Palawan, Philippines

PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES | "The Last Frontier"

Palawan is the most biodiverse island in Asia and the most ecologically intact archipelago in the Philippines — a 450-kilometer-long island province in the western Philippines whose limestone karst coastline, underground river, and coral reef systems have earned it consistent recognition as one of the most beautiful island destinations in the world. The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New Seven Natural Wonders of the World, is a 8.2-kilometer navigable underground river running through a spectacular limestone cave system directly into the South China Sea. El Nido and Coron in the northern archipelago offer some of the most extraordinary snorkeling and diving in the world, with visibility exceeding 30 meters in the coral gardens that surround the karst limestone islands rising vertically from the turquoise Sulu Sea.

The colors are the specific palette of tropical island perfection: the extraordinary turquoise of the Bacuit Bay lagoons at El Nido where the water shifts from pale jade in the shallows to deep cobalt in the channels between the limestone cliffs, the brilliant white of the limestone karst above the waterline, the deep green of the forest covering every surface above the tide line, and the specific deep gold of the Palawan sunset when the limestone silhouettes of the Bacuit archipelago are backlit against an amber sky over the South China Sea.