Palawan 2005: When the Underground River Still Felt Like a Secret

In the summer of 2005, we flew into Puerto Princesa with a single goal — find out if Palawan was really as beautiful as everyone said. What we found was something no photograph could prepare us for. An island province so pristine, so wild, so impossibly green that it felt like we’d stepped into a nature documentary.

This was before Palawan topped every “Best Island in the World” list. Before El Nido became a luxury destination. Before the Underground River became a New7Wonders of Nature. We were just two travelers with a backpack, a camera, and a hunch that this place was special.

How Did Our Palawan Adventure Begin?

Puerto Princesa in 2005 was a quiet, tree-lined city that moved at its own pace. We settled into charming air-conditioned huts near the city center — simple, clean, and surrounded by tropical gardens. The kind of accommodation where the owner remembers your name by the second morning and asks if you’ve eaten breakfast yet.

The city itself served as our basecamp, but the real draw was what lay beyond it. Palawan is long and narrow — stretching over 450 kilometers — and in 2005, most of its coastline was still untouched. No resorts. No boardwalks. Just jungle meeting ocean in every direction.

We spent our first day arranging transportation and boats. In those days, you didn’t book online. You walked to the tourism office, talked to the locals, and pieced together your own itinerary. Half the adventure was the planning.

What Made Honda Bay Island Hopping Unforgettable?

Honda Bay is a collection of small islands scattered across a turquoise bay just north of Puerto Princesa. In 2005, island hopping here was pure, uncomplicated joy.

We’d board a small boat each morning — just us, a boatman, and a cooler — and hop between islands that felt completely untouched. Starfish Island, where the shallow waters were so clear you could count individual starfish on the sandy bottom from the boat. Snake Island, a sinuous sandbar that curved into the sea like a living thing. Cowrie Island, where we had an entire white-sand beach to ourselves for an afternoon.

The coral reefs were pristine. Vibrant, healthy, teeming with marine life in a way that I’ve rarely seen since. We’d slip off the boat with masks and snorkels and find ourselves floating above gardens of staghorn coral, surrounded by schools of parrotfish, clownfish darting in and out of anemones, and the occasional sea turtle gliding past with the calmness of something that’s been doing this for a hundred years.

No other tourists. No floating platforms. No vendors selling overpriced drinks. Just the ocean and everything in it.

What Was the Underground River Like Before It Was Famous?

The Puerto Princesa Underground River is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New7Wonders of Nature. When we visited in 2005, it was just… a really incredible cave that locals told us we had to see.

The boat ride to the river entrance took us through a mangrove-lined estuary, past limestone karst formations that jutted out of the jungle like ancient cathedrals. Monitor lizards — massive, prehistoric-looking creatures — lounged on the rocks near the entrance, barely acknowledging our presence. They were the size of small dogs, and completely unbothered by humans.

Inside the cave, our small paddle boat drifted through chambers that defied scale. Stalactites hung from ceilings so high our flashlight beams barely reached them. The sound of dripping water echoed through cathedral-sized chambers. Our guide pointed out formations that had taken millions of years to form — columns, curtains, flowstones in shapes that looked deliberately sculpted.

And then there were the monkeys.

At the cave entrance, long-tailed macaques patrolled the area with the confidence of seasoned criminals. One of them famously snatched a tourist’s camera bag right off her shoulder, hoping to find snacks inside. The resulting tug-of-war between tourist and monkey was simultaneously terrifying and hilarious. The monkey won. (She eventually got the bag back, minus some crackers.)

It’s one of those moments that no guidebook prepares you for — the raw, unscripted wildness of a place that hasn’t been sanitized for visitors.

Why Does Palawan Keep Pulling Us Back?

I’ve been asked this many times, and the answer has never changed: Palawan showed us what untouched paradise actually looks like.

Not the curated, resort-managed version of paradise. Not the Instagram-filtered version. The real thing — where the jungle grows right down to the waterline, where the reefs are alive with color, where the locals treat you like family because genuine hospitality is simply how they live.

This trip didn’t just connect us with nature. It connected us with each other, and with a country that would become the defining destination of our lives. The lush landscapes, the warmth of the people, the thrill of genuine discovery — our 2005 Palawan trip was the chapter that made us say, “We’re coming back. Again and again.”

Where Should You Explore in Palawan Today?

Palawan has grown, but its beauty is protected by geography and commitment to conservation. El Nido now offers world-class island hopping through the Bacuit Archipelago. Coron has some of the best wreck diving on the planet. And Puerto Princesa remains the gateway to it all.

The Underground River now requires advance permits, and Honda Bay is busier than we found it. But Palawan is vast — there are still coastlines, islands, and reefs that see almost no visitors. You just have to be willing to go a little further.