Sibaltan, located on the northern end of Palawan is a hidden gem with beautiful beaches, crystal-clear water and a never ending beach line.

Heard from other travellers that unlike El Nido town, Sibaltan offers a more relaxed vibe and a sense of escape.. It’s how El Nido was a couple of decades ago…. Sibaltan sits at a peaceful region in Palawan, offering direct access to some of the most untouched and biodiverse waters in the Philippines. It was after our dives while doing our logs in El nido, my instructor told me “why dont you go to Sibaltan”…. “it is laid back unlike El Nido, the water is crystal clear and can experience the real local filipino life here and ofcourse good chance to the gentle gaints – Manta rays”…. “Why not” was my answer…

Next morning started very early from El Nido to Sibaltan on our scooter… A stretch of our drive was through a forest patch then some tiny villages, part of it was on a mountainous terrain over looking the Ocean….

The road as expected was very bumpy, muddy and slushy at places but ofcourse the drive was enjoyable and very scenic…. We stopped at places to click some pictures. After a drive of about couple of hours, we reached this hidden gem “Village of Sibaltan”….

 

The main point of interest in Sibaltan is it’s very long rustic strip – Sibaltan Beach which runs about couple of kilometres. Half of the beach comprise of a fishing village, while the other half is dotted with affordable campsites and beach hut resorts…. Ofcourse the Manta rays sightings bring in a lot of divers and snorkellers here…

 

We planned to dive with Mobula divers in Sibaltan… had to drive on the beach for about a kilometre to reach this dive center. It’s located right behind the Ursula beach club resort… We relaxed in the resort, had breakfast and spent some time talking to other travellers here.

Once the gears and packed lunch were ready, they asked to us swim to the small boat docked a few metres away from the beach. It was a speed boat, so we cruised through to the dive site within a few minutes…

Basically all the dives here either end or start from the Manta cleaning station… “Looks like the current isn’t that strong to bring the Manta” said the instructor but let’s try our luck he said. They saw Mantas a couple of days ago with the same water conditions…

So we started with the dive along side a beautiful coral garden, 100s of fishes were swimming around the corals… Visibility was great …. It was such a relaxing and beautiful dive… Schools of Sardines, saw some trigger, puffer, porcupine and many other fishes. A lot of blue spotted sting rays were hovering around…

We reached the cleaning station number 4, waited there for about 5 mins…. No luck so moved to the next station number 3. Again waited there for about 5-10 minutes, we were nearly 55 mins into our dive now, no luck with the Mantas yet it’s time to go up to the surface.

Back on the boat, had some quick snacks and got our gears ready for the next dive. Once the surface interval time was done, we moved in for the next dive. This time we will start with cleaning station number 1 and go until number 4. This will be more of a Manta searching dive…. No luck, no Mantas…

Back on the boat, the instructor told us current doesn’t look like picking up and may be our dive 3 may not also be lucky… We thought let’s wind up and get back to the village and relax for rest of the day….

Keelooma office was right next the Ursula resort. We met with them and had a good discussion about their island camps/expedition trips. We have also booked with them for our upcoming Palawan Island expedition… I was informed by many travelers that Island Expedition in Palawan is must do and that will definitely be an experience to remember in Philippines…

We spent time in the resort which is over looking the beach, had our Lunch and did our log books… Thought will do some more adventure and planned to do a small waterfall hike that evening…

There are a lot of options around, we did the one called “Nagkalitkalitfalls”.. It’s a twin waterfall, one waterfall is in the bottom and another one you need to do a bit of climbing on the rocks.

Firstly need to cross a couple of streams to reach the waterfall. Could see the locals fishing, something like a spearfishing equipment were used by them.

After a Trek of about an hour, we arrived at the first waterfall which had a small pool of water and easy to swim. Water was very cold and refreshing… Most people will be content with this waterfall and return from here to the base.

But if you are bit adventurous then there is another waterfall on the top, which you need to climb using the support of a rope and on slippery rocks. First I was hesitant but then we made our way to the top slowly.

We had the entire falls for ourself, it was calm and beautiful. This definitely is one of the offbeat things to do in Palawan. There are a lot of treks like these in Palawan which can be done…