Rock Island and La Natura – Busuanga Island

From the houseboat, we got a quick boat to the port and a minivan to the other side of the island. After a 30-minute boat to a remote island, we arrived at our destination; Rock Island Eres Bella. We were the only guests on the Island and we were looked after by a lovely team including an awesome cook (but more on in a sec).

The beach at Rock Island was pristine and sandy. Off the shore there was great snorkelling, we saw a lobster, batfish, trumpetfish, triggerfish, pufferfish and this mysterious creature (which by the way, stumped the locals as well as us😕, if you have any ideas, feel free to comment).

Here we also saw lots of beautiful sunsets and some bats. Around 6 o'clock every night, hundreds of big bats flew by. Sometimes we saw lone bats (I think they get lost a lot).

The food at Rock Island was very good. You know that saying ‘Quality is better than quantity’ at Rock Island we had both. There was always sooooo much food and we could never finish it all, even if we were all hungry. We felt so bad leaving all that good food, but we just couldn’t finish it. We got pancakes for breakfast every day. YUM!

After four nights at Rock Island, we travelled back to Coron to our next adventure. We stayed at La Natura for three nights. There was a nice pool, but it was in an interesting location, only accessible via a bumpy track. We got trikes in and out of town, which took about 15 minutes. This trip involved a life-threatening crossing over a rickety bridge (we all held our breath for this).

On our first night at La Natura, we went into town for dinner. We also sorted out (after a bit of haggling) a snorkelling trip for the next day. This involved a walk down to the wharf where some pirates, I mean boatmen, sorted us out for the next morning.

We got up and prepared for our trip, we (once again) caught a trike to the port and, because we needed to get food for lunch on the boat trip, Dad and I headed for the local market.

We bought all the food we needed and hopped on the boat. This involved an interesting clamber through four other boats. Nan wasn’t too keen on all the jumping between boats.

The ride to our first stop was an hour… it was worth the wait. We got to snorkel the wreck of a Japanese gunboat from WWII!! There was so much coral and so many fish.

Our next stop was a coral garden, it was even prettier than the wreck! We saw aqua coloured coral, clams and three more types of coral that we had never seen before, one looked like a dog toy, another looked like purple cauliflower and the last looked like mushrooms.

We had lunch at Pass Island, where we saw big cuttlefish. (maybe half a metre!) For lunch we had the usual; fish, chicken, rice, salad and fruit.

The food at the accom was nothing special, so we mostly ate dinner in town.

La Natura was our last stop in Palawan, we’re now off to Moalboal; only two stops left in the Philippines!

Paolyn Houseboat - Coron

I woke to the sound of the 4.30 roosters and the bark of geckos (F.Y.I gecko barking is one of the 10 weirdest and most wonderful noises to hear before you die). We quickly made sure we were all packed and ready to go. When our host said we had to be up at 4.30, she gave no warning of a 20-minute hike uphill with the only light coming from our phones. As we stumbled through the jungle, we could hear hungry wolves howling in the distance (they might have just been local dogs, but you never know).

After the hike we waited with our bags at the top of the hill next to a very bumpy looking motorbike track. We waited half an hour for our transport which was the land rover thing I talked about in my previous post. It was late because there was a boulder on the road. Just as we thought, the road was very bumpy and we all held on for our lives. After 20 billion years (an hour) we got onto a proper road and could relax.

Our flight from El Nido to Coron was about 40 minutes and pretty comfortable. When we arrived in Coron there was a minivan waiting to pick us up, it stopped at a couple of other places before arriving at the port where we got in a super-speedy speed boat to the sheltered lagoon in which our accom was situated.

The Paolyn Houseboat was more of a very big pontoon, there was a restaurant downstairs and the accom was upstairs. Attached to it were kayaks and SUPs that we could use whenever we wanted. The meals here were pretty good and, because there was different menu each day, we got to try different things. We even got Nutella and mango crepes for breakfast.

On the day we arrived we went for a paddle to Twin Lagoons where we had a swim and watched the sun set on the limestone cliffs. The water was so calm that it made the paddling easy, which was handy as Nan and I were in one kayak and Dad, Mum and Em in the other.

The next day, we (by we, I mean Emily, Dad and I) paddled to a beautiful snorkelling spot (Mum and Nan were worried that if they got out of the kayak, they wouldn’t be able to get back in, so they got dropped off in a boat). We saw lots of different colours and varieties of fish and coral; the water was crystal clear and we could have stayed there all day.

At the end of the day we got a boat to a small beach to see turtles and the sunset. I saw 4 turtles and 1 sunset. The turtles were a brownish-green colour and the sunset was a pinky-orange colour.

This was a pretty special place to stay. Next stop… Rock Island.

Moonbeach Villas - Northern Palawan

After our adventures in El Nido we were heading to the northernmost tip of the island. Well, that’s where thought we were heading as we got in to the van that was stopping at the airport before taking us north. We were going to El Nido airport to pick up our grandma and the bus driver knew that we wanted to go to the airport, just not the El Nido one. We realised about an hour into the trip that we were going the wrong way. So, we got a ride on another van back to El Nido. At one of the places the van stopped, Dad looked out the window and pointed to a land rover/van thing with the words ‘Fisherman’s Cottage’ on the side and said, “I thought we’d be riding in something more like that” ... Then Mum said, “Moonbeach Villas (our accom) is run by the same people that run Fisherman’s cottage” just as she said that (by the way I would just like to say sorry for this extremely long paragraph) a lady stepped out of the land rover and walked over to our van (since Mum had told her where we were).

After getting sorted with the right transfer, we completed some shopping with our new hosts. The market was an interesting adventure. I followed Dad and Rachelle (our host) through the meat and then through the produce section, “Six pineapples!” Rachelle stared at us bewildered. (I’ve already told you how good the pineapples here are, plus we had to cater for 5 people for 6 nights). After getting over this, we finished our shopping, picked up Nan from the El Nido airport and headed to our accommodation.

The villa was a fully equipped house, Rachelle cooked all our meals here. The beds were nice and comfy and outside the accom there was a nice beach. Just down the beach was a village where Emily and I made friends with all the local kids. We also went for a few paddles on the kayaks, thankfully none 4 kilometres long.

Our first snorkelling trip here was all day and we felt pretty tired after. The first stop was a beautiful coral garden with so many fish. At one of the stops there was a very strong current and one of the boatmen got the kayak so me and Em could hold onto the back and snorkel. At our second stop we saw a lionfish, sadly we didn’t get any photos. ☹

The second boat trip was only six hours. The first stop was… a shipwreck, it was quite shallow but there was still lots of coral and fish. At our stop it was quite choppy but the highlight of this stop was when some tiny, baby fish decided Mum was their home and just kept swimming around her. On our way to the lunch stop it was very choppy and we were all worried the boat might flip over, luckily the boat had an outrigger to keep it balanced. The ladder on this boat was just a plank of wood with little pieces of wood nailed on, not very user-friendly.

We had more adventures leaving Moonbeach but I’ll tell you about them in the next post.

El Nido - Northern Palawan

The trip from Sunset Colors to El Nido wasn’t fun, it was long and squishy. At least the van didn’t break down. We had a few unnecessary stops along the way but, we got there.

From the bus terminal in El Nido we caught a trike to Joaquinn’s B and B, our accom. A trike is basically a motorbike that’s been converted into an iffy mode of public transportation. All four of us and our bags just fitted. Fortunately, our ride was only five minutes, not sure how much more of that we could take

Our accom was unusual but perfectly comfortable.

Moving on😉…

El Nido was busy in the mornings but by about 10 am, all the tourists had left and it was a ghost town. OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH.

We had to be careful of what we ate, as the local water is not safe to drink, even after boiling. We looked at reviews for every place we ate prior to eating there.

We went on two boat trips whilst in El Nido.

Our first boat trip had mainly beach stops. The highlight of this trip was where we stopped to have lunch, the food was fine but the snorkelling was amazing, probably the best place I’ve ever snorkelled. We saw cuttlefish, turtles, tube fish, sea stars and the visibility was perfect.

The second boat trip we went on was a looong one but we did visit some cool places. My favourite stop on this trip was the big lagoon, where we paddled on a kayak into the calm waters of the beautiful lagoon. In some miracle, there were thriving green flora growing out of insignificant crags in the towering limestone cliffs (There, I wrote something poetic).

Cebu and Central Palawan

After Singapore, we’re now in the Philippines. We arrived in Cebu and got to our accom (it wasn’t very nice) and decided we wanted a swim in a pool. The thing is, our accom didn’t have a pool. We decided we should see if we could wander into the Shangri-La (the most expensive resort in the area) to use their pool, we got a taxi in to evade suspicion and then walked about like we owned the place. We spent hours on their waterslide and in their pool. 

After one night in Cebu we flew to Puerto Princesa and, after an hour and a half drive we arrived at the Astoria Palawan, a very, very, very, nice resort with a beautiful infinity pool. We even got free access to a waterpark! We didn’t do much there apart from enjoying the water. 

After three nights we caught a crowded minivan to our next accommodation in Port Barton.

Sunset Colors was a beautiful slice of paradise and lucky for us we had 7 nights there! As keen snorkelers we enjoyed our two boat trips immensely (Even though the boat broke down halfway through our trip and we had to swap boats). Whilst snorkelling we saw some pretty amazing marine life, these included lionfish, turtles, boxfish, triggerfish and some huge corals. 

The food was delicious and not too expensive. We enjoyed juicy tropical fruits for breakfast (especially the pineapple, it was amazingly, perfectly, deliciously, goldenly, delicious)! For dinner we had a range of local and familiar dishes. My favourite was the spicy chicken curry and Emily’s was the chicken sandwich.

On our third day there we paddled 2 km to a pretty beach where we spent a couple of hours. My arms were tired for the next two days. On the way there the water was calm and perfect for paddling... on the way back it was the polar opposite and we barely made it.

Our next destination is in El Nido, where we will be staying in two different spots. After the first one my grandmother will be meeting us to enjoy the rest of the Philippines with us. 

Singapore

WE’RE ON HOLIDAY!!! FOR A YEAR!!!!!

First up, Singapore.

After a late arrival and a night at the airport, we set off for our accommodation in Chinatown.

I had already checked the best hawker centres in the area, so after dumping our massive bags at the compact accom we were off to find our dinner. The name of our local hawker centre was the ‘Maxwell Food Centre’ and was one of the top 10 hawker centres in Singapore. The food was so cheap. We had dinner here a couple of times during our stay.

The next day we set out for the Singapore National Museum and learnt about how this small island nation went from a poor fishing town, to what it is today. We also visited the Singapore National Gallery.

On Day 3 we caught the bus to Little India, it was full of Indian temples, Indian markets and… Indian food, we had the best chicken biryani in the whole entire world, it was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo(fine, I’ll stop typing o’s)
good!

Later that day, we visited Gardens by the Bay to see the Super Tree Light Show. It. Was. Amazing. No, it was spectacularly amazing. There were loads of people and that was no surprise after watching the show, but the best part… it was absolutely FREE.

On our last day, we walked along the Kallang river to Marina Bay where we sat down and watched The Merlion (a half fish, half lion statue) squirt water out of it’s mouth. On the walk back, we had a look at the Asian Civilisations Museum, we popped into the Park Royal to see if we could sneak into their pool. Turns out my dad isn’t as sneaky as I thought.

Singapore was pretty good but now we’re onto our next destination… The Philippines!

What We're Most Looking Forward to Next Year.

Lots of cool and exciting things will be happening next year, it's hard to decide our favourites. In this post we'll talk about some of the most exciting ones.

In the Philippines we're looking forward to staying on a remote houseboat on Coron Island and immersing ourselves in the beautiful sites on land and underwater.

In March we'll be skiing in Les Duex Alpes in France...For a whole month! I'm pretty excited to spend my birthday skiing. We will be able to have quite a few lessons to hone our skiing skills. Maybe by the end Mum will be able to catch up with us.😉

We will be catching up with Spanish friends (and stuffing our faces with Portugese tarts) in Portugal. It'll be great to see these friends whom we met when they were taking a year to live in Australia.

I think Mum and Dad are looking forward to a term of school in the Scottish Highlands more than us kids, finally...a break. For the first couple of weeks there, until our ears tune in to the accent, our most commonly spoken word will probably be "pardon". We're excited about forest school and we might even get to try award winning gourmet chocolate at "The Highland Chocolatier"😋.

Iceland will be pretty amazing with the geysers and humongous glaciers, but I don't think we'll be trying any Surströmming (Baltic herring that's been fermented for 6 months in a hole underground with just enough salt to stop it from rotting, possibly the stinkiest food in the world🤢).

The last one on this list is visiting Tierra del Fuego, the end of the world, the southernmost part of South America. It is one of the closest places to the South Pole you can visit and still be on land. It's cold but beautiful.

In the next post I'll tell you about Singapore, because that's where we'll be to start our 2020 adventure!