Panacan Port

Search for the Katala in Narra, Palawan

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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

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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.