Puerto Princesa: Underground River

For our last day in Puerto Princesa we visited the world famous Underground River.

This day was unforgettable, both good and bad. 

We started the day early, because we have to prepare our things for Manila and we need to check out early before the tour van picked us up. 

The van picked us up before 9am, an hour late on the agreed time. Tour guide says they had a hard time securing our permit because a lot of people are in-line to get one. Then we also picked up other guest and it took us some time to do that because other guests are nowhere to be found. By 930am we were now bound for Sabang. 

The ride took us about 1.5-2 hours, if I remember it correctly we reach Sabang port at 11am. At the port a lot of people are in line, and I was just agitated to get on the boat, see UR and then leave. The reason is our flight is on the same day at 6pm. Yes, and because I want to squeeze everything in our limited time I have to suffer. 

Manay, our tour guide says that we are still in line for the boat and it is much better if we take our lunch first. We had our lunch at Sabang beach. I could have enjoyed the lunch with a magnificent view, but all I was thinking are the what-ifs on the possibility of missing our flight. What's even worst in our situation is that the group we are with are not in any rush. They still wanna do photo-ops and take a dip in the beach. I can't blame them, Sabang beach is real nice. But we cannot leave without them.

After lunch, Manay even suggested that we just walk in the beach towards the port. I know it's a good idea, but not for us. Walking is tolerable, but the thought that the others are not in a hurry, doing photo-ops will take us more time. I was trying my best to enjoy the view and not think about our flight, but I was really having a hard time forgetting about the time.

When we reach the UR, I thought that we are just going to ride the paddle boat. But to my surprise there are tons of people waiting for their turn too. And another even worst situation is that the boatmen are now having their lunch break. Hahaha! Imagine my stress and my anxiety in waiting. 

I was waiting in vain – literally, because I couldn’t take the smell of the place. The stench of bat urine is all over the place.

The Virgin Mary

When Manay told us that it’s our turn, I couldn’t much be happier to just get on the pedal boat and finished the tour. But I still appreciate the marvelous beauty of the rock formations.

The Pegasus

No. 1 rule while inside UR, DO NOT OPEN YOUR MOUTH when you look up, unless you would like to get a taste of fresh water or fresh urine. :)

The Holy Family

The river contains brackish water, a mixture of salt and fresh water.

The whole UR river is 8.2km long but the tour which is about 45minutes will not cover the entire 8.2km, because some areas are restricted.

Our tour guide is very good in pointing and describing the rock formations. They called part of the area, the Cathedral, because the rock formations show images of the Holy Family, Mama Mary and angels. Another part is called the Salad Bowl, because of the different images of vegetables, I just can’t remember what are those.  :)

Finally, we finished the tour and we catch our flight! At exactly 5:30pm, we checked in having front row seats! Manay, have some connections at the airport and she called in a favor for us. But next time, I will never do this kind of itinerary, I never want to experience this kind of agitation again.

He is so positive and I love him for that :)