Amazing El Nido

view outside our cottage

If you backread my posts, you'll know how excited I am in our El Nido trip. I set my expectations high and El Nido didn't disappoint me. I so love El Nido that I don't want to leave.

 

After waiting for our friend's arrival, we headed our way to El Nido. It is a 5 hour drive from Puerto Princesa, long trip, right? You'll know how big Puerto Princesa is after 2 hours on the road and still you're in a part of Puerto Princesa. When we arrived to the district after Puerto Princesa, Roxas, we ate our dinner on our own account, then after dinner we continue traveling to El Nido. Traveling to El Nido is like a roller coaster ride because of the slopes and zig-zag road (taob ang Baguio sa zig-zag!). We asked our tour guide, Ian, why is it raining in some parts on our way to El Nido, he said that we are passing rain forests. Palawan is rich in different species of plants and trees and has the most virgin forests.
We arrived in El Nido at 11pm and stayed in Hadefe cottages which is part of our tour package, the road going there is so dark that I stumbled on the rocks on the beach. Kuya Ian told us if we wanted to pass at the back or the front of the cemetery and we chose to walk in front where the beach is. For a group of 7, we occupied two rooms in Hadefe. There were guests most are foreigners drinking outside their cottages with the tour guides of Hadefe, and shortly we were also drinking with them. After few bottles we decided to sleep to have energy for tomorrow's island hopping. Yipeee!

before boarding our boat

Early morning I woke up and look outside and it was so surreal waking up with the view like that. I took my GE X5 outside and start taking pictures at the view as if it will gonna run from me. hehe!  We ate our breakfast which is also included in our package and one of the kuya gave us fresh buko. After eating we got ready for our island hopping.

near the entrance of the small lagoon

riding the kayak going inside the small lagoon

@the big rock inside the small lagoon

Our first stop was the small lagoon, it was called small lagoon because of the small passage way of the lagoon. There are two ways to go inside the lagoon, first is by boarding on a kayak (rented for 700php) and second is by swimming.

@ simizu beach

jumpshot!

Our next stop was in simizu beach, where we ate our lunch (included in our package). Our guide, kuya rommel, packed and cooked our meal. There are some tourists also having their lunch in simizu.  While waiting for our food to be cooked, it was a time for us go posing and shooting pictures. And when our lunch was ready, we forgot to take some photo because of our excitement for the yummy food that was served to us. They served us freshly grilled squids, crabs and porkchops with mangoes and vegetable salad. In simizu beach you can try snorkeling and fish feeding for it has great sea creatures underneath.

strong waves!.. buwis buhay pose ni cha! 

We headed to entalola island and did some photo shoot. Some of my friends tried kayaking and got scared a bit  because of the strong waves.

 @ SNAKE ISLAND, we found Patrick!

snake island view @ top of the hill

 We headed to snake island, there's no snakes though (it is called snake island because the island forms like a snake)  but we found Patrick, and of course we all did take pictures with the starfish. We also climbed the hill to see the view of the island.

snap shot by sheng

with the pricey coke

Our tour guide, Kuya Rommel, suggested that we should go to Seven Commando Island(named after the 7 commandos who lived in the island, their names printed on the rocks at the island)  to have some snacks (from our own account), thought we could try some good snacks but we're a bit disappointed that there's nothing different to eat. They sell chips, sodas and fresh buko. We were  thirsty so we bought softdrinks and surprised that it was a bit pricey (30php for a 12 oz bottle of coke).  There are a lot of foreigners beach bumming and sun bathing in the island, and we made friends with some of them.

Seven commando was our last stop and went back to the main land.  El Nido really captivated my heart and would really love to go back and explore more.

El Nido, can I take you home?


posted in wordpress: 03.13.11