Narra

Borbon and its Beach in Narra, Palawan

Leave a Comment

It was already morning when it dawned on us that we would no longer be able to see the katala (Philippine Cockatoo) on this trip. A wooden 2 storey house on our back, on the left was a structure made for cooking copras while everywhere was coconut trees equidistant to each other standing on a blanket of grass. Dog barks were on our background while the morning breeze swept through.

Copra Oven

We no longer had the chance to see the Philippine Cockatoo. At least for this trip.

We quickly moved on. Breathing the fresh air and slowly internalized the slow way of life of Borbon in the municipality of Narra, Palawan.

There was this unique towering coconut tree about 150 meters away from the house. All the other coconut trees around it were cut but its uniqueness made it survive. From afar it seems flatly wobbling. When I arrived below it was more like twirling than wobbling.

Twirling Coconut

Then I went back to where Dong Ho was and we started walking towards the beach.

It was still about 400 meters away from the beach. The houses had varying distance between them, from 25 meters to more than 300 meters. Most of them had lawns that people could run around. One even had a miniature kubo as a playground.

Dong Ho walking to the beach

Search for the Katala in Narra, Palawan

Leave a Comment

It was the afternoon after our tricycle tour around Brooke’s Point in the province of Palawan. From Brooke’s Point we rode a RORO Bus to Narra (165 Pesos/person). What usually took less than 2 hours became 3 hours on the road due to a technical problem. It was a rather boring wait, but at least we already started our journey to Narra.

RORO Bus Technical Glitch

Technical Glitch

We arrived around 5:30 PM at Narra and since it was slowly getting dark we rode a tricycle and asked to be taken to a very very affordable lodging. On the way to the center of town, we asked the tricycle driver on how we could get to Rasa Island where the Katala or Philippine Cockatoo, that is endemic to our country. He said that we need to ask in Panacan Port on how to get there.

Seeing that the light is slowly fading and each passing moment means lesser people to ask in the Panacan Port, we quickly instructed our tricycle driver to bring us to Panacan Port. It was a bit far from where we were and when we reached Panacan Port it was around 5:53 PM.

Panacan Port at dawn

We quickly searched for a local and asked on how we could get to Rasa Island and he told us that for us to get to the island, we should seek permission with Kuya Fred Diaz. Back to the road to find the house of Kuya Fred. When we found him, he told us to leave immediately to go to a specific place to see the Katalas and go back to him after as time is running out.

Old Panacan Port in Narra, Palawan

Leave a Comment

It was after we, Dong Ho and I, had the unfortunate event of not seeing the Katala’s of Nar ra, Palawan in Borbon Beach. We were walking towards the Panacan Port to the line of tricycles there so we could go back to our lodging. Along the beach we saw this strip of what looked like riprap of rocks from afar and could not figure out what was it. When we got nearer we found out that it was a port. A more lively one than the Panacan Port we saw the day before.

Old Panacan Port

Upon entering the port, there were strips of bamboo elevated where bamboo mats are placed. These are used for drying fishes or what we locally call daing.

Elevated bamboos for drying fishes

Bamboo mats for drying fishes

Then there were a group of men who were standing on the side of the wall and throwing thin nylon cords to the seawater below. They were fishing. When we got close, I got curious on what they use for bait. Apparently they use the soft meat of hermit crabs to lure fishes to the hooks.

Lodgings on our Southern Palawan trip

7 Comments

When Dong Ho and I met at Puerto Princesa airport we only had one plan in mind and that was to go as far south of Palawan as possible and back in 3 days. No concrete itineraries, just plain passion to see personally what is there.

We were targetting the island municipality of Balabac, unfortunately, the boat going there already left 2 hours before we arrived at the pier of Rio Tuba. Though the accommodations at the pier was really tempting as I have not experienced sleeping on a house on stilts, but it was still 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we could still cover more ground. That’s when we decided that we would go back to Brooke’s Point and stay there for the night to get an early start to go around the next day.

Rio Tuba Pier, Bataraza, Palawan

At the stopover of Roro Bus in Brooke’s Point we were asking around on where we could stay for the night when one of the staff in the cafeteria told us that the establishment beside was in fact a lodging. We went there, asked for the price of their fan room (300 pesos/room/night) and decided to stay there for the night as the room was okay with our standards.

How much did I spend on our trip to Southern Palawan

4 Comments

I’ve been wanting to visit Southern Palawan lately as it remains a total mystery to me. I’ve been planning and researching for quite some time but there is minimal information about Southern Palawan in terms of where to go. Fortunately, Dong Ho of EscapeIslands.com messaged me last March and we planned to go around Southern Palawan for 3 days in late August.

Rio Tuba Pier

Rio Tuba Pier

Time passed and it was time to meet Dong Ho at the Puerto Princesa airport. Unfortunately, I got busy for the past few months so I had minimal idea on where to go and how to get there. So when we met that’s when I asked “What’s our plan?”, Dong Ho answered go as south as possible. It was simple and easy to understand – I like it!

Without breakfast, we went straight to the San Jose Terminal and rode the earliest van going to Rio Tuba which is a 4 hours and 30 minute ride from Puerto Princesa. And the rest is an epic adventure through the towns of Rio Tuba, Brooke’s Point and Narra.