Palawan Island, The Philippines

Here is a typical beachtown, this one is called Roxas on Palawan Island, and it was where I caught the boat to Coco Loco Island Resort, where I spent the last four days.

Here is a picture of Coco Loco Island; it's takes about 15 minutes to walk around the entire perimeter of the island... and the resort and the dive shop are the only things on the island. I spent the days lying in my hammock reading, scuba diving every morning, and eating delicious food!

I took this picture sitting at one of the dining tables on the beach! It was such a great place to stay. The meals and the lodging (a sort of cabana with a mosquito netted bed, bathroon, and a porch with a hammock right on the beach.) The resort has about 20 cabanas, and there were probably about 15 other people there with me while I was there and about as many staff members not including the scuba diving guides. Every day you just had to tell them what you want for breakfast, lunch and dinner (dishes ranged from vegetable curry with rice, to fish steaks or chicken in a spicy coconut sauce) and what time you would like to eat... it was REALLY relaxing. There was no internet and no phones! Your only responsibility was to relax and enjoy yourself, which I definitely did!

Here I am outside of the Underground River in Sabang... it was pretty amazing! I've never seen that many bats in my life; the cave was pitch black and we were in a paddle boat (5 of us and a guide)... it was thrilling to say the least. I was at the front of the boat holding the flashlight which was connected to a sort of car battery through jumper cables, and I tried not to think about what would happen to us all if we turned over and were in the water with that battery. Anyways, because I was holding the flashlight all the bugs and the bats were sort of dive bombing me...good thing I was wearing a helmet...

Here is a picture of the four Philippinos from Manila on vacation. I went with them in the boat, etc, because you paid per boat. Afterwards they bought me lunch and gave me a ride to my next stop... very, very nice, and I hope to return the hospitality if and when they make it to the USA!

Here I am in the nifty hard hat that kept me from being grabbed by little bat feet, and kept me from the other various droppings that fell from the ceiling of the cave, not limited to condensation if you know what I mean...

Here I am on my first day in Puerto Princesa (the capital of Palawan). I rode on the top of a Jeepney (you can sort of see one in the bag right corner of the photo) piled high with luggage and boxes, along with 15-30 Philippino men (it ranged because people kept getting on and off.) The road was hideous and the ride took about 3.5 hours, many times we were not traveling at much more than 20 miles per hour. The men were all really nice to me; they seemed to get a big kick out of having a foreigner traveling on the roof with them... they gave me the best seat: a bag of rice to sit on... I was traveling in style and luckily the sun was behind the cloud most of the ride, otherwise I would've ended up bright red, instead I was just slightly pink by the time we arrived in Sabang (this is the town where the Underground River mentioned above is located.)