Earlier this month, I spent 8 days in Busuanga, the northern most municipality of Palawan. The province is what I think of as that little foot or narrow strip southwest of the country.
How we ended up in Palawan
Of the 7,107 islands of the Philippines, how exactly did we end up in Busuanga? I grew up in the Philippines and had only been to Palawan once (Puerto Princessa specifically). My friends from Manila frequent the more popular beaches of Boracay – which, from what I understand, has become an extremely developed beach town with its fair share of clubs and bars. (I guess it’s more like South Beach, Miami.)
Being New Yorkers, my boyfriend and I were hoping for somewhere more relaxing and remote. A friend of mine had suggested Coron… and TripAdvisor searches and reviews lead me off the beaten path to this barely-a-year-old dive resort called Puerto Del Sol.
Puerto Del Sol
The 7 guest reviews for Puerto Del Sol suggested that it was exactly what we were looking for: enough nature, comfortable amenities, and things to do if we got bored with reading books. PDS is a scuba diving resort– there are around 10 Japanese wrecks from World War II nearby, and the sunken ships are now home to diverse marine life. Michael Batchelor, owner of the resort, told us that Palawan is unlike the rest of the Philippines in that you get both beach and sea and mountains… on top of the underpopulated province’s reputation for being the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier.”
Booking the resort was definitely different from previous experiences: You can’t book a room for Puerto Del Sol off hotels.com or agoda. I corresponded with them via email and called the office cellphone via Skype (no landline). I once lost communication with them for three days since their e-mail inbox was full. But being that remote didn’t dissuade us from vacationing there.
A van driver picked us up from the Busuanga airport for a 45-minute drive to the resort. The airport itself is only two years old, and the ride there was through some unpaved roads. After listening to numerous pop ballads and light rock (as you will in every car you ride in the Philippines), we reached our destination. And it was exactly what we hoped it would be.
We didn’t see other resorts in the area at all. The resort only had 6 guest suites.
One of the huts was our villa
View of the bay
Scuba diving
We planned on snorkeling and weren’t exactly planning on learning to scuba dive… but after a quick conversation with Luke Williams from the dive shop, we decided to give it a try. We had enough time to take the Open Water Course, and my understanding is that diving in the Philippines is extremely reasonably priced. We were charged about $500 per person for the course, which included a dive book, 4 (or more) dives, equipment rental, and trips.
Our first classroom session w
as in Pass Island, a 15-minute boat ride away. Lessons were followed by a grilled fish lunch and an hour break before our first shore-entry dive. And immediately, even from a shallow depth, we saw loads coral and fish. I overcame minor claustrophobia and my boyfriend overcame his discomfort with water since the sea was so clear and beautiful.
After a few more dives, we went and saw the Taiei Maru wreck. The sunken Japanese oil tanker is over 180 meters long with the upper decks just 10-15m deep. We saw batfish, lionfish, trigger fish, clownfish, boxfish, angelfish, cuttlefish, and moray eel, among other sea creatures.
That's me. I actually got to go inside a wide part of the wreck
If you’re not into diving, PDS is a great jumping off point for island hopping. Palawan has over a thousand islands. The resort can arrange the trips for you and will have someone accompany you with your packed lunch (which they’ll grill for you on the beach). You can even choose to kayak or swim around the bay if you like.
We opted to spend our down time just hanging out, sleeping and reading — but would have loved to have also visited more islands, thermal lagoons, Barracuda lake, the historic town of Culion, and Calauit Wildlife Safari Park (they have giraffes!).
Food
I was concerned about being in one resort and relying on them for all our meals, but this wasn’t a problem at all. The menu was extensive and it featured both traditional American (pizzas, sandwiches) and Filipino food. The staff will be happy to make recommendations about their favorite dishes. Obviously, there were a lot of fresh seafood options like this slipper lobster I had (yummy lemon butter sauce). The ala carte prices are more expensive than food court prices in Manila, but definitely cheaper than some of the other Palawan resorts. They also serve San Miguel beer and will make you whatever mixed drinks you want.
Rustic charm
While the resort was completely comfortable and had all the amenities, it was very much country living. The villas were open air and we chose to sleep under a mosquito net. It was common to hear lizards and geckos at night. I once woke up to find ants on the toilet seat and the shower didn’t have any hot water (which really isn’t t that necessary considering it’s pretty warm). We didn’t have a TV either. My cellphone didn’t get any roaming service except in the resort reception area, and the wi-fi only worked there and in the dive shop.
I haven't slept in a "kulambo" since I was 3 years old and I visited my great grandmother in the province
But on vacation, one’s supposed to be unplugged anyway (so shame on you if this is a real deal breaker for you). The Internet, when you do get it, is quite slow (but this was 80 percent of my experience about web surfing in the Philippines. I saw a DSL provider promotional pamphlet in Manila that boasted 100kbps).
That said, it was only hot one night we were there (we were told it was usually quite pleasant). The ceiling fan seemed to do the trick for the most part. And it was the best view of any shower and toilet I’ve ever used.
Oh, and bring mosquito spray/lotion. Mosquitoes liked me and I really should have applied more repellent spray than I did. By day 7, the bites were really bothering me (good thing I had the good sense to bring some calamine lotion). You may also want to bring your own sunscreen since the resort didn’t really have a lobby store.
Contact info:
Puerto Del Sol
http://puertodelsolresort.com
*Tip – the resort isn’t frequented by locals (not sure why). They only accept PayPal or cash.
Discovery Divers (TDI/SDI)
http://www.ddivers.com/
*Tip – if you’re near or far-sighted, you CAN get a snorkel mask with lenses. You also don’t need a prescription, the same way you can get cheap glasses from CVS. (It just won’t correct for astigmatism). We got ours from 101Snorkel.com.
Other Palawan resorts we considered:
El Nido Resort, Club Paradise, El Rio Y Mar — all of which are more resort-y and are pricier
Got $$$ to spend? I heard Amanpulo is insanely nice.
Comments/questions? Leave me a message. I’m new to this travel blogging thing.
Sam Goes... 