We had booked a direct bus to Port Barton from a kiosk in El Nido for 500 each. We knew very little about Port Barton apart from that it was a quiet and attractive seaside town, which sounded appealing at the time. A minibus picked us up from our accommodation at 8.45, we had not had a good nights sleep the night before and were both exhausted and hot. The roads back to Roxxas were windy and we were flying along so both felt sick at points. In Roxxas we changed to a van heading to Port Barton, The journey was reasonable and better than expected. However at points the roads were unpaved and there the minivan was having to off road in deep mud tracks. That leg of the journey took about an hour, to not really cover any mileage. We arrived into town about 12pm. We had to head to the tourist office first to pay the environmental fee of 50 p each.
After walking around some of the streets with our backpacks one or a bit we found accommodation at Stellabucks for 500p for a cabin, bathroom and 24 hour electric. We headed around the very quiet dusty roads wandering around looking for a place to eat as it was the off season and we weren’t sure if there would really be much open. We had lunch at Gacayan Restaurant, which was nice local cheap food. Dave had pumpkin soup, rice and a drink (50) and I had chicken adobo for 130, which was delicious. We found a small shop to buy some water from before heading back to our cabin to chill out, where we read as the rain came down. When it stopped we found a happy hour place for beers (40p) at Jampelyn Asun cottages where we also had some cheap dinner before bed.
In the morning we went for a walk along the beach- which again was very quiet as it was off season but pretty. We ended up in Jaried Vege house for breakfast (me- Scrambled eggs, onion and cabbage, toast and coffee for 120, Dave- peanut butter and banana pancakes 120) which was nice enough and filled us up. We spent some time chilling out at our accommodation working on blogs and reading before heading back to Gacayan for lunch for a small chicken adobo dish (50). In the afternoon we went to the beach where we swam, played with a couple of dogs and just chill in this peaceful quiet place. After showering we headed back to the beach to watch the sunset with our rum and coke before having dinner at Asun again. We had a set menu of nido soup, fish and chips, tempura and chips and fruit 185 p each. We chilled out in Cabana and got talking to Gaston from Uruguay about a bit of everything and having too many drinks. There was lots of rain in the evening and overnight so we just chilled in our cabin.
We had another pancake breakfast this time at El Bugero before hiding out from the rain at our cabin whilst reading. We had another Gacayan lunch of adobo and curry before chatting at the bar area of Stellabucks to Gaston and Martyn from aquaholics over a lovely coffee (50). We spent the afternoon wandering around looking for different accommodation options due to Stellabucks being booked already for following days. We found Besuga Cottages towards the end of the beach where a bungalow was 500p. We had beers with Gaston at Jambalaya where we had special Jambalaya with fish (270p).
We tried Gacayan for breakfast where we had Spanish omelette with coffee (120p) and shishuka (120p), which was delicious. Then we found a place where the wifi was working better so we could look over and talk about ideas for our wedding. We transferred our stuff to Besuga bungalow before walking around the town and the beach taking photos and videos. We chilled out in the restaurant area of our new accommodation before going for a swim at the beach. In the evenings we grabbed some beers and dinner at Asun (pork adono, chicken teriyaki with mushroom soup and fruits) before having our own drinks of rum and coke on our balcony.
The next morning we had delicious buttermilk pancakes with mayple syrup 170p and then had a chilled morning reading and looking at further places before having lunch at Gacayan and booking our bus ticked from united (350) direct to Puerto Princessa (to the bus terminal). We strolled along the beach, chilled out on our balcony reading and then went for swim in the sea. We had dinner at Kuseinero for some tasty homemade pasta (spaghetti 155 and carbonara 155) before stocking up on snacks for the bus ride from the shop.
In the morning after more pancakes we took the minibus back to Puerto Princessa bus terminal. We took a tricycle to the airport p100 where we realised we were there way too early and there was nothing to see or do as it was a very small terminal. We had to pay a terminal fee of 200p. Even through security we were just in a single room with a few stalls for food. We ended up with pork adobo pots, muffins and ice tea before boarding our plane for an hour to Cebu Island. We had not initially intended to necessarily go to Port Barton. It was very quiet, and made even more so by the fact that it was off season. However we enjoyed having a really chilled out time there, being able to meander along the beach and swim. I think when it was high season and there were a few more options for accommodation, food and activities as well as a lot less rain it would be even nicer.
Alex
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