He brings me to the summit of a little mountain to take in a panorama of the bay and, with any luck, to spot some of Palawan's celebrity fauna: green sea turtles, dugongs, sharks, whale sharks and the world's most adorable ungulate, the Chihuahua-size Philippine mouse deer.

WSJ: The Philippines's Strange Paradise

Outside, a large, netted cut-out from the wooden platform served as a lap pool for about 15 sea turtles, including vulnerable olive ridley turtles, endangered green turtles and critically endangered hawksbills.

BBC: The unlikely sea turtle saviour

They included green, Kemp's ridley and hawksbill sea turtles, which are classified as endangered species.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS