Sailing Palawan, Day 2

Gener was keen to show us this "Mother Tree" that he remembered from his childhood: it's quite large, and at one time flood waters were above Andrew's head.

the trunk of the giant Dao tree looms large in the jungle

This morning we started in this dugout canoe. But as the river got larger Gener's assistant boatman caught up to us and they just towed us the rest of the way.

Just a shot of the jungle. I like the palm trees.

At the village of Maoyan we traded the canoe for the sailboat. We stopped for lunch on the river bank where the Babuyan River meets the sea. As we looked out we could see the white caps being whipped up and were a little hesitant about it, given the girth of this vessel.

We pull up to a long stretch of sand and Gener asks a man on the beach if we can stay - yes - so we drop anchor on Snake Island (so named because it resembles a snake when viewed from above - look for map button for this image).

As we made our camp, we watched the rain clouds skirt past us, making a dramatic lightscape on hills of Palawan. (lomo filter applied)

Gener breaks up some drift wood for a fire. Julie relaxes in the bamboo shed that would be our dining hall.

Eel! A passing fisherman offered this brown spotted eel for sale to Gener. He asked us if we wanted it and Andrew said yes.

Snake Island was a very popular tourist destination. But the boat anchors wrecked the corals, and the hordes killed the mangroves. As a result the government shut the island down to let it recuperate.

Take it all in; we're on a small strip of sand that few people get to experience this way.

Needless to say that we are now really, REALLY happy with this trip.

I took so many pictures of this scene; it was hard to pick one that emanated the feeling of it all.

It's pitch black right now, so Gener cut down a branch and Andrew tied his headlamp to it so that we could see what we were eating. A dinner of eel in coconut curry, sweet & sour fish, and fresh mussels. Plus the now standard calamansi juice - this time with a shot of rum! The Tanduay put Andrew to sleep pretty quickly.

Good morning wonderful world! After the rough night previously, sleeping on a beach with nobody around was bliss.

Gener fries up some "saba" bananas for breakfast. We learned that there are about 20 different varieties of bananas grown in the Phillipines, many suited to specific way of preparing.

Can't help but grin when your breakfast is all fresh fruit and strong coffee served on a bamboo bench on a beach.

#itsmorefuninthephilippines (twitter.com/search?q=%23itsmorefuninthephilippines)

Morning greeted us with sunny skies and calm waters.

After breakfast we go out for some snorkeling just off the beach. As we walk in Julie spots this guy poking out of a hole. Freakin' scary looking! But we were told it's just a grouper fish; more head than body.

We were amazed at what we saw just a few feet from shore. Many colourful fish were in the shallows, along with starfish and other things we don't know.

the view above water

I can't remember what this is: pipe fish? ghost fish? Zoom in to get a better look.

Naturally, one does like it when they find Nemo!

What is that over there? It's moving, but doesn't look like an animal.

It's called a "feather star", a crinoid, and I'd never seen one before. It looked so light and delicate, just barely holding on in the current.

Fairly good visibility here as we come across half a dozen large starfish.

Since the action is so close to the beach, a lot of it has been damaged by boats and their anchors. And if this place was as busy as Gener says it was, I imagine the throngs of peoples' flippers mucking about didn't help much either. At this time, we were called back for lunch and to depart to the next island.