When you travel to vacation destinations there are always many package activities that you can participate in. Palawan was no different. During our stay there we decided that we had to experience the famous underground river located in the St.Paul National River Park near Puerto Princesa. As we were reminded over and over the underground river is a finalist to become one of the new wonders of the world and is one of the United Nation's World Heritage sites. I have to admit that it lives up to the hype. It was pretty spectacular.
The Underground River stretches 8.2 kilometres deep into the mountain eventually opening up into an underground lagoon. Unfortunately we could not visit this part of the cave. The regular tour lasted about 45 minutes and covered only the first 1.5 kilometres of the river/cave. It is believe to be one of the longest navigable underground rivers in the world and features numerous cathedral like caverns and domes. There are also thousands of limestone formations inside the tunnel such as stalactites and stalagmites. These formed over thousands of years by droplets percolating through the rock from the land above. The caves are also home to millions of bats which were plainly visible as we maneuvred through the cave. We were told repeatedly to keep our mouths closed while staring at the ceiling...you can imagine why. The bats deposited an astounding amount of guano. We could smell the ammonia before we even entered the care. Now for the pictures, many of which were provided by Ryan King. Thanks Ryan.
This was one crazy van ride through the mountains. I am not prone to car sickness but I was sitting at the back of the bus and almost lost my lunch on this ride.
Here we are waiting for our balangay (Filipino style boat) to take us to the Caves.
Here you can see the beach at low tide. There are many balangay anchored here.
The beach near the entrance to the caves was quite beautiful as were the limestone rock formations surrounding the lagoon.
Hardhats and vests required on this tour.
