In theory New Year's Eve was another day of nothing but travel, by Jeepney from Puerto Princessa to Sabang. In practice there was a second choice which most of us opted for. This was to take a shorter Jeepney ride to the coast and hire a bangka to go Island Hopping for the day. The weather was glorious, by far the best day of the trip so far. A blazing sun hung in a completely cloudless sky as our boats bounced across the bright water of Honda Bay with us, dressed only in swimming costumes on top leaving behind a toxic cloud of mixed fumes from sun tan lotion and Deet.
Our first port of call was Snake Island, fortunately named for its shape rather than its inhabitants, which has a small near-shore shallow coral reef with clear warm water. Swimming over it was like flying above an alien planet. Around a crimson volcano of coral a shoal of hundreds of tiny electric blue fish, less than a centimetre each, wheeled and turned with the symmetrical precision of a flock of birds. Deeper, above a mass of bottle green brain coral a black fish fully eight inches long with translucent blue and yellow fins and a scarlet stripe along its spine, circled lazily, surrounded by attending hosts of lesser beauties like courtiers around a princess. In among the rocks several highly aggressive fish protected their territory by head-butting and biting swimmers who dared to approach.
Our first port of call was Snake Island, fortunately named for its shape rather than its inhabitants, which has a small near-shore shallow coral reef with clear warm water. Swimming over it was like flying above an alien planet. Around a crimson volcano of coral a shoal of hundreds of tiny electric blue fish, less than a centimetre each, wheeled and turned with the symmetrical precision of a flock of birds. Deeper, above a mass of bottle green brain coral a black fish fully eight inches long with translucent blue and yellow fins and a scarlet stripe along its spine, circled lazily, surrounded by attending hosts of lesser beauties like courtiers around a princess. In among the rocks several highly aggressive fish protected their territory by head-butting and biting swimmers who dared to approach.
A shimmer in the water, a fish shaped hole in the light, caught my eye. It seemed scarcely more than a flickering optical illusion. I tracked it with my eyes until it resolved itself into a near transparent fish more than four inches long with only a pale hint of a skeleton and a black round eye visible as it moved.
We swam and sunbathed for some time before taking the bangka across to Starfish Island. The Lonely Planet Guide sums this up rather well.
"It is a flat treeless sandbar with a few miserable huts... (and)... a modest rustic restaurant."
Modest is overstating it. The menu boasted any number of things that could be had - canned beans, canned beans and sausage, canned sausage, canned pork and bizarrely an 'egg omelette'. Almost all of them had run out. I had a bowl of cold baked beans and an omelette. Even beer was off.
We strolled about and lounged on the beach until it was time to get the Bangka back to Palawan and face that Jeepney ride to Sabang.
The road, as all roads in the Philippines seemed to be, was a dirt track that twisted its way north and west across the island crossing several creaking wooden bridges on the way. At one point a bridge had collapsed forcing the vehicle down a steep slope to ford the river at its shallow point.
We passed another Jeepney, identical to ours except that it was loaded down with people, dozens of them, clinging to the roof and the back and the sides.
Further along the road another Jeepney was upside down in a ditch.
At Sabang there had been a slight hitch. Our original itinerary had had us arriving on the 30th December, the much revised version had us arriving a day later on New Year's Eve. Somehow the message had failed to get through to Sabang and our erstwhile accommodation at Robert's Cottages was now in the possession of a group of Austrians. Alex had spent the day arranging alternative accommodation but it was scattered along about a mile of the coast which was going to make our New Year celebrations a bit tricky. When we were all there and descended from the Jeepney Alex consulted the list in his hand.
"Okay," he said "The lucky winners of first prize are Bob and Graham, Jenny and Allison. If you'll just follow me."
We swam and sunbathed for some time before taking the bangka across to Starfish Island. The Lonely Planet Guide sums this up rather well.
"It is a flat treeless sandbar with a few miserable huts... (and)... a modest rustic restaurant."
Modest is overstating it. The menu boasted any number of things that could be had - canned beans, canned beans and sausage, canned sausage, canned pork and bizarrely an 'egg omelette'. Almost all of them had run out. I had a bowl of cold baked beans and an omelette. Even beer was off.
We strolled about and lounged on the beach until it was time to get the Bangka back to Palawan and face that Jeepney ride to Sabang.
The road, as all roads in the Philippines seemed to be, was a dirt track that twisted its way north and west across the island crossing several creaking wooden bridges on the way. At one point a bridge had collapsed forcing the vehicle down a steep slope to ford the river at its shallow point.
We passed another Jeepney, identical to ours except that it was loaded down with people, dozens of them, clinging to the roof and the back and the sides.
Further along the road another Jeepney was upside down in a ditch.
At Sabang there had been a slight hitch. Our original itinerary had had us arriving on the 30th December, the much revised version had us arriving a day later on New Year's Eve. Somehow the message had failed to get through to Sabang and our erstwhile accommodation at Robert's Cottages was now in the possession of a group of Austrians. Alex had spent the day arranging alternative accommodation but it was scattered along about a mile of the coast which was going to make our New Year celebrations a bit tricky. When we were all there and descended from the Jeepney Alex consulted the list in his hand.
"Okay," he said "The lucky winners of first prize are Bob and Graham, Jenny and Allison. If you'll just follow me."
We hoisted our rucksacks and followed him back through the village, over a plank across a pool and to our accommodation at the Western end of Sabang. There was a tiny hut made mainly of bamboo which had been made into two even tinier huts by the addition of a partition and a second door. The partition stopped well short of the roof where a single light had been installed to service both rooms. Jenny and Allison were in one half of this while Graham and I were to take the other. The light switch was on the girls side.
Our room was about seven foot square with an opening at the back which led into a brick built 'bathroom'. This consisted of an unlit room about five foot by three which did indeed have a 'toilet' which was flushed by ladling water from a large tub with a small bowl. There was also a shower fitting although it appeared to be connected to nothing at all and a quick look around the back of the hut confirmed that there was in fact no plumbing to accompany these luxury fixtures.
The two beds were low wooden pallets with half inch thick mattresses on them. Mosquito nets had been provided although finding convenient places to tie them proved to be challenging, but not quite as challenging as managing to close the 'window' which was something like a Crystal Maze mental game. The window consisted of a square arrangement of slats which tilted up to close and down to open. Gravity guaranteed that down was the default position and the lack of any kind of catch ensured that the default position was the only position. I pushed it shut. Gravity pulled it open. I pushed it shut and taped it with masking tape. Gravity laughed at my feeble efforts and pulled it open again, tossing the tape contemptuously into a corner. I pushed it shut and tried to wedge it with a stone. Gravity sneered, kicked the stone away and pulled it open again. I pushed it shut and wedged one end with the roll of tape and the other with a bottle of paracetamol. Gravity shrugged its shoulders and gave in. Satisfied with a job well done I changed into a long sleeved shirt and trousers and went to the bar for a beer.
Our room was about seven foot square with an opening at the back which led into a brick built 'bathroom'. This consisted of an unlit room about five foot by three which did indeed have a 'toilet' which was flushed by ladling water from a large tub with a small bowl. There was also a shower fitting although it appeared to be connected to nothing at all and a quick look around the back of the hut confirmed that there was in fact no plumbing to accompany these luxury fixtures.
The two beds were low wooden pallets with half inch thick mattresses on them. Mosquito nets had been provided although finding convenient places to tie them proved to be challenging, but not quite as challenging as managing to close the 'window' which was something like a Crystal Maze mental game. The window consisted of a square arrangement of slats which tilted up to close and down to open. Gravity guaranteed that down was the default position and the lack of any kind of catch ensured that the default position was the only position. I pushed it shut. Gravity pulled it open. I pushed it shut and taped it with masking tape. Gravity laughed at my feeble efforts and pulled it open again, tossing the tape contemptuously into a corner. I pushed it shut and tried to wedge it with a stone. Gravity sneered, kicked the stone away and pulled it open again. I pushed it shut and wedged one end with the roll of tape and the other with a bottle of paracetamol. Gravity shrugged its shoulders and gave in. Satisfied with a job well done I changed into a long sleeved shirt and trousers and went to the bar for a beer.
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