this sign at the foot of the stairs. You’ll go through 150+ steps made of big rocks but don’t worry, there’s a wooden railing where you could hold on to.

sign at the foot of the stairs

According to our boatman, the soap opera Dyesebel was shot here just outside Kayangan Lake.

outside Kayangan Lake

Once you reach the peak, you have to go down to get to the lake and see this magnificent view!

a stunning view of Kayangan Lake

Calauit Game Preserve & Wildlife Sanctuary (CGPWS) is our local version of the African Safari because of its endemic animals and African wildlife. It was declared as a Game Preserve in 1977 with a total land area of 3400 hectares. This nature park is situated in Calauit Island, northern part of Palawan and northwest tip of Busunga.

You can get there by a 3-hr. boat ride from Coron town or by 2 hrs. travel by land + 15 mins. boat ride to the park. It’s true that traveling by land is faster but we took the 3-hr. boat ride because we will do island hopping after. The highlight of our visit was feeding the giraffes. This is the only place where I’ve seen a lot of giraffes and zebras who are free to roam around the island! In fact, the last time I’ve seen a giraffe was when I was little. I can’t even remember it, I just saw a picture of mine in Manila Zoo with a giraffe. 

Here’s a video of my hubby feeding “Athena” the giraffe from the top of the jeepney.

These are some of the other animals that you can see around.

deer

Zebras

This celebrity bearcat is named “Princess”. Don’t ask me why…

Palawan Bearcat

You can also see 2 wild boar, 2 monkeys, 2 squirrels, 2 porcupines and native crocodiles.

Breakdown of expenses:

Boat Rental: Php 8,000

Entrance Fee: Php 250/person

Tour Truck: Php 1000

References:

Calauit Island

Busuanga Palawan

Calamianes Group of islands is located in the northern part of Palawan, Philippines. It consists of Busuanga (largest island), Coron and Culion Islands.

How to get to Busuanga from Manila:

By Plane, daily:

South East Asian Airlines
Asian Spirit
PAL Express
CEBU Pacific

By Ferry, twice a week:

Negros Navigation
Super Ferry
Super Ferry’s schedule: Manila - Coron every Thursday & Friday afternoon
Super Ferry’s schedule: Coron - Manila, every Saturday & Sunday

What’s confusing is Coron Town is located in Busuanga Island instead in Coron Island.

Coron is a haven for wreck divers because you can find a lot of World War 2 Japanese ship wrecks around the area. It is actually considered as one of the best wreck diving sites in the world! So be sure you have your snorkeling, diving and underwater cameras ready because you’ll do a lot of island hopping!

For those who doesn’t want to go island hopping, you can visit Culion Island where you can find the former leper Colony, climb the 786 steps of Mt. Tapyas, have a dip in the 40 deg. celcius water of Maquinit Hot Spring, or see different African animals in the Calauit Game Reserve & Wildlife Sanctuary.

Our family (my hubby, parents-in-law, and our baby) went to Coron Last November 25 - 29. This was taken while we were waiting in the NEW NAIA Terminal 3.

Before, only small planes like Sea Air and Asian Spirit can land in Busuanga. Since the renovation of their airport, planes from Cebu Pacific and PAL (Air Philippines) can now cater flights going to Busuanga. As you can see this is not the typical Cebu Pacific plane because it is smaller and you can see the propeller outside.

The plane is just small so the entrance is just a few feet above the ground.

Honestly, I was scared when I saw the plane’s size. I was just relieved when we landed safely in Busuanga. Upon arrival, you will just wait for the small truck to drop off your baggages. As usual always be alert in looking after your bags!

Ka Lui

If you plan on eating out in Puerto Princesa, dining in Ka Lui is a must! It  is like 15-20 minutes walk from Asturias Hotel but you can always take a tricycle! It is the only place that I’ve been to where you will eat bear footed! You need to leave your shoes/slippers before you can enter the dining area. If there’s one complaint that I have though is they have a limited menu. But even if it’s limited, their food, ambiance and friendly staff are all superb! They only serve the freshest seafood, fruits and vegetables! Try the Ka Lui Special which is a set meal that includes clam soup, vegetable, fish, shrimp tuna and fruit shake.

TIP: Be sure to reserve a seat before going there because its running out fast!

We're barefootin'

Ka Lui is located in 369 Rizal Avenue, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan.

We had one of our lunch in Balinsasayaw Inato and Grill Restaurant.  We heard from one of the couples in our tours that it is famous for their Nido soup, so we ordered one. The serving is big enough for two but the taste is just ok for me. I don’t know why, probably because I’m not a Nido soup fan??!! hehehe… Same goes with the other food that we ordered… The ambiance is good though because we dine in one of their nipa huts!

Kinabuchs Grill and bar is also a must try if you want to hang out and have a drink! The nipa huts plus the dim lights makes the place romantic. Kinabuchs is famous for exotic food like the Tamilok! Since my hubby and I are not brave enough to try this, we just opted for gising-gising (literal translation: wake up-wake up) which is like bicol express but a lot spicy!

TIP: Be sure to apply mosquito repellant before you go there at night because it’s an open area. Although they have mosquito trap lamp (the one with purple lights) under their tables, it is still safe to apply a mosquito repellant!

We stayed in Asturias Hotel during our vacation in Puerto Princesa. Their room is great for the price. Sorry, we were too tired to take pictures of our room! LOL! Their food is also great not only because it’s on buffet but also the quality is ok.  Even if they’re on buffet, be sure to give room for food outside the hotel! They serve Filipino and Western food so we were always on fiesta mode whenever we eat there.

Front of Asturias

These shots were taken while we were waiting for our van to arrive.

For those who still want to take a dip after a whole day tour, you can do so with their pool.

Swimming Pool

Although it’s not part of our itinerary, we tried to take intro dive in Dos Palmas. This was our first time to dive and we loved it! The funny thing is, I don’t know how to swim! But I know how to float though! LOL! According to our dive instructor, it’s ok to dive even if I don’t know how to swim. I just have to know the basics of diving. Hand signals is the only means of communication while you’re under water. So before we went to the ocean, we were taught basic hand signals & how to neutralize properly. In diving, thumbs up doesn’t mean everything is ok but it means you want to go up. Thumbs down if you want to go down.

Here are the other diving hand signals:

• Circle with thumb and index finger, while keeping middle finger straight = “I’m OK” or “Are you OK?”
• “Cutting” or “chopping” throat with a flat hand = “I’m out of air”.
• Wobbling a flat hand = “I have a minor problem”
• Waving the forearm in a wide arc = “emergency!”
• Hugging chest = “I am cold!”
• Hands indicating rising and falling chest = “I am out of breath!”
• Repeatedly clenching and unclenching fist = “I have cramp”
• Shrugging shoulders, arms bent, palms up = “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand”
• Index fingers of both hands extended, brought together repeatedly = “let’s buddy up”

OK! :)

me and the puffer fish

Look! It's nemo!

parrot fish

here... fishy fishy...

Hopefully, we could take up our open water dive certification next year!

Dos Palmas is located in Arreceffi Island, one of the islands in Honda Bay, Palawan. As you can see on the map below, it is just beside Snake Island. It is named as Dos Palmas because of the two tall palm trees in the island. But when we were there, there’s only one tall palm tree left. They have to cut the other one because it might cause accidents on the villa just beside the tree.

We just took the day tour to Dos Palmas because an overnight stay in the island won’t fit our budget!

From afar you will already hear the sound of Kulintang played by their staff. They play this instrument to welcome you and to say farewell. Your boat will dock just below this docking station. From here, you can already see some fishes swimming around because the water is so clear!

Dos Palmas dock

front desk

resting in a hammock

nice view of their bay cottage rooms

resting in one of their huts

Welcome to our Hacienda! (there's a shop at the back)

dos palmas' pool

This is where you can have your relaxing spa!

place for pampering

You can also do kayaking along the mangroves. My hubby is taking this photo from my back because I’m afraid to go on kayak alone!

Kayaking along the mangroves

This is the entrance and the exit of Dos Palmas. The cottages at the back are their bay cottages. Perfect for honeymooners!

bridgeway

front of mitra's ranch

The ranch is located on top of a hill overlooking the famous Honda Bay.

my hubby