Palawan, Philippines...a nice surprise!

Last night, the captain told us that we might get the opportunity to stop at an island in the south Philippinne Islands that is considered the Bora Bora of this area. Since I have never been to Bora Bora, but have always imagined it to be fabulous, just the thought was exciting. This morning we arrived in the Philippine Islands. A shock. I never had any idea this would be so beautiful. It took a long time to get an update about whether or not we would be able to have a day at the beach or not as these islands are very remote and using the ship tenders wasn't possible because there were no piers to dock them. The captain arranged for a resort in the area to rent the ship several speed boats and drivers to shuttle us from the ship to the island. He came across the PA with the following update ( more or less) " We have arranged for transportation, they are very small speed boats, they will be hard to get in and out of, there will not be food on the island, there may be bottled water, there are no restrooms and not much shade. Only the very fit and agile passengers should attempt to go." What would you do?? Charles and Nicholas opted to stay on the ship for a ping pong tournament and volleyball. Kathleen and I decided to pack a survivor type backpack, get on our bathing suits and go for it! Seeing the beaches from a distance was just too tempting. You could not see however, the beach they actually took us to. It was a leap of faith. Look at what we found...Can you believe this is the Philippines? Am I the only one who never knew?? We were met by our friends Margie and Dave that could not believe the boys stayed on the ship!

Kathleen could not wait to put on her mask and look for treasures. She found huge shells, like the ones you see in restrooms with small scented soaps in them! The water was really salty again. Very clear and wonderfully warm. The views from this island are over to more beautiful islands!! Kathleen and I took a picture of today's menu!! There was a restaurant there! Food, drinks, everything! We decided to go exploring. This would be a great spot for the show Survivor to tape. There are huge mountains, the beaches are long, soft white sand, curving palms.... It had it all. We had not gone far in our walk when we noticed some tracks!! This tracking ablility is something we learned in Africa last summer!! We were not quite sure what we were tracking but we were tracking!

What ever it is it went in this cave!! Kathleen wanted to go in. Look closley as possible at the tracks...can you guess what it was?? Quite large front paws and a tail??? We found a local and showed him our exciting find! He told us we were tracking a Monitor Lizard and this one was probably over 3 ft. long!!!! What would we have done if we had found it!!! Thank goodness he decided to go in the cave for a nap. We never saw him but have fond memories of looking for him!

Kathleen thought this rock was interesting. It was. The same guy, told us this was a big chunk of Limestone. Too large to pick up and put in our survivor backpack with the shells!

Here is the restaurant. Tables you sit in the sand on cushions to enjoy your lunch. Not only is it comfortable seating you are in a palm grove!

Here is the food they were not supposed to have!

Here is the bathroom that they were not supposed to have!

Look at all the shade!!

Kathleen with some of her friends, Bill, Stu, and Bruce! They too took a walk on the dark side and went to the island!

Kathleen wanted to stay longer. Very hard to get her to leave. It was really beautiful. I hated to leave too!

Can we stay and take a nap in a hammock under a palm tree? Can you count on one finger how many times someone has asked you that?

Our speed boat delivered us back to the ship in one piece and it was a delightful adventure for the girls!

Good bye to a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes it pays to take chances. Glad this one turned out to be a good one. Hope our luck continues over the next 50 something days!

The sun goes down on another wonderful day. Tomorrow we will be in Manila. We are scheduled to Pagsanjan. This is a town 90 minutes southeast of Manila. You won't believe what we will be doing there! Stay tuned.