We took a beach vacation this long President's Day weekend. Of course, unless we travel internationally we're always taking a beach vacation, so that's not saying much.
Object of this trip was to see the Underground River, one of the Philippine's top tourist destinations. Per friend's recommendations, we stayed at a resort in Sabang, about a two hour drive from the Puerto Princesa airport, but only 25 minutes by banca boat from the Underground River. Recommendation was well appreciated!
The beach at Daluyon Beach & Mountain Resort was beautiful. It wasn't the white sand of Bohol (or reportedly Boracay), but with minimal seaweed, trash, or random spiky sea creatures, we all could walk, run dig and swim without worry. From the door of our ground floor room to said beach was about 20 feet. Put boys to bed, order room service on our porch, and, voila! private ocean front dinner each night. Combo of fun for kids and enjoyable for adults is about all we can ask for a family vacation.
The Underground River tour itself was a bit disappointing. After all the hype, I was expecting something along the Luray Caverns, but the stalactites and stalagmites were no where near that. Plus, the lack of organization to get a permit to take us on a boat to the cavern loading place was so frustrating. We were glad to have paid the extra money to the hotel to send a guide along with us, so he could jostle and shove in line. Definitely room for improvement if this is to be a world-class tourist attraction.
We did see some cool monitor lizards while waiting for the small boat to take us in the cavern. And after the tour was done, Wm asked our guide where a path in the jungle went. The guide replied that it took one back to the hotel. Without a blink of an eye, off shot Wm into the jungle! I ran after him and finally was able to reason some sense into him that perhaps going alone on the path wasn't such a good idea. To which he replied, "but it's so nice and peaceful here, and that boat is so noisy!" I couldn't argue :)
The next morning we took a mangrove forest tour, which was worth way more than the PHP 150/person we spent. Kingfishers, snakes, shinny crabs, and all sorts of other creatures spotted. Not to mention a private 45 minute paddle boat tour through the mangroves. Even Patch sat in attention! I'd say this should be publicized more, but then more people might detract from some of the fun of being the only ones in the mangrove.
Object of this trip was to see the Underground River, one of the Philippine's top tourist destinations. Per friend's recommendations, we stayed at a resort in Sabang, about a two hour drive from the Puerto Princesa airport, but only 25 minutes by banca boat from the Underground River. Recommendation was well appreciated!
The beach at Daluyon Beach & Mountain Resort was beautiful. It wasn't the white sand of Bohol (or reportedly Boracay), but with minimal seaweed, trash, or random spiky sea creatures, we all could walk, run dig and swim without worry. From the door of our ground floor room to said beach was about 20 feet. Put boys to bed, order room service on our porch, and, voila! private ocean front dinner each night. Combo of fun for kids and enjoyable for adults is about all we can ask for a family vacation.
The Underground River tour itself was a bit disappointing. After all the hype, I was expecting something along the Luray Caverns, but the stalactites and stalagmites were no where near that. Plus, the lack of organization to get a permit to take us on a boat to the cavern loading place was so frustrating. We were glad to have paid the extra money to the hotel to send a guide along with us, so he could jostle and shove in line. Definitely room for improvement if this is to be a world-class tourist attraction.
We did see some cool monitor lizards while waiting for the small boat to take us in the cavern. And after the tour was done, Wm asked our guide where a path in the jungle went. The guide replied that it took one back to the hotel. Without a blink of an eye, off shot Wm into the jungle! I ran after him and finally was able to reason some sense into him that perhaps going alone on the path wasn't such a good idea. To which he replied, "but it's so nice and peaceful here, and that boat is so noisy!" I couldn't argue :)
The next morning we took a mangrove forest tour, which was worth way more than the PHP 150/person we spent. Kingfishers, snakes, shinny crabs, and all sorts of other creatures spotted. Not to mention a private 45 minute paddle boat tour through the mangroves. Even Patch sat in attention! I'd say this should be publicized more, but then more people might detract from some of the fun of being the only ones in the mangrove.
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