After a couple of days in El Nido we stay a little longer on the archipelago of Palawan. We make our way more South to the village of Port Barton.
Port Barton, isolated village in Palawan
A lot less touristic than El Nido, this little village is starting to offer more options to tourists like us who are looking for a quieter place a little off the beaten path. The atmosphere is really nice and relaxed, where locals and tourists mix, there is almost no traffic at all and no mass tourism yet. The city actually still has major electrical power issues and running water can be spotty, which scares away some tourists.
After El Nido’s craziness this is exactly what we were looking for.
From El Nido we have 3 hour minivan drive to get to Port Barton. We arrive late morning and immediately notice the difference between the 2 cities. It feels great to not have tricycles every 5 feet asking if we need a ride, or travel agents at every street corner trying to sell their tours.
From the bus terminal we walk to our hotel, the road here is still a dirt road. We walk past local markets, small shop and a few hotels. The beach is only 2 blocks away. We can already feel that we will like it here. We plan on spending 4 nights in the city.
When we arrive at the hotel we learn that there is a city wide shortage of running water. The power isn’t so much better because it regularly shuts down for a few hours every day. Which means of course no WiFi, and no cellphone reception either. A few days cut off from the outside world is going to be no problem at all.
We go get lunch on the beach, and are surprised to notice that the beach is almost empty.
In Port Barton we plan on doing another island hopping. The landscapes aren’t as beautiful as in Coron or El Nido. But here the sea bed is amazing and we can hopefully swim with some sea turtles, one of Maider’s dreams. We have been in contact with a French couple Tristan and Charlotte, for a few days, who also wanted to do a private island hopping tour from Port Barton. Since they arrived before us they booked a boat for the following day. Meaning we have nothing to do this afternoon aside from relaxing on the beach.
That evening we meet up with Tristan and Charlotte at Happy Bar (where we will spend all our evenings in Port Barton…). The prices here are a lot different than in El Nido, we can feel that people here don’t live mainly from tourism contrary to other parts of the country. And during happy hour the deals get even better!
The bar is located on the beach, and from here we have another amazing view on the sunset.
We stay up late drinking beer since a lot of other French people joined us and we spent a lot of time sharing all our different travel experiences.
Island Hopping and swimming with the turtles
The next day we meet at 7:30 am at Happy Bar for breakfast before leaving on our tour. We leave at 8 am sharp, meaning we take a one hour head start on the tour groups. Even if there are a lot less boats here than in El Nido and Coron.
Our boat captain and his assistant are super nice. We explain to them that we want to avoid the big groups as much as possible so they suggest us an itinerary taking that into consideration.
Our first stop is at the turtle spot. We are the second boat on site and Marc, the assistant, spots a turtle in less than 2 minutes. We are lucky, because even if this is a popular feeding ground for them, there is no guarantee to see any turtles.
We dive the 4 of us with Marc to go see it from up close. And the moment is absolutely magical.
We stay a little while around the turtle until a huge group arrives and we start to get crowded around her.
But our boat captain, who stayed on the boat, spots a second one.
So the 5 of us get moving and go swim around this other turtle for a while and we are all alone with this one. No noisy group comes to bother us this time.
The turtle comes up to the surface a few times for our biggest delight because we can see it from even closer.
Maider is living a dream and we all spend an unforgettable time.
We get back on the boat and go to Fantastic Reef, a snorkeling spot.
We put our mask and tuba back on and go to discover the ocean bed. Here the corals are beautiful and there are tons of fish. We see some Nemos again !
After a long time snorkeling we make our way to Maxima Paradise island. The way there is amazing. The arrival on the beach is stunning.
The color of the water is once again incredible.
When we arrive there is only one other boat there. Marc tells us that we can take a small path that leads to a hidden beach on the other side of the island.
We follow his directions, walk 10 minutes and get to a magnificent and deserted beach.
On the way we have a nice view on the beach the boat stopped at.
We will stay over an hour taking advantage of this beach with its beautiful palm trees.
The water here is super warm, even warmer than in Coron and El Nido, which we didn’t think was possible.
We then find our crew for an unbelievable lunch. They made us a 5 star feast that could literally feed 10 people. There is fish, marinated chicken, fruits, veggies and rice of course. It is delicious !
We even have a fresh beer to accompany the whole. If this isn’t paradise it is pretty close to it.
To digest, we get back on our bangka to go to German Island, near the turtle spot.
Where there are plenty of hammocks and we can lay down for a nice nap.
When we arrive the place is a little crowded but after 10 minutes all the groups leave and the beach is almost empty. After a few minutes relaxing on the hammocks, the urge to go back and try to spot a turtle was too strong.
Especially since there are no more boats near the turtle spot. The both of us grab our snorkeling gear and leave Tristan and Charlotte to their nap.
After 30 minutes spent in the water not seeing anything we start making our way back to shore, when Maider runs head to head into a turtle. Matt is a little further so it takes him a while to reach Maider, but during that time she is a alone swimming with the turtle.
The tide is lower than this morning which means the ocean is a lot shallower, so Maider is able to see the turtle from a lot, lot closer.
At one point she stares at her right in the eyes when the turtle comes up to the surface.
An unforgettable moment and a dream come true for her (Maider not the turtle, whose dream is definitely not to swim with some random French tourist). Matt arrives and we spend some more time swimming around the turtle (or rather the turtle swims effortless while we float around awkwardly).
Before getting disturbed by yet another boat filled by a huge noisy group who jumps in the water all at once. We decide to leave the turtle (secretly knowing she preferred our company to the noisy drunk English group after us). We are thrilled we decided to go back for a swim and be able to find ourselves alone with this amazing creature. A magical experience that we will never forget.
We meet up with our friends and go back on the bangka to make our way to Wild Reef, our second snorkeling spot of the day.
Here again the corals are magnificent and there are plenty of fishes.
But here the ocean is a lot more agitated, which makes for a much more physical swim. Just as we were about to end our session and climb back on the boat, we find ourselves head to head with a water snake. We had never seen any and it is pretty scary. Especially since these are venomous and super dangerous. Maider and Charlotte will run back on the boat.
We then go to our last snorkeling spot of the day, Twin Reef.
It is here that we find the corals are the most beautiful and where we see the most fishes of the day. No snakes in sight for our biggest delight.
We end the day at a sand bar, also called Starfish Island. This sand bar is known for having huge starfish.
We don’t really understand what all the fuss is about.
The sand bar isn’t that nice (the one in Coron was a lot more beautiful).
And moreover there are only two or three starfishes around. Not our favorite spot of day (the competition was tough) but an enjoyable spot on the way back to Port Barton.
We get back in Port Barton late afternoon after an incredible day. We loved our island hopping with Charlotte, Tristan and our great crew. It was a beautiful day. Indeed the landscapes are less impressive than in El Nido and Coron, but there are a lot less tourists and we were able to swim with the turtles. And just for that we would do it all over again !
This long day made us hungry so we go grab a huge burger before meeting up with our friends at Happy Bar.
Tonight the clouds are present, making the colors of the sunset very particular but still beautiful.
2 days of rest
The next day we decide to rest and go spend the day at White Beach, a few miles away from Port Barton.
The beach is amazing with its coconut trees and hammocks.
We spend the day swimming, reading and taking a nap. The weather changes during the afternoon, so we decide to get back before it starts raining. And we made it back just in time because the rain starts pouring down late afternoon.
After a burger last night, time for a pizza tonight. And what a pizza! It is huge and cooked with wood fire.
Tonight is Charlotte and Tristan’s last night before they go to El Nido so we meet up one last time at … you guessed it, Happy Bar!
The next day is our last day in Port Barton and we decide to do nothing. We can’t really work on the blog because there is no WiFi so we finish our books and take a nap. Traveling is tough !
Port Barton was really a nice place to rest. Which feels great after our busy schedule in Coron and El Nido.
We have one last night in Port Barton before leaving to Puerto Princesa, on the other side of Palawan. And from there we will take a flight to Cebu. A lot of traveling over the next couple of days. We see you on the other side!