Palawan

Bebe and Poppy visited over President's Day week. The day after their evening arrival, our visiting good sports hopped on a plane (and then van) to Sabang Beach on the island of Palawan. This location is most famous for its proximity to the Underground River, dubbed by some as one of the new '7 wonders of the world,' but regardless of the veracity of that claim, the beach and surroundings were worth the visit.

The beach:

Eliana became a master boogie boarder (she was actually really good):

We all took a bamboo raft and then took a jungle hike...

...to a zipline, purported to be the longest in the Philippines over a body of water.

 (Shane didn't really go by himself)

 (here comes Bebe!)

We all felt pretty triumphant afterwards:

Then we took a boat tour through the mangrove forest:

 (snake!)

Eliana planted a mangrove seedling upon completion:

It was also a time to reprise old photographs, including imitations the "Izaak as a baby in a tree" photo:

And "Poppy with the kids with arms akimbo":

The next day was time to check out the Underground River. The whole thing is a contrived, unnecessarily complicated process including a limited number of permits and horse trading those permits that was initially frustrating. However, we got our time slot, so we headed toward the dock...

...where countless barcas await to take you to the Underground River.

Abvout a 20-minute ride later, you're there at a beautiful little cove and then you wait your turn:

 (the opening to the Underground River)

 ("What's Taking So Long?")

And then, finally, you go in. It was pretty amazing...the river travels through huge caverns with stalactites and stalagmites, stone structures, 80 species of bats numbering about 40,000. Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph well since it's dark and illuminated by miner's lights but here's a brief idea:

On the way back, we saw a group of local kids playing on a beached barca:

And Eliana enjoyed a coconut, as she always does: