El Nido

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On tuesday Dawid and myself hopped on the 8am jeepney from Port Barton to Roxas. The jeepney ended up leaving about 15 minutes late and then circled the town picking up extra cargo before returning to the starting point and waiting another 5 minutes before finally departing. Thankfully it only took about an hour and a quarter to get to our stop in Roxas where we waited about an hour to hop on the bus for El Nido. About 5 hours later we eventually arrived at the bus station, caught a trike into town and were dropped off at Rosannas where we found the room and price to our liking. That afternoon we walked around town, played a little basketball with the locals, and had a nice pizza for dinner. I was happily surprised that it was a tourist town that I am more accustomed to, with plenty of rooms in guest houses and hotels instead of just resort style, tourist restaurants, and massages available. Straight away we decided to pay up for 5 nights and book a couple of island hopping tours.

The following day we had nothing planned but the weather was terrible and rained all day, so we didn't do a great deal at all. Thursday we had a tour planned but because of the bad weather it was canceled and we spent the afternoon going for a walk down the road a couple of kilometres and taking some pictures of some kids who got a little out of control in front of the camera . At one stage it started raining fairly heavily so we found shelter in an old bus where a couple of guys were overhauling the motor. We shared some fruit with them and had a chat for a while until the rain stopped and then we walked back into town.

On friday we finally went on an island hopping tour and decided to start with Tour C. It was only a small boat because it was only the two of us and the boatman. The sea was a little choppy and after about 45 minutes we arrived at the first stop called Hidden beach which was behind a couple of large rock formations. It was quite picturesque but would have even been better if the sun had come out. After taking a few photos the rain started and we took shelter in the boat for about 15 minutes before it eased off and we could proceed to a very nice little beach where we had a delicious lunch and did a little snorkeling. After a couple of hours we got back in the boat, stopped for 10 minutes of snorkeling, and then headed to our final stop at a nice beach for a while before returning to El Nido. Although the weather wasn't that great I enjoyed the tour and the amazing scenery of the place.

The following day Dawid stayed at the hotel while I went on Tour A, the most popular tour. I was joined by two couples and at last it was a beautiful sunny day. First stop was the small lagoon, where we had to swim through a gap between the rocks to get to it. It was quite nice inside being surrounded by high rock walls. Next we went up a small, shallow channel that came out at a large deep lagoon where we just had a quick look and then returned back through the channel. After this we made our way to our lunch spot which was a lovely little beach with some great rock formations and some nice snorkeling. Once we had lunch and a nice rest it was time to go to another island and feed some fish. We jumped over the side and the boatman each gave us some food to hold while the hundreds of fish devoured what they could in a feeding frenzy. One last stop at a nice beach for a bit of snorkeling and relaxing before making our way back to El Nido. I really loved this tour (Tour A) for the variety and quality of activities as well as the sunny weather finally. So if you are coming this way and you only have time to do one tour, make sure it is Tour A.

On Sunday we caught the 9am minibus to Puerto Princesa which took about 6 hours. Throughout the trip one of the passengers threw up about 4 times due to what we all thought must have been food poisoning from the night before. I got lucky at the bus terminal when 3 philippino ladies asked me to share their trike to the city with them. Got to sit behind the trike rider for the 8 km trip and only cost me just over 50 cents. After checking into our hotel Dawid and I headed back to the city to get something to eat, play a little pool, watch a local talent competition, and say hi to a lovely local couple I know before heading back. Tomorrow I have a flight to the island of Cebu.

*please have a look at the pictures on page 2 and 3*

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