Today we docked in Puerto Princesa, our first port in the Philippines. Our adventure today was a visit to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and voted one of the new 7 Wonders of Nature. The underground part of the river is 8.2 km (5.1 miles) long and the 2nd largest underground river in the world. The park is known for its beautiful limestone karst (an irregular limestone region with sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns). St. Paul's Underground Cave is 24 km (15 mi).
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| Motorized Outriggers |
It was quite an adventure just to reach the river. We were divided into groups of 6 for the tour and the first part was a 1.5 hour van ride to Sabang Wharf in the National Park. After a "comfort" stop, we boarded motorized outriggers for a 20 minute ride to Sabang Beach. As there were white caps on the ocean, we were bounced around on our journey. There was a "very" wet landing on the beach. Here is a link to Chris's video of our wet landing.
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Chris - Sabang Beach
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Our guide had told us to be very careful after we landed on the beach as there were a lot of long-tailed macaque monkeys that would steal from your backpack if you left pockets open...he had one riding on top of his backpack the other day fishing in a pocket. Also if you carry plastic bags or water bottles, they will steal them.
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| Boarding the paddle boats |
We kept our life vests from the outrigger and added helmets before boarding the paddle boats for our journey. As it is important to minimize the noise in the cave, we were given an audio device with narration for our journey through the cave. Our guide would use a light to point out various formations from the many beautiful stalagmites and stalactites throughout the cavern. Many of them have been given names.
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| Entering the cavern |
Although 4.3 km (2.7 mi) of the river is navigable, we only went about 1.2 km. Traveling further requires special permits. 4.3 km along the river they found a 20 million year old fossil of any extinct Sirenia which is a type of sea cow which lived in the Miocene era. |
| "candle" |
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| "flower" |
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| Bats on the walls |
The helmets were to protect us from bat droppings and we were told to keep our mouth shut the whole time in the cave (I wore my mask) as bacteria from the bats was in the air. Besides bats, there were swallows flying around near the entrance.  |
| Exiting the cavern |
The journey to and from the ship gave up close up views of the country side. Out in the country, many people were living in what appeared to be very flimsy structures. Most of them were farmers growing rice and sweet potatoes among other things.
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| Countryside views |
The house below is larger than most. Many were only one story. Many of the people living within the boundaries of the National Park do not have electricity although a solar farm is under construction.
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| Motorcycle/car |
The majority of the vehicles are motorcycles or motorcycles with side cars that look like small cars.
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