Palawan Question

[manhattandiver]

I'm going to be in Puerto Princessa for a day, getting there in the morning after a few days of diving in Coron and taking off that night on a liveaboard to Tubbataha. I thought about going on a day trip to the Sabang River, but apparently it's too far to make it back before the boat leaves. Is there anything else that anyone recommends doing in the area? Is the local diving decent, or would it be a let down compared to Coron and Tubbataha? Same question with respect to a sight-seeing trip around Honda Bay. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[paolov]

CLA is based in Palawan.

she could give you the day to day situation there.

.

 

[tangfish]

I wrote a piece on traveling and diving the central Visayas a while back. Cebu (Moalboal), Negros (Apo Island nearby) and Bohol (Alona Beach) all have great diving. You can read the post here.

Alternatively, you can go dive with some whale sharks off of Donsol.

 

[shugar]

I'm going to be in Puerto Princessa for a day, getting there in the morning after a few days of diving in Coron and taking off that night on a liveaboard to Tubbataha. I thought about going on a day trip to the Sabang River, but apparently it's too far to make it back before the boat leaves. Is there anything else that anyone recommends doing in the area? Is the local diving decent, or would it be a let down compared to Coron and Tubbataha? Same question with respect to a sight-seeing trip around Honda Bay. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

just got back from puerto princessa myself...

if you're gonna compare diving to tubbataha then it's no contest - tubba is THE best diving in the country (and in most of the world) so most others are close 2nds and 3rds

i enjoyed my puerto princessa dives as they were relaxed, barely a current although some surge at the 20-or-so foot level but nothing stressful...

there are some nice coral mounds with interesting life... mind you though that i was there a little late in the day and the winds were up so we weren't able to make it to the really hot spots (according to CLA)...

IMHO if you're looking to while away the time and log in some dives before the boat leaves for tubba then it's a definite YES... diving is an amazing 10 minutes from the city proper (maybe less)... from the time cathy picked me up at the hotel, then signed in at her regular dive op, then drive down to the beach and load the banca was about less than 30 minutes!!!

driving down to mcdonald's from my home to grab a big mac takes longer

Jag

 

[CLA]

Manhattandiver- when will you be in Puerto? And what time will you get here from Coron?

Like Jag said, Puerto is a far cry form Tubba and we don't have wrecks but it's easy to dive here if you really want to stay wet the whole time you're in Palawan. I think we have nicer corals here than in Coron. But if you just have a few hours to kill and want to rest on land before your 5-day boat trip why not explore the city? Have a nice lunch at Ka lui's or Dang Maria's and coffee at Kamarikutan.

What time do you have to be at the pier? Doesn't the Tubba boat leave early evening?

 

[erik.p]

I spent a day in PP before my trip to Tubbataha last summer. Quite a nice little town.

As I recall this was what you could do..

- Visit a penal facility (Iwahig Penal Colony).
Apperantly it's some kind of "open" prison. We didn't go there.

- Visit a Crocodile farm. This was actually really fun. If you pay some extra Pesos you get to have your photo taken whilst holding a baby croc. This visit will kill a couple of hours.

- Visit a Vietnamese refugee village from the 1970:s. We went pass this place and bought some of their vietnamese/french bread. Very tasty. There are some ok Vietnamese restaurants in town as well.

- Butterfly farm. Very nice and interesting, if your into that kind of thing. We enjoyed it. Took an hour or so.

- Then there is the island hopping as you mentioned. We didn't do that, but thats at least an afternoon or perhaps even an entire day.

All in all, I'd say it's both possible and quite nice to spend one day in and around Puerto Princesa. As others have mentioned there are some nice restaurants as well, both unscale and regular.

Two days and your pretty much starting to run short on things to do...

 

[manhattandiver]

Thanks for the suggestions everybody. Because there are only limited flights from Coron to P.P., I'm going to have to travel via Manila and spend a night there. My flight from Manila gets to P.P. at 9:50 am and I need to be on the liveaboard at 6:00 pm. I read about the penal colony, crocodile farm and refugee village in Lonley Planet, but think I'm going to pass on those. Looks like a toss-up between hanging out in the city for the day or doing a bit of diving. Does anyone have recommendations for specific dive sites and dive operators in the area? CLA, I saw in an old post that you recommended Island Divers and Last Frontier Dive. Do you have a preference? Thanks again.

 

[CLA]

CLA, I saw in an old post that you recommended Island Divers and Last Frontier Dive. Do you have a preference? Thanks again.

Not really. I just go out with whoever has a dive on the day I'm free.

My favorite sites are Crossing, Pete's Reef, Galo's wall but nowadays the boats have difficulty going to these sites because of the Amihan winds which can last till late March.

The last time I went to Tubba the guests were given the option to do a check out dive before we left. Maybe if you check in early you can ask the boat captain to let you dive before the trip.