the.gipster: Palawan, in my Head

Ryan and I tried booking our trip to Dos Palmas from Last Frontier Dive. Apparently, it's the same tour company our hotel, Niko's Cabanas, is working with. With a little help from them we were able to confirm our reservation. The resort is nice, the staff are friendly and hospitable, I'm definitely looking forward for another stay with them.

Anyway, early Friday morning, Ryan and I were on our feet preparing for the trip to Dos Palmas. We have been advised that a service from Dos Palmas will be passing near the hotel to pick us up. Call time at the pick up point was 6:30am.

I have been trying to get Ryan out of the room but he kept on arguing that people from the tour will call the hotel to inform us that they're already there. It was 7am. It was almost 8am and we haven't received a single call yet. Obviously, something got lost in translation.

I tried calling the tour company to confirm and figure out if the service for Dos Palmas has already passed by our hotel. Well, they did. At 6:45am. And we weren't there. So Ryan and I got into this discussion trying to point the finger at this someone who made us miss the service. Nose bleed ako dun. Talo ako sa ingles. Grrr. No one really won. It was our fault. But anyway, thankfully, the staff of Last Frontier Dive tried arranging a (speedy) ride for us heading to the port where we are supposed to grab the boat going to Dos Palmas. Finally, we're really on our way to the beach! Yay!

It was going to be a 45min ride to the island. And yeah, it would have been hell for me if it was a bumpy ride. Thank God it wasn't.

The boat's roof clad in life vests.

Ryan wore his life vest the moment
he sat on the boat.

The boat orienting its bow towards the bay.
At 8am, its a pretty gloomy morning.

We're all set for the 45min. boat ride.

The boat soon gathered speed.

We spotted manong doing his morning chores
checking his fishes.

This was the first habited island we saw.
We thought this was it.

20minutes more, beautiful cottages started
appearing in sight. Apparently, they're the
beach villas of Dos Palmas.

Dead ahead were cottages, on right side of the
island, rain clouds started manifesting themselves.

We soon caught sight of the resort's bay villas.

The boat slowed down as we approached the dock.

The welcoming committee awaits us:
Staff holding our complimentary drinks and
erm.. a some music played by the staff :D

When we docked, we were ushered to the briefing room which was just beside the grand hall where they hold their buffet. We have been told that for the day tour price that we have paid, Php 1800.00, we are entitled to the free use of the beach, snorkeling equipment, kayaks and of course the lunch buffet. All the other facilities/services will need fees from us. Note that the pool isn't allowed for us. For the resorts errm, checked-in guests lang daw. Ah.. Ok.

Sounds fair to me. As soon as the briefing was over, Ryan and I headed out and tried looking for a cottage that we can use.

We settled down in this cottage to do our
planing. I really find it's ceiling interesting.

While planning, it started to rain.

It started with a light shower.

Then the heavy rain came. It just pissed Ryan off.

We parted ways, he got a massage while I
(leaving my things in the cottage)
went to get a dip in the beach..

..and roam around.

A little late in the afternoon, the skies started
to clear. We can finally have some fun! YAY! :D

Since Ryan has been pushing me for snorkeling, I gave in. We suited up (i.e. life vests on) and grabbed our gear from this little shack and headed out to sea, errr.. bay, whatever. Well, since I didn't have the underwater cam with me, I don't have the pics. I have yet to get those pictures from him. Anyway, after snorkeling, we checked our watches, and it was time for us to prepare for departure. Booooo. Yeap, There goes my 1,800. It all just went... POOF!! No thanks to the weather!! Grrr..

A look back at the bay villas before boarding
the boat back to the city.