Sabang Beach, Palawan

Travel date: 23-24 January 2019

Sabang Beach is located two hours northeast of Puerto Princesa City. It is best known as the jump-off point to the Puerto Princesa Underground River, as visitors arrive in vans and right away take a boat to the subterranean river park. However, for those looking for a yet undeveloped beach destination in Palawan (think El Nido 10 years ago), it may be worth staying in Sabang Beach for a night or two.

Although near and accessible enough via well-paved roads from "Puerto" (a nickname for the city and not to be confused with "Puerto Galera" in Mindoro), Sabang somehow missed out on the tourism boom that transformed Coron, El Nido, and most recently, Port Barton. Hotel and restaurant options remain largely local and basic, while electricity remains limited to a few hours after sunset. Evenings are quiet as the couple of bars close up at midnight, along with everything else, and mornings are more so...But mobile signal is strong, and so is the sea breeze and the tropic sun.

From Puerto, I caught the shuttle van to Sabang, as a last escapade in Palawan before moving to Cebu City. My goal was not to see the underground river park but to explore the beach itself, including the mangrove river tour that I just read about.

Sabang beach: brown sugar sand sprinkled with pebbles and seaweed.

Sabang beach doesn't have white powdery sand and swimming isn't safe either. One more thing that it doesn't have though are...crowds and noise.

It helps to mark and to cordon off sea turtle nests for monitoring and fending off dogs and other predators. 

Olive ridley sea turtles are among the 5 species (out of 7) of sea turtles that can be seen in the Philippines. They are much less common than Green and Hawksbill sea turtles and are similarly threatened to become extinct. Protecting their hatching sites helps increase their chances of survival.

Boats anchor off-shore to avoid the crashing waves, though some still set sail depending on need and courage.

When winds are too strong and waves too rough, boat trips get cancelled and so do the underground river tours. On such days, tourist vans don't arrive and tourist boats remain anchored, which might mean a lost payday for some.

Celestino Santander is among the lead guides who also offers "how to paddle for beginners" tours.

About a kilometer away from the tourist landing area, is a century-old mangrove forest and a river running through it. Trained local guides paddle a boat-load of tourists for 20 or so minutes while telling mangrove stories and obligatory semi-relevant jokes.

Paddle Boat Tours cost Php350/pax. Paddle Boat Learning Tours also cost Php350/pax plus a new life skill. They also offer Birdwatching Tours for Php350/pax which starts at 6:30am.

Centuries-old mangrove trees contend for space along the river. Some are male, while some are female. I can't tell which.

Mangroves are extremely valuable and useful but are unfortunately not sexy or exciting enough. I think I first encountered them in the same area during a family trip to the underground river. I remember being curious about their roots that stick out above the water because other trees are not like that.