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Published: February 28th 2006
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It's another place off my list of places to go before I die. And a new one on my list of places with a soul.
After years of pining, I finally saw the famous El Nido last week. Taking the plane from Manila, we arrived at Puerto Princesa in the morning of Tuesday, February 21. After breakfast and meeting up with some friends I met during my previous trip to Puerto Princesa, we headed off to El Nido.
El Nido is about 7 hours away from Puerto Princesa (including pitstops). The roads from Puerto to Roxas (2 hours away) were very good but a few miles off Roxas and our nightmare begins. Dusty, unpaved roads which become unpassable during the rainy season made up more than half the trip to El Nido. We pass by Taytay which was a continuum of dusty landscape except for the beautiful, beautiful Embarcadero River which looks exactly like
Bohol's Loboc River except that it’s wider and less busy.
Relief came with the sight of the famous limestone cliffs and islands of Curong-curong Bay but this was only a teaser as El Nido town is still a good hour away.
After almost
7 hours on the road, we arrive at the small charming town of El Nido. The town is surrounded by towering limestone cliffs all around -- like a pearl whose beauty is sheltered by a shell just as pretty.
Meeting up with a Tourism officer, we scoured the accommodations at the town for a place to stay in. There was a dearth of free rooms as tourists have been flocking in since the New Year. We finally found vacant rooms at the Bayview Inn. It was ok (considering we had no other choice) and for P300/night, who can complain? It was my first time though to stay in a place with common toilets and baths. Electricity is off at El Nido by 11PM so the night was stifling even if we were very near the beach. Bayview’s redeeming factor was a verandah at the second floor (same level as the rooms) where we just chilled out that night. I’ve never seen so many stars in my entire life - the night was just too beautiful for words.
The next day, we looked around for a beachfront cottage after breakfast and luckily found one at Tandikan Resort. It was
a nipa cottage right in the beach, with its own toilet/bath for only P500/night. Needless to say, we were happy 😊
We spent the entire day island-hopping (packaged tours are available at many establishments in town - most range from P650-P800 per person, depending on the choice of islands you want to visit). We went to Small Lagoon, Big Lagoon, and three other islands (I’m lousy with names hehehe), all deserted save for a few people and all equally spectacular. The waves were pretty rough during that day and we were soaked moving from island to island. The waters are still very clean but sadly, the corals were dead in the much-visited islands. The local government is obviously having a hard time sustaining the development.
Friday morning we left for our next destination - halfway through to Puerto Princesa - Port Barton. An extremely underrated destination, I found Port Barton more charming than El Nido. We stayed at the best resort in the area, Swissippini Resort. For P800/night, you couldn’t ask for anything better (well, at least in Port Barton). We took all meals at the resort’s restaurant which is so totally cool people actually lounge around there
El Nido - Port Barton 2006
Limestone cliffs of El Nido instead of at the beach. Hammocks and woven beach chairs all around, the beach just 10 steps away from your cottage door, coconut trees swaying in the wind, mountain ranges in the horizon, the sound of waves - what more can you ask for? I so loved Swissippini and Port Barton, if I only knew about it before, we would’ve spent a longer time here than at El Nido. (Take that with a grain of salt though - I’ve been to Coron, Palawan before so El Nido was something of a more-of-the-same experience for me. El Nido could be breathtaking if it’s your first time to see something like that.)
We lounged around Port Barton for a day and a half and then came the looong trip back to Puerto Princesa (around 3-4 hours). With a morning flight back to Manila, we just spent the night resting at Lola Itang’s pension house in Puerto Princesa. Sunday morning after mass, we visited the public market for some pasalubongs and then off we went to our hectic but boring life in Manila.
Got a few snapshots here... multiply them by tens and you have the sights of El Nido 😊
My pictures don't do the place justice. Despite my not-as-I-expected feeling about El Nido, it still IS a place you must see in your lifetime 😊
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daduabad
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Thank You Very Much
For sharing the experience and the serene views of the place. Thank you.