day one hundred: january 7, 2016: puerto princessa
After Underground River, we hopped back in the van and headed to Puerto Princesa, another multi-hour drive. After we checked in, we headed to the baywalk area for some BBQ. We were not disappointed.
With our resort facing east, we woke up bright and early to see the sunrise.
Wanting to get away from the crowds, our guide suggested that we go to Arena Island. We drove 2 hours from Puerto Princesa, then got on a 30 minute boat to the island. Yet again, our boat captain was almost an hour and a half late, but we quickly forgot about it once we arrived at Arena Island. Lucky for us, we were the only ones on the island that day. The island is home to a small resort with four bungalows.
The island is also home to sea turtles that come to lay their eggs on its beaches around the island. The security guards and staff of the resort help to release the sea turtles in an effort to increase their chances of survival. Only 1 out of every 100 survives. They had two batches of turtles, one only a week old and the second two weeks old.
After a long day of relaxing, snorkeling, and playing with baby sea turtles, we headed back to the main island. Upon arrival at shore, we encountered tons of stingless jellyfish in the water. As the sun was setting, we headed back to Puerto Princesa.
day one hundred and two: january 9, 2016: puerto princesa
We decided to take it easy today and hung out at our hotel, before checking in to another hotel. It was pretty cool because our hotel was getting ready to host a kiteboarding open over the next couple of days, so some people were already there and practicing in front of the hotel.
Later that night, we went to Iwahig Firefly Watching. They served us a buffet dinner then we got in a boat that would take us on a 45 minute boat ride to check out the fireflies. It was cool...but we were told that there could be millions of fireflies by our guide...and we didn't see that many. And, I was imagining that they would be flying all over the place, lighting up the sky....but they were just in the trees as we passed. I think we enjoyed playing with the bioluminescence in the water more.