TBK travels to Nagtabon beach early one morning

 

   Benny told me that this used to be a hotel but it's now closed and up for sale.

Chester and I love Nagtabon beach. Since his accident he has been waking me up at 4 am to eat and then I take him for w walk at 530 am so he can go to the toilet. Today I decided, as it was 29 degrees and not raining that we would go to Nagtabon beach for our early morning walk and we left at 6 am. The roads were nice and quiet and we arrived just as the kids were going to school around 7 am. Normally you have to pay an entrance fee/parking but they were not open so we found a place on the road near the beach to park and set of on our walk. I kept Chester on the lead and took some photos along the way. 

There were a few people camping on the beach and sitting around chatting or having breakfast but otherwise the place was disserted as usual. It was high tide and the sea was a little rough so we only paddled ( normally Chester goes swimming).

For those of you unfamiliar with this beach then you should watch the Vlog Frythy and I made when we took Chester there a few months ago

It is just under an hours drive ( 53km) on the west coast of Palawan and near some other beautiful beaches like Tala and Tagkawayan. The road is good all the way there and you will pass the newly opened Fight Club Philippines  (FCP)not long before you get to the beach ( its up a steep hill on the right). I am told they have a great Chef and food as well as fitness and wellness facilities ( You can find out more on their website https://fightclubphilippines.com/ ).

                      Just look at the view from the FCP restaurant!

The road is a joy to drive on - Its the main north south road in Palawan for most of the way there

The good news is that making sandcastles has not yet been banned in Palawan like it has in Boracay

There are however a lot of warning signs about the strong current and sharp coral 

I would also add two warnings of my own based on various trips there.

1. There are a lot of Nik Nik ( same as at Lio beach) and they really love Maputing Tao ( white men) so make sure you wear some OFF lotion or you will come back covered in bites. Twice now I have assumed they would not bite at 7 am - WRONG!

2. It was cloudy but the UV can still burn you - so best to wear sun tan lotion - even at 7 am. 

Theres lots to do on the beach from massage to surf schools and there are a couple of restaurants ( although once it took an hour or so to get our food). A lot of people load up their 4 x 4 with ice boxes , beer, barbecues, salads, meats , fish, Karaoke and hire a cottage and park nearby and then spend the day chatting, singing, swimming , eating and drinking! I counted 20 cottages ( The Philippine type not the British type) so there is plenty of room for everyone.

Chester and I prefer just to walk and we spent an hour walking to one end of the beach ( where you will find a building up for sale - see the photo at the top of the blog) and then back to the road and on to the other end. The last part of the beach can only be accessed by crossing a river and Chester and I avoid this as about 8 dogs live there who always bark at us when we visit!

        6 dogs barking on the other side of the river, luckily they cannot swim!

       For those into surfing there is a surf school and you can rent surf boards

                 There is food and drink available and some Sari Sari shops 

                      Some people were sleeping in tents on the beach

                       The view from the other end of the beach

Eventually we headed back home after I had a bottle of coke and Chester drank a bottle of water. On the way back we stopped at the Golden Hour Cafe. I have been there a few times now with Chester and we always have a great time. It looks small from the road but it goes back a long way with very Instagrammable gardens and its very popular with cyclists and motorcyclists. It is open from 6 am to 9 pm. 

As we were leaving the cafe we met a lovely retired Pinoy couple. They had lived and worked in America but before that were from Batangas. Now they have just retired to Palawan and were exploring the place. I recommended my blog and as I drove home I thought of the top 10 places to visit in and around Puerto Princesa:

1. The Butterfly farm and Global village ( Nice cafe outside)

2. Bakers Hill ( especially close to Christmas or all hearts day)

3. Baywalk ( in the evening- great views and many restaurants and bars open)

4. The Cathedral

5. Plaza Cuartel ( Outdoor park & site of a formal penal colony, where 150 U.S. soldiers were burned by the Japanese.)

6. Viet Ville ( In 1985, it became home to some 2,000 Vietnamese refugees who fled their country at the end of the Vietnam War.)

7. The West Coast beaches- Nagtabon, Tagkawayan , Tala)

8. The Malls- SM, Robinsons and NCC ( the oldest)- plenty of restaurants

9. Balayong People's Park ( near Palawan state University)

10. Sabang and the Underground River ( stop at Buenavista View deck along the way)

Many of the above are featured in my blogs and vlogs.

If you want to get to Nagtabon here is the map:

Now the bad news. I noticed this trip that a large area next to the beach ( turn right at the end of the road to the beach) has now been fenced off and there are excavators on site, As I drove up the road I saw why " 12 story hotel".

So yet another quite remote beach in Palawan will be ruined- just like San Vicente with the Megaworld Paruga coastal town project. 12 floors has to be at least 60 rooms, maybe more. That's 120 to 240 people a day on the beach! This comes at a time when I know two restaurants in Puerto are closing. I only hope that unlike in El Nido a few years back they put in proper sewage treatment, parking, electricity ( we already have regular Brown outs in Palawan due to excess demand) and internet signal. 

Get there quickly before its too late!