TBK and Chester at Puting Buhangin Beach
One of my avid followers commented on a recent blog " You are besotted by that dog and he loves the sea!" Both are true! Chester and I have been together now for 17 months and go everywhere together. The vet suggested he needed more exercise ( funny because my doctor said the same!) so we set out to try and walk 5000 steps a day. Along the way visiting different beaches like Alimanguan, BM, Cadlao etc I decided to do an A-Z of Palawan's best beaches. Even when I searched on line I could not find 26 beaches all starting with a different letter. There are several beaches starting with N ( Nacpan, Napsan and Nagtoban) but none with P, Q, R for example. I started asking friends, using google maps and trip advisor ( some beaches provide accommodation). Some beaches are on Islands ( Araceli on Dumaran for example and Banol beach on Coron) and some are in the far North of Palawan ( a 6 hour drive from here) like Duli, Lio, Nacpan and some are in the south requiring 8 hours driving and a boat trip ( Balabac Islands) . Some beaches are private and have to be booked in advance and are designed for groups ( Cannette and Surya) . Consequently the A- Z blog is still work in progress which I hope to complete in 2024.
Chester loves going for a road trip and swimming in the sea
I read a while back that dogs love travelling in a car and hate being left at home and that is certainly the case with Chester ( and my previous Labrador in the UK, Trixie) . He sits on the back seat and dashes from side to side sticking his head out of the window to bark at passing dogs, cats, goats, cows and sheep! He loves sniffing the air and gets very excited when he can smell the sea. Some of the places we go regularly , like Golden Hour cafe, Rustic cafe, Baywalk, Nagtoban etc he starts running up and down yelping and barking as soon as we get close and he remembers its a place he likes.
I always wanted to get some photos of him doing this so for this trip I invited a friend who is a photographer, Jayvee, and he did a great job with his camera and mine and then edited the best photos for this blog ( and we have video which I will edit for a later vlog)
It took ages to get the perfect shot using the car mirrors, leaning out of the car as we drove along and other camera tricks, as I concentrated on the driving! Puting Buhangin Beach is just over an hours drive from home ( but a lot of that is getting out of Puerto as you can see from the map.)
The last part is down country lanes where the concrete surface had been badly cracked and then you turn off down an uneven track where the bottom of the car kept scraping on stones ( best for a 4 x 4, Top down or motorbike) before it becomes a smooth grass track which leads right down to the beach. There were several Pinoy families there ( we went on a Saturday) barbecuing and sitting under the trees. We paid our 20 peso per head admission and headed out on the beach , past the mangrove roots to the sea. It stretched as far as the eye could see and as usual there was no one else there ( apart from one guy sat in the sea checking his Facebook!) so we let Chester off the lead and he loved running up and down and swimming. So much so that he did not want to go back on the lead or get in the car to go home!
Chester explores the beach- the clouds were beautiful
Chester just loves swimming and paddling and there were lots of streams here as well as the sea itself which was calm ,clear and shallow. It was very hot ( around 30 degrees on 18th November- actually hotter than Bahrain and of course the UK) and we had no rain. As Andy , my neighbour , said to me I must start using sun tan lotion again as my face and neck have gone very brown!
I only have 3 sandos ( El Nido, Vietnam and Pattaya) and they were all in the wash, so I wore a tee shirt which gave more protection from the sun but got drenched in sweat on our long walk ( we did 5941 steps).
Chester was so exhausted he slept on the back seat for most of the way home
If anyone has any suggestions of beaches starting with the following letters in Palawan please let me know:
F, G, H, J, K, M, O, Q, R, U, W, X, Y or Z
I really want to complete my A- Z blog and share the beauty of Palawan as a whole ( and not just El Nido and the Underground River) with the world to keep Palawan at the top of the list of the most beautiful islands in the world.
If you would like to be cameraman on one of our trips please let me know as well. I think Jayvee did a great job! There are lots more photos on my laptop. I have also edited a vlog of our trip and that will premier on 26th November at 6 am Pinoy time so make sure you subscribe to our You Tube channel- just click on the link below
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
No comments:
Post a Comment