Climbing off the boat, we were greeted by a beautiful white beach with blue water and gorgeous limestone formations on the side - a view that made me instantly forget the van-induced nausea ;-)
From the beach, a short trail led through the forest to a small bay - the mouth of the underground river.
We were made to wear helmets and life vests, and then crammed into a small wooden boat that would take us on a tour of the river's navigable part. Since there is no light once you enter the river cave, there was a big battery sitting in the front of the boat, powering a hand lamp. I was lucky enough to get to hold the lamp, so I could look where I wanted when I wanted :-) Whenever the guide - sitting in the back of the boat, paddling - wanted to point out a specific rock formation, he told me where to point the lamp so everybody could see.
The interior of the cave/river was stunning. There were huge caverns with a 60 meter high ceiling, bats fluttering around, and fantastic rock formations everywhere I looked.
Far too soon, the tour was over and we had to brace ourselves for another roller-coaster ride in the van. In the parking lot, the guide was talking to the rest of the group in Tagalog - the group consisted of six Filipinos and me. I wasn't really listening, assuming I wouldn't understand anyway, when my ears suddenly caught the words 'holy water' and 'holy shit' - in the same sentence. I still have no idea what the guide was talking about, but it got everybody laughing (including me, even though I doubt that I laughed for the same reason as the rest of the group.)
On the way back, we made a stop at a rock formation called Elephant cave. This is pretty representative of what I saw of the landscape on Palawan today (remember I had to keep my eyes closed most of the time to avoid getting sick in the van): flat surfaces covered in rice paddies, sharp limestone rocks jutting out from time to time, and forested hills in between.
