Palawan - Puerto Princesa: Summary of Expenses

I. Airfare via Air Philippines Express: (Round trip: Manila - Puerto Princesa - Manila) - Php 1, 100 per person
II. Package Deal - Php 10, 250.00 per person
III. Expenses outside the package deal:

A. Day 1: - Php 530.00

Taxi to NAIA from Manila (Php 200.00/2) - Php 100.00 per person
Terminal Fee NAIA - Php 200.00 per person
Cafe France - Php 110.00 per person
Dos Palmas Key Chain Souvenir - Php 100.00 each
Tricycle from City to Transient House - Php 20.00 each

B. Day 2: - Php 1, 965.00

Extra rice: Php 10.00 each
Tricycle to and from the Souvenir shops (Php 150.00/6): Php 25.00 each
Souvenirs: Php 1,000 per person
Tamilok: (Php 100.00 per plastic/2) - Php 50.00 each
Sabang Zip Line - Php 550.00 per person
Zip Line Picture - Php 150.00
Distilled Water - Php 30.00
Dinner at Sea Slug El Nido - Php 125.00 per person
Coke 1.5 Liters: (Php 50.00/2) - Php 25.00 each

C. Day 3: - Php 195.00

Snorkeling Gear - Php 100.00
Tip for the tour guide: (Php 300/10) - Php 30.00 each
Driver's food: (Php 150/10) - Php 15.00 each
Slippers (I lost my slippers :p) - Php 50.00

D. Day 4: - Php 1, 142.00

Snorkeling Gear - Php 150.00 per person
Henna Tattoo - Php 75.00 per person (depending on the size)
Halo Halo - Php 50.00 per person
Buko Juice - Php 25.00 per person
Ka Lui (Php 655.00/2) - Php 327.50 per person
Iwahig firefly watching (Php 600.00/2) - Php 300.00
Van to Iwahig (Php 1500.00/7) - Php 214.50

E. Day 5: - Php 1, 150.00

Souvenir personalized t-shirt - Php 270.00 each
Picture with the Crocodile - Php 30.00 each
Picture with the Bear cat - Php 30.00 each
Souvenir Pic with Crocodile and Bear Cat - Php 300.00 per person
Baker's Hill Hopia, etc - Php 450.00 each
Terminal Fee - Php 40.00 per person
Taxi - (Php 120.00) - Php 30.00 each


GRAND TOTAL PER PERSON: Php 16, 332.00


Contact Details:

     Casa El Nido - (0917) 737 4762 - Highly recommended
     Pepito Donaire - (0906) 323 5956 - Not Recommended
     Dudz (Van Rental Service) - (0905) 932 2454 - Highly Recommended

     I suggest if you would like to get a cheaper package, look for any cheap accommodation and contact Kuya Dudz to help you out in planning your do it yourself itinerary. I find Mr. Donaire hard to deal with especially after I have already paid him our initial deposit and after I have given our payment in full.

Palawan - Puerto Princesa: Day 4 - Honda Bay Island Hopping

    We reached Puerto Princesa from El Nido past 12:00 midnight. We were so tired from the road trip that we immediately went to our rooms and slept. We know we had to wake up early for that day's scheduled trip - Honda Bay Island Hopping. The moment I woke up, i asked the care taker of the house if she could place reservation for our group later that evening at Ka Lui for our dinner which she did.

     After we prepared and had our breakfast, we started the Honda Bay tour. We rode the van to Sta. Lourdes Wharf which is the same drop off point to El Nido.

    On our way to Sta Lourdes, we stopped over at a snorkeling rental store that rents underwater camera case, goggles and swim wears. I did not like the goggles we got. They said that those were made of high quality. But when we started using the goggles underwater, the water kept on going inside.

I think Pearl paid Php 500.00 for this swim wear.

      After 30 minutes, we have reached Sta. Lourdes Wharf, a known drop off point to several different islands in Honda Bay.

     These were the places we visited:

Pambato Reef

Star fish Island

I find this place beautiful but if you went here because you thought that going by it's name there are a number of starfish, you might be dismayed. There's none. Still, I find this place lovely. There are a lot of polka shells you can get from this island. :)

Pandan Island

Named after the Pandan trees that can be found on this island. This is where we had our lunch as well.

There were a number of stores here that offer snacks, henna tattoos, halo-halo, buko juice, etc and they were all very affordable. :)

     We were home by 5:00 in the afternoon. We rested a bit and then we went to Ka - Lui to have our reserved dinner.

    I enjoyed the ambiance but not so much with the food. The food served was a bit bland. I guess what we paid for is the experience and the ambiance the restaurant provide. They require guests to remove foot wear and to walk and stay bare footed inside the restaurant which gave me a homey feeling. 

     After the dinner, we decided to go to Iwahig for firefly watching. Pepito Donaire offered me a package deal which cost Php 1, 100. I said I will think about it because that was not really part of the package deal. When I knew that there was a cheaper option, I did not take his offer and when I told him that, he said that there might be a penalty. Honestly, it infuriated me because he already asked us to pay Php 2, 000.00 because one from the group decided not to join our Palawan outing but prior to that, I had him computed the itinerary which should only be good for 10 persons. We were supposed to be 11 but one backed out so we were left with 10. He should not have asked us for additional money. I don't recommend him. On our third day in Palawan, he called me and he was shouting saying he was short paid. I explained to him that it could have been a miscalculation of her assistant whom I have given the payment for the package deal. I called the assistant to clarify what was going on and she admitted that the error was on her part. Pepito Donaire did not even apologize for what had happened. I will surely NOT going to get his services again.

     Going back, I arranged a van which took us to and from Iwahig. The experience was marvelous. I saw thousands of fireflies glowing in the dark. Then it started to drizzle when we hit the mid part of the tour. He's good. He was able to answer all of our questions about fire flies. He even knows what were the components that makes fireflies produce light. Impressive. The boat man also pointed out several different constellations in the sky. He was very versed with what he was doing and we were so impressed. As he paddled the boat, he pointed his finger on the waters. It was glowing as he paddled. It was something I only see in cartoons. He said those were plankton, microorganisms that only live in clean bodies of water.

This ends our day 4 in Palawan

Palawan - Puerto Princesa: Day 1 - Dos Palmas

Day 1: June 17, 2012

          Ton and Pearl as scheduled, arrived a day early than us. That day, people of Palawan was celebrating Puerto Princesa's Baragatan Festival. They told me that they went to Tiangge and Bazaars just within the town and celebrated the Feast with the locals. We missed though going to the street party to witness their cultural presentation since it was not part of the itinerary and we can't find any vacant day to squeeze the event.

          Because our flight  was at 07:30 in the morning, I had Ron slept in our house to pack our things and rest. Pearl and Tom went ahead of us to Dos Palmas. We arrived in Puerto Princesa at around 9:00 in the morning.

Inside Air Philippines Express

waiting for the plane

Having a cup of coffee at NAIA

Arrival in Puerto Princesa Airport

Arrival in Puerto Princesa Airport

I was really keeping my eye on weather updates. That time, it was raining hard in Metro Manila and I prayed so hard not to have any delayed or cancellation of flights. When we arrived in Puerto Princesa, the weather is at it's best. Not to hot but not raining. It was just a perfect weather to go outdoors. I love it. Finally, we arrived safe!

We had to wait for Cathzie, one other friend of ours who went to Palawan on the same day via Cebu Pacific. She arrived just in time. We were welcomed by 2 of Kuya Pepito Donaire's assistants (I forgot their names) who received our agreed package deal payment and then led us to the van of Dos Palmas who will bring us to the resort. 

We took the van and we were dropped off to Sta. Lourdes Wharf. It was a short road trip, probably around 30 minutes. We then were transferred to Dos Palmas' pump boat.

It was more than an hour. I can hardly remember. I enjoyed the view. It reminded me of our Caramoan getaway. We told ourselves, we need to conquer our fears. For everyone who have read our Caramoan blog, we met an accident back then when our boat capsized and we wanted to prevent the same mishap from happening again. I had to put our gadgets inside zip locks and plastics to protect them. 

Dos Palmas resort looks just "okay". It looks more like an old resort. However, I loved how they welcomed their guests and the security standards they implement within the premises. 

Ron, Kris, Pearl, Ton and Cathzie

They gave us welcome drinks. All 5 of us were so hungry at that point. It was lunch time already. A staff from Dos Palmas toured us to the place and gave a brief history. I can't pay anymore attention to what he was saying because we were so hungry we then went to their restaurant.

They serve the buffet. We cannot wait for our food to arrive that we immediately went to the buffet table and get as much food as we can. There were leche flan, lechon kawali, etc. By the time our food arrived, we were already half full that we had requested to bring home some of the left overs. We got our money's worth and I will definitely come back to this place. 

This is what I mean when I say it was all "worth it"

There were numerous activities we did during our day tour. By the way, day tour costs Php 2, 500.00. When I was planning the itinerary, I thought of taking this off the list. Good thing I did not because I really enjoyed the place. The staffs were all very accommodating and will surely keep you in a safety disposition.

This ends our Day 1 in Palawan :)