Puerto Princesa

Early morning, we took a van which actually took us 6 hours to get from El Nido to Puerto Princesa, from which one hour was only spend driving through the big city of Puerto Princesa. We walked around the evening but also tried to go to bed early.

Balabac Islands

In the morning at 4am we were picked up in Puerto Princesa again to drive south to Buliluyan Port to get our ferry to Balabac Island. Actually, not Balabac Island directly, but the area is also called by the biggest island of the ones surrounding it.

It was weird as all we did was write with a guy on Instagram and do an international wire transfer for around 500$ for a 3 nights stay in an island bungalow. But not fancy one as you will see later, but a very basic one, but it was fully worth it for the beautiful places we could visit while there. We booked with @bestbalabactourpackages and @jeremyabrice was our tourist guide and can highly recommend them! Even tough it was not through a big agency, we had a great time. In 2024 there was no other way than to book that way anyways, but we saw that unfortunately they are building an airport on Bugsuk Island, the one we also slept at, for more fancy travelers.

When reaching the Port, we had to register and name with which agency we booked with and it was a little chaotic. But my partner asked around and we found the smaller ferry that took us first to Bancalaan Island where a small boat picked us up. It was just for two other female travelers and us as a couple plus a captain and his helper. Both of which couldn’t really speak English, but we somehow managed to communicate anyways.

Patawan Island

Our first stop was Patawan Island, a cute island, where you can walk around in maximum 10 Minutes but could also rent a tent to stay at. We had a lunch here and they seemed to have packed foot not only for the four of us, but for at least 10 people. The guides had more than enough to eat afterwards as well.

We had some nice time on the island but the waves were getting bigger and thus the crew decided to just take the around two hours boat ride to our stay on Bugsuk Island. Our luggage was in a safe spot down in the trunk of the boat, but all of us got soaking wet, as the waves crushed over us a few times. At the beginning it was fun, but after a time we were all cold due to the waves and wind, even though the sun was crushing down on us. I actually had another sun burn on my feet and lover leg from this ride, as we had no chance to reapply sunscreen or grab something to pull over due to the strong waves. All our luggage would have gotten wet. Still, we reached the camp safely, I will show some pictures of it at the end of this blog.

Mansalangan Sandbar

Sadly, the next day the weather was as wavy as the day before. They first let us spend some hours in camp and some visited the school nearby, while I used the time to recover, as I had gotten a stomach flu last night… The only thing that differed, from what my partner and the two women ate or drank, was that I was the only one who trusted their filtered water, while the others only drank out of bottles… I should have done the same, as during the evening, night and also morning I had to run to the bathroom quite a few times… But with some medicine it got away quickly and I could enjoy the rest of the day.

Later the weather was a little better, but not great enough, so we couldn’t take a long boat drive and only drove to the next Sandbar and an island beside it. The sandbar was gorgeous though and apart from a small boat with a few fisherman on it, we had it just for the four of us.

Byan Island

I remember the two women traveling on the boat with us daydreaming on this cute island how it would be to buy a place here and build a cute place to stay for tourist and offer boat tours themselves. They fully enjoyed their stay but had some ideas to advance it even more, as both worked in tourism themselves. It was fun to brainstorm with them, but luckily for the locals, as foreigner you can only buy or build on the Philippines, if you are married to one and all will be in that person’s name then, so you would really need to find someone you love or trust enough. I believe their dream didn’t come true yet 😉

The boat ride back was smother, as the water had calmed down. We later had lunch at a beach near our camp, again just the four of us. But when the waves got stronger again, they asked us, if we could walk back to the camp, as they would need to bring the boats to a different beach on the other side of the island, as the risk for them to tip at night would be to big.

Canabungan Island

The next day the two girls already departed and that meant that we had the boat all by ourselves. So romantic, I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed it. On the way to Canabungan Island we passed by another small sandbar, as you can see below, but the tide had almost covered it fully. Also we passed by diverse seaweed farms south of Mantangule Island and got told, that this is one of their main income sources in the area.

On Canabungan Island we actually were the only ones. Our goal was to ride further south to Onok Island, where the likelihood of seeing sea turtles is quite high, but the waves didn’t allow again. That’s nature and we were better safe than sorry. So, we spend the day on the island. They gave us a tip to walk a little south and then snorkel, as there was another sand bar, now covered in water due to the tide, where we would find starfish. And they where right, we found so many and before that I wasn’t aware of how unique and different, they all look. Different colors, forms and sizes. It was gorgeous. That was our highlight on the island!

We later ate lunch on the island as well and when we started another boat got to the island. It was an electric one with around 15-20 people on it, who also got their lunch there. I’m sure their boat would have made it al the way to Onok Island, but I prefer the authentic smaller version we had with our full privacy. After lunch we went into the water again and talked to some of the others. None of their guides mentioned the starfish and when they asked if they could go, they got told that they do not have the time for it and will leave soon. They for sure stayed more than half an hour after and could have easily gone. So yes, I prefer a less touristic guide than we had.

One of the sharpes pictures I got, there where blueish and red ones as well as some in diverse brown colors and with differently shaped spikes on them. So beautiful!

Bugsuk Island

We had our camp on this island right beside a small town for locals.

On our way back to camp. All the way on the right you can spot the beach where the camp is at.

The beach where we relaxed at mornings and evenings.

On both sides of the camp, you see these simple bungalows, just with a mattress and a ventilator that only runs at night and no real windows. In the middle, here on the left, was the community building, where we would have breakfast and dinner.

The bungalow in the middle was ours to stay at.

The first two nights there where some other groups as well apart from the four of us. But the last night my partner and I where the only tourists left. That lead to the Philippinos to convince us to do karaoke, where half the town joined. I didn’t sing on my own, as I’m not the greatest singer, but joined in a few times with others. To our surprise our quiet in mysterious captain was a great singer and after he warmed up preformed greatly with his wife, the cook of the camp. What a fun evening! Just us in a small town in the middle of a Philippino Island with them passionately singing though the night.

We got some great and deep sleep afterwards and in the morning after breakfast our captain took us back to Palawan and after another van ride were back in Puerto Princesa. That a great trip! I would surely do it again, maybe even stay some longer next time!

Balabac - Philippines