Palaui Island Trip Day 3: Exploring the Island

On our last day at Palaui, my sister and I decided to just explore the island and trek to some of its hidden gems. We arranged from Nature Village for an island guide who will accompany us around the island. Ate Maricar was assigned to us. We told her that we want the see the nearest waterfalls and to trek to some of the islands nearby beaches.

Waking up with this beautiful view!

She then led the way along the shore until we reached a structure (a shed of some sort) that according to her was the place where the TV Survivor tribal council meetings were held. The hut was still in great shape, but is now plagued with hermit crabs. So that makes it Survivor, Palaui Island: Hermit Crab Edition. We took some pictures and played with the hermit crabs for a while (hermit crab racing) before we continued on with our trek.

Survivor Palaui Island!

We left the shore and went deeper into the island where we met the Aeta Community. Since we were there during the weekdays, we were given an opportunity to observe one of the Aeta children classes. There was only one classroom and about 20 students so it was not clear to us if they have grade levels. The teacher who was in front of the class was also an Aeta and she was teaching the kids about Mathematics. I guess counting was important to them since that would come in handy during trade and doing business with other communities.

Let's go to class!

We then continued walking following a path that led us to a hanging bridge. 

I was nearing the end of the bridge when I noticed colorful little things below the hanging bridge. I looked closer and found out they were moving and that they were little crabs. Their color varies from the regular orange to odd violet, pink and blue colors. The design and the way the colors are imprinted to them was nothing like I have seen before. We went down below the bridge to have a closer look and to try and catch them but they ran pretty fast. Another odd thing about these cute crabs was how improportion their two legs are. With the help of google, I found out that these creatures are called Fiddler Crabs. The males have one large claw and are colorful because that’s how they get the girl and get laid (hhmmmm... interesting!). After a few minutes of adoring the colorful fiddler crabs, we then went on to our trek.

Blue, Red, Yellow and White!

The Fiddler Crab Ritual!

Along the trek, we encountered a lot of new things and a few of odd surprises. We saw an odd looking fruit, a beautiful flower, a wild mulberry (although this is not new to us) and learned how the locals catch coconut mud crabs. Here are some of the pictures we got.

What is this?

Rich in Antioxidant!

Five Fallen Flowers (F3)

Catching Crabs the Old Way!

A few minutes more and we arrived at the waterfalls. 

Mini Waterfalls!

Hermitanyong Crab?

Due to limited rain from previous days, the waterfall has limited water in it. The guide told us that we should come back during the rainy season to experience the grand of the falls. Nevertheless we still enjoyed dipping our head in the falls. It was refreshing and it took all our tiredness from the trek. We stayed there for a while talking about the family of Ate Maricar, how simple and difficult yet satisfying the life in Palaui Island is.

Out Into the Open Sea!

After some rest, we decided to continue our tour and we found ourselves in a shore. The place was not recommended for swimming since there are seaweeds everywhere. 

Picturesque Shoreline of Punta Verde

The sands are not that fine but the location is still beautiful. Volcanic rocks are everywhere, which made the place more exotic and picturesque. We stayed for a few minutes to do some pictorials (My sister loves to pose but I am telling you, she ain’t ANTM material! LOL.)

Volcanic Rocks?

It was nearing 11:00 in the morning so we decided to head back to Nature Village since our boatman might already be waiting for us. We thanked Ate Maricar and paid her the guide fee of Php300.00. We hit the showers and packed our things and bade goodbye to this little and exotic but beautiful and stunning island of Palaui!

Check the other entries on my Palaui Island Trip:

Tra-Abel Guide to Palaui Island, Cagayan
Palaui Island Trip Day 1: Tra-Abel En Route
Palaui Island Trip Day 2: Island Hopping
Palaui Island Trip Day 3: Exploring the Island