The Underground River Tour Experience

This is it; we’re going to the World’s famous Underground River! Kuya Danny, our contact for our Puerto Princesa tours, advised us that we’ll be joining other groups for our Underground River Tour since we are only a group of four. Not an issue, it’s an opportunity to make new friends and as they say, the more, the merrier!

Early Birds
Pick up time is 7:30am so we need to wake up early. And excited as we are, we were ready before the van had arrived with full stomach! Thanks to Tres Pension’s free continental breakfast and to Joy, the very accommodating staff, who had prepared our breakfast as early as 6:30am.

Our van has arrived and we were picked up, just right on time. There were a total of 3 groups, with 11 individuals in the van plus our tour guide and a driver.

A Joy Ride
The Underground River is located at Sabang, an approximate two hours ride from Puerto Princesa. It’s a bit long but thanks to our funny tour guide, Doris, and our efficient driver, Kuya Ruben, for making the long drive fun and enjoyable. Doris had shared a lot of information, history, myths and fun facts not only about the Underground River but also about Palawan as a whole.

The long drive gave us a scenic charm of the province and made us realized why Puerto Princesa is considered as a “City in a Forest”.

Since it’s quite a long drive, we made our fist stop to Jazz Souvenir & Coffee Shop. Some had their breakfast while we enjoyed the scenic view of the Ulugan Bay, the Tres Marias and Rita Island.

Can you spot the three little islands? It's the Tres Marias Island!

We also had a short stop, of course for photo op, in this picturesque “lion cave”.

The "Lion" Cave

An Inch Closer
After a few hours of an enjoyable ride, we arrived in Sabang Port. The weather is a bit unpredictable that day; it’s a bit gloomy actually. But nevertheless, there were already a number of tourists in the area, waiting for their turn to ride a boat going to the Underground River.

Since we booked a tour, our tour guide was the one who processed our permits and she had just asked us to give her our ids and she called us when it was our turn. That’s the benefit of getting an Underground River Tour rather than doing DIY tours; all is prepared and taking care of.

After about 15 minutes, our permits we’re ready and it’s our turn for another 20mins of boat ride going to the Underground River. It was a bit rough ride but thanks to our skilled boatman, we never got wet or just splashed by the water unlike what happened on our Half Day Honda Bay tour, wherein we got very wet on our way to the island.

Familiar spot, right? From our elementary textbooks, postcards and now across social sites, this is the most photographed spot in the Underground River area. And of course because we’re “in”, we pose and pose and pose!

Monkeys & Lizards First
From the above spot, we were asked to register and before going directly to the cave, our tour guide directed us first to the Monkey trail area.  She had advised us to keep any plastic bags or food as Monkeys  tend to get and steal things from visitors and that giving food to any animals in this area is illegal as they are firm in preserving not just the natural habitat of the animals but as well as their habit and behavior.

 But sadly, no Monkey showed up during our visit. However, there were Monitor Lizards! There were a number of them in varying sizes. All are freely in the ground, not in a cage or something.

The Trail to the Underground River
After an encounter with the lizards, we proceeded to the trail going to the entrance of the cave. It’s a just a short walk and there were quite a number of visitors already; all waiting to explore one of New 7 Wonders of the Nature, the Underground River.

 

As far as I can remember, our turn to enter the cave was number 39th. Yes, it’s only about 10am and the number of tourists already flocked in. As we need to wait for about an hour before our turn to get in the, we just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and of course, took many pictures as we can.

The Longest Underground River Experience

Cave Entrance

The Underground River Explorer :)

 Alright, this is it! We rode the paddle boat and we were a group of 9 with a boatman/tour guide in one. The once seated in front holds the spotlight and directs it as to where the boatman is referring; usually an interesting formation of stalactites and stalagmites.

Inside the cave

 Upon entering the cave, the boatman started his funny lines by greeting us “Good Evening” as it’s very dark inside. The smell is also unpleasant due to thousands of bats living inside the cave. Known as the World’s longest underground river, the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park is 8.2km long and it flows directly to the South China Sea. However, visitors are only permitted to visit the first 1.5km of the river for safety and health reasons.

Like any other tour, the boatman/tour guide shared a lot of information about the Underground River, its history, how it was discovered, etc. What’s amusing is that they made some story out of the limestone’s formation for millions of years. To name a few, there’s a vegetable garden with interesting vegetable formation like a giant mushroom, there’s a cathedral, a candle, etc.

Last look at the Cave entrance

 For around 45minutes of almost total darkness, I can’t help but realized and be astonished of this amazing natural wonder by our Creator. What even made it more interesting are the entertaining lines of the boatman; I know they are scripted but I recognized their effort to make the tour entertaining as possible. Just be careful when opening your mouth as there are thousands of bat inside the cave, you might taste a “holy shit”.

A Great Way to End the Tour
What a great way to end the tour than by having a buffet lunch at beach front? The foods were delicious and the relaxing ocean breeze was very relaxing. 

Since we finished the tour early, the group had supposedly agreed to proceed to Ugong Cave for spelunking and zipline activity. Unluckily, just as we arrived in the place, the heavy rain started to pour so we decided to go home instead.

On our way to the city, our tour guide also asked us if we would want to be dropped off at the new pasalubong and souvenir center. Granting that we have limited time for our city tour on the next day, we grab the chance and bought some pasalubongs and personalized Palawan souvenir shirt before going back to Tres Pension.

The Verdict
The Puerto Princesa Underground River is truly a wonder! It's one of a kind and we're so blessed to have this in our country. The tour itself was also fun, hassle-free and enriching experience; thanks to our tour guide and driver. And with that, I would say that an Underground River Tour is a must when in Palawan.

Posted in: Palawan,Puerto Princesa