Busuanga

We just got back from our first vacation of the year and we are already dreaming about repeating our itinerary next year. We went to Busuanga which is the northernmost part of Palawan which is the most undeveloped and beautiful island in the Philippines. Both of the resorts that we stayed at had their own island so there were no cars or noisy inhabitants (except the monkeys). First we stayed at the Sangat Island Resort which was our favorite spot. It was so quiet and peaceful. Even the water was almost always still with no waves. Our daily routine was to get up and observe the animals. Usually we would walk to a tree where monkeys were eating breakfast but one day we kayaked to some natural hot springs in some mangroves. On our way, we got a great view of monkeys eating on a limestone cliff wall rising up from the water where we were floating. Some monkeys tried to join us in the hotsprings too. After our morning monkey watching, we would eat breakfast. Sangat's food was the best we've had at a resort in the Philippines. After breakfast we would retire with our books to hammocks near the water and read/sleep until lunch approached. After lunch we would go kayaking or snorkeling. The reef near the resort was surprisingly good. On our kayaking trip we often saw the most colorful bird that we have ever seen in the wild. We think it is the stork-billed kingfisher that is in the picture above that we took from the internet. Then after a cold shower (the only major downfall of Sangat) we'd play games at the restaurant, play with some of the eight puppies at the resort or chat with some friends we made who are also rooted in Massachusetts.

After about five days at Sangat we transferred to the posh El Rio Y Mar resort where we traded rustic relaxation for a very comfortable room with beautiful ocean views right from the bed. Our favorite part of the room was the window in our shower that gave us a great view of the ocean and green hills of Palawan. The highlight of this part of the trip was spending a few hours of each day at their sister resort (at a different island) where the snorkeling was excellent. Our main goal was to see sea turtles. The first day we saw one and were surprised at how big they are (maybe about 4 feet long). We got to swim with it for a while and could get very close. The next day we saw six or seven sea turtles. One tried to surface for air right where Matt was floating so he had to face off with the turtle. Matt earned his status as the alpha male though this may not have been a great accomplishment since just a few minutes earlier we saw a two inch clown fish scare the giant turtle away from the fish's anenome bed. This trip has really made us wish we had an underwater camera case.

The other cool thing we saw from our porch at sunset one night was a giant school of fish make three successive jumps from the water in a serpentine motion. There were so many of them that as they jumped, they made a loud "whaa, whaa, whaa" sound. It almost looked like a lochness monster moving through the water. The last noteworthy sighting was of a (really ugly) eagle ray when we were snorkeling.