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Published: February 22nd 2013
After getting checked into our hotel, dowing a couple San Miguel's, and showering all the dirt and grime off our bodies we grabbed some dinner along the beach and toasted to a great day of riding. We witnessed a beautiful sunset and were really looking forward to island hopping the next day. We had seen too many pictures and videos of some of the beaches that we were going to experience and now it was time for us to see them for ourselves.
Breakfast eaten, bags packed, we then waited in the hammock for everyone to get down to the banca boat and head out island hopping. We were bummed at first with the morning clouds hovering over us but were hopeful for the afternoon that the sun would pop out of the couds. After everyone loaded in the boat and exchanged greetings we were off. There were a ton of other boats leaving the harbor going island hopping for the day since it is one of the most popular activities in El Nido. We were 10th in line bobbing in the water heading into the opening of Bacuit Bay where all the islands were. We sliced through 2 big
islands and were out in the open bay with a ton of uninhabitable volcanic islands all around us. The islands that surrounded us were insane. It was like God just threw these random, sea urchin islands all over the place with no intention of anyone having to live there. As we boated past them you could see where thousands of years of waves had carved feet out from around the bottom of the island.
As we followed the rest of the crowd, the sun finally came out and our shirts came off. Finally! We approached the anchored boats and were wondering what we were doing here. We assumed it was a snorkeling spot but didn't see many people in the water. So we hopped out fo the boat with our snorkeling gear and swam towards the rocks and the random people and came around the corner to see that we had entered hidden lagoon. There was a big rock island in front that hide the beach area from view. Once you got around the corner it was paradise! Clear water about 1-2 feet deep with a half moon beach with soft white sand and green foilage behind it with
El Nido
Getting ready to start the island hoppingvolcanic cliffs towering above you. It was so cool be in this hidden beach. Definitely a place you could stay for a couple hours just lounging. We snorkeled around for a bit and when we decided to leave we found a keyhole in the rocks to head back out to the waiting banca boat and onto the next destination.
We sat in the front of the banca boat as we cut through the water and getting splashed by the water breaking over the bow was one of the best feelings after the long day riding. We had nothing to do and nothing to think besides looking at the sights around us. The next stop was secret beach. A place that I had read about and was beyond excited to check out. The boat pulls up to these rocks and one of the boatmen throws the anchor out and puts the ladder down. We ask him where we are supposed to go and he points to a barely visible hole in the wall that we are supposed to swim through. Snorkel gear grabbed along with the GoPro and off we go! We swam through the opening and came into this
protected beach area. I don't have any idea how a beach formed inside this opening. The beach was maybe 30-40 yards wide in a half moon shape with some volcanic rocks scattered on the beach with foilage along the cliffs. I thought hidden lagoon was impressive but Secret beach put it to shame! It was crazy to be in this little alcove with volcanic rock completely surrounding you. I wish I had more adjectives and a more imaginative brain to describe what it looked like on the inside. I am making a short island hopping movie to put the words into pictures and videos so hopefully when that gets finished I will be able to post it to Youtube so you will have a chance to feel what it's like to be there.
At this point our stomachs start rumbling and we realize that it's about lunch time. Everyone hops back on the boat and off we go to the next beach. The tour we signed up for had a beach barbecue included in the price which sounded amazing! We anchored on this 100 yard stretch of beach with some other boats and relaxed as the guys brought everything
ashore. Right behind us, yet again, giant towering volcanic cliffs. This is a common theme with this islands. We noticed as we were going from island to island , you would spot a small beach here and there. They would never outline the islands but a small 30 yard white beach tucked in front of some cliffs would be the only beach on that island. The guys started cooking lunch and we wandered around the beach a little bit looking at all the seashells and getting a little bit of snorkeling done before lunch. Lunch turned out to be delicious! Fish, chicken, pork, squid, rice, fresh fruit, and some other things that I forget. It was so good to have some fresh cooked food after a "long morning" on the open water. Tough life for sure! Definitely hit the spot!
After packing up the boat we were off once again to the next destination. A short banca boat ride brought us to Matinloc Island where a monastery sat abandoned tucked in between the rocks with a small dock. I have no idea why they would choose such a remote location to have a monastery but it was really cool
to check it out. We ended up climbing this very small trail to a lookout where you could have a better view of some of the islands and check out the rocks. We did it in barefeet which was a terrible idea. The path was smooth but at the top you had to step around people and thankfully since a lot of people had been there before, the rocks weren't nearly as sharp as they were on the other side. If you would happen to fall down the other side you would for sure die. These rocks were the sharpest I have ever touched.
Back on the boat for our final destination, Helicopter island. Apparently when looked at from afar this island looks like a helicopter, imagine that. We cruised for a couple minutes and the boatmen brought us closer and closer to the tail end of Helicopter Island where it was a sheer cliff face about 100 yards straight up. As we came around the cliff face a really big beach lay in front of us. It was a gorgeous beach with palm trees lining the edge of the beach and people laying in the sand getting a
Hidden lagoon
A small island that hides hidden lagoon tan and other's snorkeling in between the anchored banca boats. We grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed to the far end of the beach to do some snorkeling and hopefully some cliff/rock jumping. We had spotted a rock as we were coming into the beach and wanted to check it out. Unfortunately we weren't able to climb to the top and below in the water was only a couple feet deep. But not to worry! We found another rock with deeper water that we were, very carefully, able to climb up and jump off of. Trying to climb up was pretty tough. You had to time it so that the tide pushed you up a little bit so you could get a handhold on the softer part of the rock and your foot could get a solid point to hold on to. Once you got up was the fun part! It was maybe a 6-10 foot drop into the water. So Patrick and I spent a good half an hour or so climbing the rock and jumping off again. So much fun!
After a long, amzing day island hopping in El Nido we finally made it back to shore
and thanked the boatment and went to shower off at our hostel. It was our last night in El Nido and we were sad to have to go. We would have loved to stay another couple of days and take in the town and the sights but I know someday I will go back for sure. After showering we watched the sun go down and all the colors of the sunset like up the sky. Absolutely gorgeous colors with the islands in the background. You always wished the sunset would last longer but once it hits the horizon, the sun goes down so fast! We headed off for a beach dinner and drinks and to take in our last night and prepare for our 9 hour trip back down to Puerto Princessa. The way the timing worked out gave us only 1 full day in El Nido. We did the island hopping on Wednesday and had to catch a flight from Puerto Princessa to Boracay Friday morning at 10am so that meant we had to ride back down to PP on Thursday and stay the night there so we didn't miss our flight.
The ride down was just as
Lunchtime
Beach where we stopped for lunch much fun as the ride up. Beautiful scenery and so peaceful. Towards the end of the trip we caught the sunset coming over the mountains and jungle which was awesome! Thankfully we made it into the town of Puerto Princessa just as nightfall traffic hit. The traffic at that time of day was pretty crazy. Thankfully we had enough practice on the bikes that we were used to controlling it but there were cars, bikes, jeepneys, tuk tuk's everywhere! So much going on around you you just had to laugh and pay close attention. I would look back at Leana and I could see the look in her eyes like, "Holy crap, am I going to make it?" You bascally would just stay in your line and follow the person in front of you and you were fine. Plus, everyone was crawling at 10-15 mph so it wasn't that bad. So much fun once we all made it back to the hostel in one piece!
Overall I would highly recommend Palawan and El Nido. Such a beautiful place with extremly nice people. I am definitely going back there at some point in my life. The problem with the Philippines
Boatmen
The boatmen cleaning up and loading the banca boat after lunch is that you need so much time to experience everything. There are 7,107 islands in the Philippines itself. We heard of another island just north of Palawan called Coron which is a 5 hour ferry ride but it's supposed to be gorgeous!
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