Puerto Princesa

There was one sad thing about our Puerto Princesa trip, we didn't see everything. Thanks to the travel agency (Ensemble E-travel purchased through Metro Deal) who was not very responsive, I could barely request them to extend our travel dates and I'll just pay for our other expenses. Hence, we didn't get to see the Underground River in Sabang.

Our trip started out as a disaster--from a travel agency that doesn't feel like responding until our delayed flight which we saw how inefficient the ground crew of Airphil Express is in Manila. 


Our saving grace happened the moment we stepped in Puerto Princesa. At first, we noticed that our names were not being held by anyone but we found the hotel's (from our voucher) transport and within a few minutes we were in A&A Plaza Hotel.


Turns our our name was not even there. A&A's front desk was considerate enough and very polite. They asked for our voucher and did all they can in finding us a room since the room that the agency had on our voucher was already given to a walk-in guest since our names were not there. We ended up getting a bigger room. Both room and bathroom were clean enough for us. I just wished they had fluffier pillows though.

We made a mistake about not setting a decent price with the tricycle to Baker's Hill. It was 6 pm already since Marlon wanted to sleep. We didn't have any pictures there. At least the goodies we got of Ube Hopia, Hopia Baboy, Chocolate Crinkles and Lengua de Gato was already good enough.


We also had a bad hunch that our tour was not even arranged. Good thing Carlo from Ensemble replied to our texts and we finally confirmed our Honda Bay tour the next day which was included in their Palawan Deal. Catch was, he gave us the wrong pick up time of 9-10:15am hence we were still eating breakfast when our guide Kuya Batz picked us up from the hotel.

Once we have started with the tour, everything else went smoothly. On our way to the port, we stopped by a store to rent our snorkels for 150 PHP. They also offer underwater cases for point and shoot digital cameras. Once we reached the port, we just signed the manifesto then boarded the pump boat to start our journey to the first stop, Pambato Reef. 

Our boatman guided us through the reef and pointed out the giant clam. The reef was big but I did not see as much variety in the fishes as I have seen before in  Boracay. It was still good though since the corals were quite unique from the ones I saw before. No underwater pictures for me since I don't have a case for my SLR.

Our next stop was Snake Island, shaped like a snake hence the name. All the picnic areas were here and this is were we got a good lunch of Fish (Isda sa Bato), Grilled liempo, Shrimp, Eggplant, Salted egg and tomatoes and green mango with bagoong. Marlon and I had a few pictures and went for a swim before lunch. 

During lunch we discovered our companions also purchased the same deal with us and experienced the same headache too. Were all glad that finally the trip happened and lesson learned never to purchase a deal from Ensemble again. Turns out, we would spend the same amount of money if we planned the trip ourselves. Kuya Batz explained to us the actual costs of the different tours.

We finished the tour with a stop at Pandan Island. Marlon and I snorkeled for the last time here a midst the sea grass were several schools of fish. We saw more fish here compared to the one in Pambato Reef. We also found starfish in the shores and had a few pictures with it. Now I realized this doesn't seem to be good to the environment.

Kuya Batz took us to the souvenir shop before dropping us off at the hotel. 


We also had a good time eating at Ka Lui  and Badjao Seafront Restaurant. 


Everyone at Puerto Princesa were very nice and accommodating. I noticed they value the city's tourism very much and would give you recommendations or would help you out to make your trip worth while.


I would recommend the A&A Plaza Hotel, good value for Money. Contact Batz Elamne +639267208842 or +639997583698 for tours or Jun Dacaraga at +639198160536 or +639159640777. Kuya Jun has a tricycle which would be a good option if there's only 2 of you. They can also arrange transport and tours to El Nido.


We did not get to see evrything, Looks like were coming back. Moral lesson, arrange your own trip.