Beginning in 2013, Palawan, Philippines, has been voted as the best island in the world by readers of Travel+Leisure a number of times in its yearly polls and in the top 3 rankings by Condé Nast Traveler. With huge limestone cliffs rising from palm-fringed white sand beaches, gorgeous seascapes, old-growth rainforests, subterranean rivers and impressive aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity, the island has been dubbed as the country’s “Last Ecological Frontier.”

Disembarking from our motorized outrigger boat, we crossed over the wooden pier spanning the crystalline turquoises waters of the cove and into an island of colossal karst rocks and cliff walls. Just slightly beyond the white sand beach of verdant Pangabangan Island where we landed we encountered one of the most remarkable sights we’ve come across in all of our island-hopping adventures.