Today we made it back from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. With breaks the 270km trip had taken us about six hours (including another visit of the Palawan elephant).

We got into Puerto Princesa in the early afternoon, so enough time for a bit of exploration in Puerto Princesa.

First stop was at the local craft brewery – the Palaweño Brewery – literally down the road from the hotel, to try the local IPA from tap. A solid IPA with citrus flavors and yet the to-be expected bitterness – – certainly an interesting and unexpected find 😉

From the brewery we continued to the town center, got to see the cathedral and the City Baywalk Park (complete with Christmas decorations) – to then make it back to the hotel.

Later in the day the whole group made it back to the baywalk park. A boat was waiting for us here, to get us over to the other side of the bay and then (on a smaller boat) into the Iwahig river. The sun had set by now and it was dark, so we were able to see the fireflies (or rather their lights) and see them react on our sounds (seems, the chicken sound was not that impressive for them).

The second final dinner did follow after our return, though turned out less involved than the first one (not unexpected though).

Today we were leaving the resort and continuing for El Nido. A drive of 4 hours or 200km was ahead of us.

The van surely was fittingly named … especially after our gin-heavy adventures up North – tthe photo below is from the actual van, we were sitting in.

En-route we had a stop in Elfredo’s restaurant in Roxas, offering all services, a traveler might need (clean toilets, quick and good drinks and food), but also showcasing some of the not so endemic Palawan species (elephant or zebra anyone?).

After lunch it was back to the vans to continue to the 67th heaven resort, a drive of about 1.5 hours/ 65km. En-route we had one stop for photos. I don’t recall much of the drive though … seems I (as most of the rest in the van) used the drive for a nice postprandial nap.

We had arrived in Puerto Princesa slightly delayed the evening before; we got to the hotel only after dinner – and most had called it a night right here.

Today we were heading of for one of the prime attractions of Puerto Princesa, the underground river (officially known as Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park). We left the hotel in Puerto Princesa in the morning, to engage into a drive of about 2 hours/ 75km. Goal was to be at the little port of the park in Sabang before 09:30, to ensure a not too-long wait for the transport to the entrance of the underground river.

By big boats we first made the 20 minutes trip from Sabang port to a bay around the corner and got ashore at the beach. We now had a small walk ahead of us, before arriving at yet another beach. Here we got into a much smaller boat – and were now being paddled into the entrance of the cave. We spent about 40 minutes in the cave – being paddled around and shown some impressive stone formations.

We eventually made it back to the beach, had another little walk to the other beach, to then make it back to Sabang. It was now about time for lunch, so we ended up heading for a buffet restaurant with a good options.