Port Barton was what you'd call a sleepy little fishing village. Actually there was only one paved main road, wide dusty dirt side streets and a main square, where the regional basketball tournament was taking place and which also had a stage – probably for all the other celebrations and gatherings in the village. Since it had rained a lot here too, the side streets turned into muddy tracks that took a while to master. Because the place was so small, it seemed very busy, as the tourists who had made it this far were gathered in a small centre. There was only a small choice of eateries or mini shops, built of wood or as small barred kiosks. Still, you didn't have the feeling anything was missing here (medical care or a pharmacy excepted). We had a sweet place to stay, whose staff member looked after us wonderfully.
The beach was a 5-minute walk away. As so often in the Philippines, it wasn't a real swimming beach (murky water), but just the sight of the bay lined with coconut palms and the fishing and tour boats at anchor made our tourist hearts beat faster. In Moalboal we had only been used to rocks and house fronts standing right up to the water.
On one of the days we tried to get by moped to a nearby beach famous for the coconut palms lining it (White Beach). Since the roads were so bad and steep and the clay was well soaked by all the rain, it was impossible and also dangerous to get there, so we had to abandon the trip. Since I was still under the weather, we enjoyed the fishing-village flair, went for a few walks on the beach and went out for leisurely meals. Soon our regular place emerged, where, with delicious food, good music and free happy-hour drinks, we started our travel card-game tournament. On the way home in the evening our daily route led through the locals' betting alley, and now and then we put a few pesos on a card or a die. You saw much more of the everyday life of Filipinos here than in the 2 places before (and probably also more than in the next stop, El Nido, which is probably one of the most touristy places in the Philippines).
We stayed a whole week here too, so I could keep taking it easy and recover – which happened only very slowly – before moving on to the well-known diving and snorkelling spots.
When the weather looked promisingly sunny (even with an overcast sky it was a lot sunnier here than before on Cebu), we went on a guided island-hopping tour. Various routes are currently offered in Port Barton for tourists to choose from. In reality they all go to the same spots, and there's really only one tour: the so-called Tour A.
In any case, Tour A was the right choice. The second spot we went to (Twin Reef) showed us the full beauty of Philippine corals. It was like swimming through an underwater forest of flowers, and we discovered fish we had never seen before. Shimmering turquoise and blue seemed to be the trendy colours among the fish at the moment; in any case it was the most impressive reef we had ever seen. Unfortunately we didn't even have half an hour before the boat picked us up again to head to the remaining spots. Everything was well organised, and our boat community was a colourful mix of nice Europeans and an Argentinian. The crew prepared a great meal for us and served it, nicely decorated, in huts set up for the purpose on a turquoise beach. Island hopping in Port Barton was a complete success, and we can recommend it to everyone.
As our stay in Port Barton drew to an end, the weather became more and more typical for the season. For the first time since we arrived on the islands it was really hot, and the sun beamed down on us in classic Philippine style, like in a TUI advert. It was glorious, but also exhausting when you had to get anywhere. We took advantage of the great weather and tried once more to get to White Beach, this time on a small bike better suited to rough terrain. Since the sun had dried everything out nicely, we managed the adventure track effortlessly and reached the breathtakingly beautiful White Beach.
This was a classic sandy beach, so wonderful for going into the water. By the way, in Port Barton we found out that Crocs, when used as water shoes, have such great buoyancy that, together with the extra buoyancy of salt water, you can float lying in the water totally comfortably. Since the visibility in the water there is unfortunately very poor and the view upwards is much better anyway, it was wonderfully rewarding after the motorbike ride to simply drift in the turquoise, deserted water, framed by coconut palms, with Crocs on the surface. On the beach we then found a big pig that was probably living the most luxurious free-range life in the world. It practically had the whole beach to itself, was given fruit and coconuts to eat and could freely choose its shady spot under all the palms or on the grassy meadow.
Soon we had to say goodbye to our sweet hotel host and the fluffy hotel dogs and got into the tricycle that took us to the van towards El Nido.
Enjoy the photos and the video compilation. Feel free to use this blog's comment function again :)