My article on a sustainable sailing adventure through the untapped islands of northern Palawan, aboard a hand-built boat, was published in the Telegraph Saturday Travel Supplement and online. It can be read in full here, and below.
Reviving the Lost Art of Sailing in Palawan
The Batalik is not just a sailboat. It is a Filipino relic, the largest traditional paraw in the country. The hull is a 72ft mass of coffee-brown timber, as sleek as a Viking ship, with cream sails billowing from a 43ft mast. As we meandered between forest-clad islands concealing ribbons of ivory beach, the outriggers stretched, like insect legs, 9ft across the South China Sea. In Palawan, the Philippines’ westernmost region, jagged limestone islets stood like stone icebergs and cut diamonds.
My three-day tour took me deep into Palawan, exploring the karst-studded landscapes that make this slither of Asia so striking. Launching this month, the Batalik is the only tour boat to explore both popular Bacuit Bay and then, having bade farewell to other tour boats, move onwards to the remote, undiscovered north. If you see another soul at sea here, you’re unlucky. Padding along the deck, Gener Paduga shouted orders to the crew, his long dreadlocks entwined with decorative shells.
A local sailor who first ran expeditions on a small self-built paraw in nearby Honda Bay, he dreamt of constructing a large-scale version of this native double outrigger boat, like the ships that carried cargo on pre-colonial trade routes more than 1,000 years ago.
The art of sailing declined with engine use but a local expedition company, Tao Philippines, shared Paduga’s vision to revive it. Their collaboration brought the Batalik to fruition. Exploiting the shared knowledge of historians and sailors, Paduga worked alongside a team of local craftsmen to build the Batalik, which took two years, from design stage to completion.
Few locals sail in Palawan now. The Bacuit Bay island-hopping vessels rely on motors, while local families use small engine boats for fishing. Paduga dreams that learning to sail again will help Palawenos escape dependence on fuel, while fostering a deeper understanding of and respect for the sea.
Palawan Province is a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. A quarter of the Philippine archipelago’s 7,107 islands are in this least-populated region. It is often sited as the country’s “last ecological frontier” because its pristine ecosystem is endowed with habitats of coral reef, mangrove, rare fauna and marine life and half of its original forest cover remains intact.
El Nido (The Nest) sits at mainland Palawan’s northerly edge and is the entry point to Bacuit Bay. In the “Bacuit”, we dropped anchor by Pinagbuyutan Island, the ocean lit by a full moon.
SLOW TRAVEL EXPERIENCES
Palawan is formed of thousands of tiny islands, dropped in the South China. It’s an adventurers paradise. If you go, stay a while and don’t rush.
Tao Philippines runs 5 day sailing expeditions on the Batalik. This highly recommended tour company supports young people locally, training them to work in sustainable tourism, and focusing on conservation projects to preserve the environment.