Wanderworld

I’ve been dreaming of going to Palaui since I discovered the virgin Anguib Beach and the mesmerizing view of rolling hills and the beach below it from Cape Engano lighthouse, which looks like Batanes at first glance. Fortunately, that dream finally became a reality last year, April 2013. (Yes, this post is a year late because I’ve only started blogging again last January, sorry :P).

Palaui is among the places I’ve been to that’s on top of my list because of its beautiful, pristine beach and unmatched, majestic views.

I especially loved the sights in Cape Engano: sprawling green on one side, matched with a rocky beach below, the beautiful Dos Hermanos Islands which seemed almost at an arm’s reach, the fine details of the steep rocky mountain with the lighthouse perched on top of it, and the quiet beach with a hint of blue beautifully splashed across its body.

However, planning for this trip was quite difficult for a number of reasons. Here are some of the things you need to know when planning for a Palaui trip:

1) Palaui is verrry far.

If you look at a Philippine map, you’ll see it almost at the topmost part, which means it’s at the tip of the country, far off north, and near Taiwan already.

To get there, you only have 2 options: a) take a 1-hr plane ride to Tuguegarao and ride a van from there to Palaui, which is still 4 hours away b) take a 12-hour bus ride to Tuguegarao and travel for another 4 hours via a passenger van to Palaui like we did.

Obviously, land travel is cheaper but less convenient. It also means that you have to allot extra days in your vacation for the travel time alone. (I’ll write in detail our IT in succeeding posts). If you dare to brave the long road trip, be forewarned that it’s not very pleasant, especially the van ride to Palaui.

For your convenience, it’s best to book a special Victory Liner bus from Manila to Tuguegarao like we did. Especially designed to make passengers more comfortable during long trips, the special bus offers creature comforts such as bigger seats with footrest, extra TV for people seated in the back (though some “non-special” buses have them too), a comfort room (don’t expect too much from it though; it’s just like a portable CR inside a bus and I didn’t try it for personal reasons, haha), and even free newspaper (or was it a tabloid? I can’t remember :D)

Unfortunately though, as mentioned, from Tuguegarao, you have to endure another 4-hour van ride to get to Palaui. You can take a short trike ride from the Victory Liner bus station in Tuguegarao (where you’re supposed to get off) to the station of passenger vans going to Palaui.

It took us a lot of patience to endure the van ride. Why? a) the van’s aircon was not enough for the cramped passengers inside, especially on a very hot day; b) the driver made a personal stop along the way to pick up tomatoes, which he loaded at the back of the van, and then made another stop to deliver them somewhere; I think the task was a personal favor, which he did when he’s supposed to be working and driving us to our destination c) the van picked up and dropped off passengers along the way, which made the trip seemingly endless; what’s worse is each passenger paid as he/she got off the van, which took extra few minutes and made the trip unnecessarily longer.

2) The boat ride to explore the famous sites in Palaui such as Punta Verde, Crocodile Island, Cape Engano, and Anguib Beach is somehow expensive if you’re traveling with a small group.

The usual cost is Php 3500 for the four destinations, and the island hopping is usually done in just one whole day. In our case though, for the same price, we made a deal with our boatman to take us to the 4 sites in 2 days (first 2 on our first day, and the remaining 2 on our 2nd day). I especially wanted to reserve a whole day for Cape Engano and Anguib Beach because they’re the more beautiful sites and because I also wanted to have enough time for swimming.

3) It’s difficult to look for a boatman ahead of your trip to take you island hopping.

Most blogs say that you have to coordinate with the tourist center of Palaui for island hopping. Based on my various travels though, such tourist centers provide island hopping tours at more expensive rates, especially if you don’t have other passengers that can go with you, which means you’ll have to shoulder the boat expenses alone.

Because of this, I tried searching for a contact number of a boatman in Palaui that I can negotiate with since my bf and I are the only ones traveling. Luckily, I found one after days of browsing blogs. His name is Val (if I remember correctly), and his number is 09064035886 (hopefully he didn’t change his number since :p).

I texted him days before we left Manila (I like everything smoothed out before I head to a place) and he called me several times to discuss the details of the trip. He agreed to split our island hopping tour in 2 days and charged us for the same price of a one-day tour of Php 3500.

Amazingly, as it turned out, Kuya Val was an officer in the tourist center of Palaui, so we had no problem when we got there. He said that only boats that belonged to the tourist center are allowed to take visitors for an island hopping tour. Kuya Val was very nice and accommodating; he served as our photographer and tour guide as well in Cape Engano, sharing details about the place as we trekked. He also offered us packed lunch for the tour, which he asked his wife to take care of for us. 🙂

4) Finding and booking a resort in Palaui is a challenge too.

Since most of the resorts in Palaui area are basic ones (which also means cheap, which is a good thing), you’ll rarely find one that has a website or online booking feature. For me, it’s important that the resort I choose has a website so I can at least see how the resort, especially the rooms, look like.

Among the few I found online was Costa Carina, which I chose mainly because they were the most prompt and patient in answering my texts. The resort also looked nice and good enough for a couple of days, based from the pictures on their Facebook page.

They also called me several times for the details of our trip and even gave me directions on how to get to Palaui. I’ll blog about the resort and our experience there in another blog post. 🙂

Those are the essential stuff you have to keep in mind as you plan your trip to Palaui. Though they may sound complicated, you’ll have your reward once you’re there in the form of exceptional and breathtaking views. I actually miss the place and want to go back there as I write about it now, bola aside :P.

As I always say about beautiful-but-hard-to-reach places, it’s all worth it 😉

Next post: First day of island hopping: Punta Verde and Crocodile Island. Stay tuned! 🙂