After a long day of travel, we were finally out of Cebu and safely in the city of Puerto Princessa, on the island of Palawan. We set ourselves up in a comfortable guesthouse, and made our way to the heart of the city. We did some looking around, and found exactly what we were looking for. We had read about Kalui, quite possibly the most famous restaurant in Palawan, and we were dying to give it a try. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize that you needed reservations in order to get a table. However, luck was on our side that day, as they were able to squeeze us in. At Kalui we ate some of the most delicious food we’ve encountered in the Philippines. We had grilled tuna steaks, fresh veggies, and some very interesting type of green seaweed veggie that was a cross between a citrus mini-grape and a sour seedless pomegranate. It was a most delicious meal , and the atmosphere was very, very relaxing. We went back to our guesthouse stuffed, satisfied and at ease.
We woke early the next morning to be greeted by Gerald, Edna and Joey, our driver and tour guides, who would take us, along with six others, to Palawan’s most prized attraction, the Subterranean River, arguably one of the world’s longest navigable underwater river systems. Along the way (it was about 2 hours from Puerto Princessa to the city of Sabang) we acquainted ourselves with Christian, a fellow traveler who was from Germany. We spent the trip exchanging travel stories, both good and the bad. Upon arriving in Sabang, we were whisked out of our van and into a small pump-boat. About 15 minutes around the bay, we arrived at a beach and made our way into the jungle. After a short distance we came to the mouth of the cave. We spent an hour waiting our turn (it was busy that day!) and finally donned our helmets and lifejackets, boarded our small boat, and made our way into the cave. We were seated in the front of the boat, and Amanda was given control of the car-battery powered spot-light which would light our way through the darkness. The caves were huge, and filled with bats and swiftlets which often swooped very close to our heads. We were enjoying the stalagmites and stalactites, when all of a sudden, halfway into the cave, our light went out. The spot-light had died and was now beginning to emit smoke, and there was nothing we could do. We were approximately 1km into the cave without a light and daylight was at least a 30 minute paddle through crisscrossing river passages. To make matters worse, without a light to illuminate us, birds were now flying at us and smacking into our helmets (Jono was lucky enough to have one smash into his cheek). Luckily, about five minutes later another boat showed up and we were able to follow them back to the mouth of the cave. We were safe again!!
After our adventure, we made our way back to the van by boat, but before boarding, we ate a great meal prepared by some locals. We had chicken adobo, crab, squid, coconut meat, fish soup, rice and fresh coconut juice! It was great.
Two hours later we were back in Puerto, spending the evening with Christian and getting ready to move on to the north of Palawan.