Island Hopping in Port Barton, San Vicente, Palawan
Since the jeepney from Roxas arrived a little past 1 PM from Roxas, Palawan there’s really nothing that I could do in Port Barton but to walk around, sit on the beach and talk to locals. One of the locals that I have talked to offered me an island hopping tour. Originally the prices of the island hopping tour for 2 pax is 1,200 Pesos and for 3 or more pax it’s 500 Pesos each. Since, I was alone I agreed so that I would not pay the hefty amount of 1,200 Pesos all by myself. He said that for the 500 Pesos per person to proceed he will look for other people to join me. We exchanged numbers and I went back to my lodging. Night came, there was no message that the tour will proceed. Next day around 7AM came, there was still no message so I texted him back to confirm of the island hopping tour. I decided if he does not message me at 8AM, I would have to take the offer of another local who offered me 800 Pesos for a boat for island hopping. I got word that on off-peak season, the boats could go that low. 8AM came, I texted the other local and he replied that the boat will be ready at 9AM.
Went to meet the local at 9AM and turns out he was not the boatman. So he referred me to my boatman and first things first, we needed food to eat. We looked for fresh fish so that we could cook on the islands. Though the front of the beach of Port Barton has been filled with accommodations Port Barton is still a fishing village so what we did was we went to people who they knew buys fish from the fishermen and sells them again at the market. Unfortunately, their fishes has either been reserved by the resorts or had been delivered to Puerto Princesa or Roxas via their public jeepneys. We saw a woman peddling some fishes and since it was either too big or too small, we decided that we’re having squid for lunch. Bought some onions, tomatoes, kalamansi, snacks, water and some cooked rice. Just when I thought we were going to start, he suddenly said that he’ll get some utensils from their house so we can use it. I think that’s good service. Around 9:20AM we road the boat and it was time to visit the islands of Port Barton.