September 16 (Day One)
Our whole Puerto Princesa tour was arranged by New Horizon Travel and Tours (048-7230177). Our activity for the day is the trip to Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, otherwise known as Puerto Princesa's Underground River. The park has been managed by the Puerto Princesa City Government since 1992.
The Puerto Princesa Underground River was provisionally chosen as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature in November 11, 2011. Its selection was officially confirmed on January 28, 2012.
Although we arrived at Sabang boat terminal early, we were not accommodated based on our arranged schedule. We learned that the underground river tour in the last two days were cancelled because of the dangerous river currents, according to the local coast guard. So what happened was, the tourists who had prior schedule were accommodated first.
My travel buddies: Paolo, Calvin, Gerard, Lui, Mika, and Karla
This is just a fraction of people who waited for their turn to explore the underground river.
We were at the terminal before lunch time, but we were able to catch our boat past 1PM. When we arrived at the park, we had ourselves registered again there. There was quite a large number of tourists waiting for their turn to explore the underground river.
It was worth the wait, anyway. Our group was joined by three Korean tourists. When we started boarding the boat, we were asked who wanted to sit in front. But of course, that would mean that the volunteers will be assigned to hold the flashlight. Mika and Paolo were in front, and I was in third row together with Karla. I am not adept with taking pictures in low light, and I have focusing issues as well, so I just decided to switch the camera to Auto mode. LOL.
Our tour guide was amusing. We were told not to open our mouths, or at least look up because bat droppings might hit us any time. I believed him as I recalled what our tour guide in Sagada said during our Lumiang-Sumaging Cave Connection. Going back, as we were traversing the underground river, he introduced us to numerous rock formations funnily labeling them as the Nativity, melting candle, Pacman's boxing gloves. There were even vegetable and meat sections inside the cave.
The underground river exploration was approximately 45 minutes. The total length of the river is 9.2 kilometers, but only 1.5 kilometers of it is allowable for tourists to explore.
After that, we boarded a boat which took us to Sabang terminal. We had buffet in Taraw Vista Lodge and Restaurant in Sabang beach.
Overall, it was a great tour. There was a lot of waiting time but it's definitely worth it as we were able to explore one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Besides that, it's pretty understandable because weather can be unpredictable, and it is said that tourism in the city has tripled. It was a long tiring day so everyone's excited for island hopping the next day.
