Palawan | Underground River Tour

Galing kumuha ni Kuya Bankero. Excellent :)

Wake up call is at 5:00 am, and it’s just 4:00 am, and everyone’s is all up and ready for the trip. Instead of the arranged packed breakfast, everyone opted for eating it early at the restaurant.

Grabbed from Leuterio Realty Fan Page

We are scheduled for pick up at 6:00 am because we are scheduled for 9:00 am underground river tour at Sabang Palawan. Yes, it’s a 3-hour van ride not to mention that the road is a bit tummy challenging. If you get dizzy easily with zigzag road trips, better take some medicines an hour before the trip or bring a dizzy pack/plastic with you.

Pasensya na po, the sasakyan is moving eh.

Half way there will be a short stop for a pee break and a few minutes of stretching, before the next hour of travel heading Sabang. I recommend buying this purple kakanin. It actually tastes like a "suman bulanghoy" (sticky cassava cake wrapped in banana leaf). It does look like "puto bong bong" but it’s different. It’s almost like "piche-piche" but a bit sturdier. It has a "buko" (coconut) jam inside. It’s yummy and good to feel in your stomach if ever you get hungry while on the road.

When you reach Sabang, you’ll have to register in their tourism area. Make sure you have your ID’s with you. By the way, you have to book your trip the day before for the permits to be processed by the tour agency. All tours in the Underground River should be guided and facilitated with the inbound tour companies, which for me is good because it makes sure that each and every tourist and even locals will have a guided tour and it makes sure that the tour companies will continue to operate and earn a living.

After all, permits are checked you’ll hop into a motorized banca to bring you to the Underground River. Make sure to wear your lifejackets for safety. Remember the number of the boat you are in, it will be the same banca that will bring you back to the mainland. Do not remove the lifejackets when you get there. You will be using the same lifejackets during the underground river tour.

Sensya na po, hindi po photographer ang kumuha :) Pero at least kuha naman ang sign :)

ATTENTION: When you reach the destination, do not eat anything or don’t bring anything in plastics. There are a lot of monkeys living in the area. And anything plastic or even noise of plastic sounds food for them. Do not feed the animals as well most especially the packed ones because it may be harmful to their health. Do not provoke the monkeys too even just for fun, as it may harm you in defense.

Galing talaga ni Kuya :)

You’ll be asked to wear a helmet and hop on a smaller boat to get you ready to enter the Underground River. It’s a guided tour with the boat driver (driver talaga? Bankero pwede?)that serves as your wacky tour guide and sets your expectations on what to see inside. They have this skits and descriptions out of this world, fun and full of facts.

This is our wacky bankero tour guide that made our Underground River trip memorable. (If you have been in one of their travels, you'll realize that they have been repeating this jokes already, but it sure does makes the tourists giggle at all times :D) You will be toured in a banca for good for 20 people. The trip will not push through if it will not be complete. So if you’re traveling in groups, there may be times that you’ll be asked to join another banca to fill out the number. Just hop it, you’ll surely enjoy the trip even if you’re not with your group.

Photo from the Official Photographer

There will be photographers around to take pictures of you before you get in and after you came out of this cave-like structure. You can surely make a pose and have it printed in their printing area for 250 pesos each (expensive it is). But if you have that budget it’s a good memorabilia, most especially if you don’t have your own standby photographer.

After that, you’ll have to hop into your assigned banca and head back to the mainland for your lunch. All travel and tour agency guests will have their free lunch (well you actually paid for it in advance included in the tour package) after the tour at the Augusto Restaurant that offers it all you can meal for all. (yes, eat all you can!)Just in case it’s not included in your package they offer it at 200 pesos per person (still a good deal).

There are instances that trips may not be pushed through or canceled;

• 1.High tide
• 2. The 2weather disturbance like a typhoon or heavy rains that may lead to the fast increase of water level inside the cave.
• 3. Crying kids. Since it’s cave, it’s very dark, and kids may freak out once inside. If that happens, the trip will be canceled, and you might ruin the vacation/trip of the other guests in your banca. So kids are not allowed inside most especially children below 5 years old.

Got this rain catcher as a thank you gift from our tour guide! Yey! Thank you!

Location Map here:

And this is how far it is from our Hotel 3-4hours van travel;

*** This whole trip is paid for by Philippine Real Estate Management Solutions, Inc. and Leuterio Realty & Brokerage. ***