TBK Travels- Chester goes to Napsan beach

                               One of the pretty fishing boats on the beach at Napsan

According to the internet at Napsan one can " witness the local fishing culture. It features a stretch of fine white sand, clear waters, and a stunning view of the sunset. Visitors can also watch fishermen bring in their daily catch and buy their fresh seafood.". By the time Chester and I arrived at around 11 am all we found of the fishing culture was a few boats under the trees ( and one in the trees) 

                    Maybe they did not want it to be washed away!

The great news is that the road there was excellent for 90% of the way - newly resurfaced and painted ( double yellow line most of the way as its single track each way and bendy). The rest had been subject to landslides and subsidence which they were working on- so drive with care for the last part of the journey.

Napsan is on the west coast of Palawan almost directly opposite Puerto as the crow flies but you have to go down the southern road past Irawan and Iwahig before taking the well signposted turn to Napsan. You reach Napsan town first and then the turn off to the beach does not have a signpost and is a rough track ( I found it on Google maps after I drove past it) . 

         Chester loved swimming and the sea was so clear and not very deep

A couple of words of warning- there are no facilities there ( restroom, bathroom , CR - according to your language) and no food outlets ( Costa coffee, MacDonalds, Jolibee etc). Just a beach, a very long white sand beach. There are lots of insects so put your insect repellant on before you leave home, and your sun tan lotion. Stupidly I took mine and water for Chester , but no drink for myself and I did not put the lotion or repellant on . In the couple of hours we were there I got badly burnt and eaten alive ( the insects like white men /Maputing Tao).

        Chester has not been swimming since we went to Alimanguan in April

Chester had a wonderful time running free and swimming. He was so tired he slept all the way back and from 5 pm as I write this! It was the first beach I have been on in Palawan where there were no stray dogs and we only saw a few occupied houses so I was able to let him off the lead. We parked in the middle of the beach and walked 5000 steps on the left part of the beach and back. 

I later saw a vlog where the tourists went down the beach from end to end on a motorbike and I am guessing if you walked from end to end it would be over 10,000 steps. 

Two factors stopped me walking the whole beach- firstly it was gone 1 pm and I usually have lunch at 11 am as I eat breakfast at 6 am ( and today I only had muesli) . Secondly from being very sunny the clouds started gathering over the mountains in the distance. They can be seen all over Palawan and as soon as you cannot see the tops ( because they are covered in cloud) you know rain is on the way. This was confirmed when I got back to the car and there was a message from Chester in Manila to say "There's a possible typhoon developing in your area in the next 24 hrs. Hope you and Chester are okay po"

So I decided to cut the walk short, give Chester his water, and get in the car and head for home. On the way the rain started and continued all night. My original plan , when Mark from Manila cancelled his visit to El Nido, was to go to Sabang for a week. When they eventually answered my email this morning they had quoted 9000 peso for one night with breakfast ( £150) so I decided to have a staycation and go out for day trips. I have enough food prepared in the fridge so that I do not need to cook, just reheat food in the microwave. So when we got back I had Tinolang Manok (Ginger Chicken Soup) which was delicious. I decided to write the blog while the trip was fresh in my mind, miss my afternoon nap and have an early night.

I have now uploaded the vlog of our day out and you can find that by clicking the picture below. Apologies for the watermark from the editing software. They have upgraded their software and you now have to pay to use it by credit card which I do not have!

                            Thanks again to Luis for the great cartoons

Tomorrow we are off to discover another beach beginning with C, discovered by my friend Kevin, called Claucar beach which is on the east coast or Palawan, just before Roxas, about 90 minutes north of PPC.

Some of you may know I am working on a blog called the A- Z of Palawan's best beaches. We have lots of C's, T's and N's, an A , B, D, E, but no beaches beginning with F,G, H, I , J or K, M, O, Q, R,S, U,W, X, Y or Z. If you have any ideas email me on thebritishkabayan@gmail.com  . Thank you