El Nido, Palawan 2

On our 3^rd day, we woke up early to eat breakfast and to get ready for Tour C. The tour cost P900/person and it included Matinloc Shrine, Secret Beach, Talisay Island, Hidden Beach and Helicopter Island. The tour was very fun even though we were late for an hour haha that was a long bad story that turned out great! Let’s just skip that, so Matinloc Shrine was fun because you get to climb and watch the view of Palawan above the beautiful rocks. We stayed for more than an hour because the place was just super perfect if you want to do soul searching. We also ate our lunch there. After that, we went to the Secret Beach, we were already warned by our tour guide that it’s going to be a bumpy ride and I thought it wasn’t that bad. It turned out that it was really bad, the waves were wild and the current was so out of this world. We got dizzy when the boat was about to stop. To get inside the Secret Beach, we all needed to jump off our boats and swim to a small hole. But it wasn't calm waters; the water was wild, raging and scary. You wouldn’t want to miss this experience if you will go to El Nido though. 

After those crazy waves, we went to a calm island that they call Talisay. I think most Filipinos are aware of what Talisay trees are but for some who doesn’t know, those are trees that are cursed. But for me it was the best snorkeling site I ever went. I think I can’t put in words the beauty of this island offers. The water was so deep and blue, you would get scared for a minute if you are not a good swimmer but it would all go away once you see the pretty corals and the thousands of sea creatures living so healthy in that beach. I swam with a lot of clown fishes; imagine a lot of cute Nemo’s swimming just in front your goggles hahaha the only regret I can think of for this trip is I didn’t have an underwater camera. I wasn’t able to take pictures on how beautiful the world underneath us. Leaving Talisay Island was such a pain for me, because I really wouldn’t want to leave the place. But we really had to T_T So off we go to Hidden Beach, I didn’t really had fun there because it was low tide and I was not able to swim around but the place was again breathtaking. After that, we went to the Helicopter Island and we stayed there for an hour to watch the sun set. It was named that way since the island has a shape of a helicopter. For me, it was also shaped like a whale haha

On our fourth day, we just stayed at the resort singing our hearts out with my ukulele the whole day. We stared at the view and slept at the hammocks. It was such a lazy day and I loved it. We walked around the town of El Nido and we discovered a lot of cheap restaurants where we can eat our dinner or where we will go to the next time we visit El Nido. 

On our fifth and last day, I just bought pasalubongs in Puerto Princesa’s public market. It was also what I bought the last time I went to Palawan last 2010, the very yummy Sweet and Spicy Dilis and Cashew Tarts. Pasalubong for me is the moment where I say goodbye for now to the places I visit. Because that’s usually the last thing I do before leaving. But I’m totally coming back to Palawan next year. I will do my best to visit the place again.  :)

The view of Matinloc Shrine

Secret Beach

Talisay Island

Finally, El Nido, Palawan

For the second time, I went back to Palawan but this time I finally went to El Nido. As a kid, I have always wanted to go there. Blame it all to the TV show, Amazing Race and Alex Garland’s book, The Beach. It was a five day and four nights trip, I did it that way since we will be spending 5-6 hours inside a bus or van from Puerto Princesa to El Nido and another 5-6 hours from El Nido to Puerto. All we did with my friend at that time was sleep and sometimes get dizzy inside the van. The van who took us from the airport to El Nido was Fort Wally for P700  but in going back you will only be charged P500. 

We arrived around 7PM at Marina Garden Resort where we only paid P730/night for our room. It was dark already, so I wasn’t able to see the view that I was expecting. But when I went outside our room in the morning and saw the view, woah it was breathtaking! I was just silent, smiling and lying on a hammock while I was staring at the view. After the whole staring thing for 30 minutes I snapped back and realized we still have places we need to go to for that day. 

El Nido has 4 types of tours, A, B, C, D. For each tour, there are 4-5 places that you can visit and it usually starts at 9 AM and ends around 4 PM. All tours already include lunch, so you wouldn’t have to worry about getting hungry. For that day, we chose Tour A and it only cost P700 per person. We went to the Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Miniloc Beach, Secret Lagoon and Shizumi Beach. I enjoyed the places we visited because every island has a lot of wonders and the rock formations were perfect. Too bad I brought the wrong lens, 50 mm. But I was still happy taking pictures. I really had fun at Shizumi Beach where we fed a lot of fishes. The water was so deep and clean, the fishes were colorful and they were swimming just in front of my goggles. I really wanted to stay there forever but time runs very fast and I didn’t even notice that the sky was getting dark. It’s time to go back boohoo! 

I will place the Tour C pictures on another post since there are a lot of pictures for this one..my ged! haha