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First day at El Nido
Kayaking and hiking ( or shall I say rock climbing)
I woke up to the sounds of trikes honking horns, dogs barking and roosters cock-a-doodle -do! I took a quick shower and got dressed to schedule tours for the day and he next day. I walked in the Art Caffe and talked to the ladies there and booked a kayaking-snorkeling-island hopping boat combo tour for Sunday. A hiking tour for the afternoon and a kayak for the morning. I walked around the main area where all the bars, restos, hostels, guesthouses and shops are and I bought a few small souvenirs. Then I wandered around the outside streets and walked into El Nido town. El Nido is in central Palawan it is a bay called Bacuit ( not sure spelling) it is a small stretch of beach and all the tourist accommodations, resto bars, shops and tour agencies are on it. The town and locals itselves live in the outer streets , near the mountain or a little farther away. I saw a Catholic Church and a cemetery, a school with a futbol field and little kids playi a game of futbol, I passe
several guesthouses and homestays and small shops mostly of snacks and drinks and Filipino style clothes, flip flops and others. I walked by towards the beach trying to find a place to eat breakfast. I stopped at a small place with tables on the porch that had views of the beach so I settled for it on the plus side the prices were budget friendly. I sat down and order a Filipino breakfast which included fried eggs, beef, rice and to drink a calamanza which is a lemon drink super refreshing. Next to me was a girl from Canada and we started to chat about our travel experiences , she had been to Thailand, Malaysia and Phillippines and was a nurse in Calgary.we noticed a bunch of little kids very happy playing together some sort of imaginary game on a boat that was parked on the beach. They jump in the water, balanced on the boat, splashed water, covers themselves in sand and they look so genuinely happy, we both agreed that during our childhood we played outdoors and rode bikes, played make believe, etc and nowadays kids just are overwhelmed with academics, and they really do not play using
their imagination . After a great chat we each paid our bills and parted ways. I went to walk on the beach explore the area and ended up buying some really cool souvenirs which I told the owner of the store she would have so much success in Venezuela with a store there. She smiled and gave me her business card. Who knows?!
Kayaking
Then I rented a kayak and headed out on he open sea for some kayaking fun. I had not kayaked since a long time probably since Vietnam and Halong Bay on 2012. I was exited to do it and not was it hard at first because it was kind of windy and waves where coming in and out in quantities. I paddled for a few minutes straight and went anlittle away from the shore took some photos along he way and enjoyed the partly cloudy -sunny not too hot perfect day for kayaking. I had on mind to go straight to a small island beach Cadla and come back in an hour, but as I was getting adjusted again to kayaking. I decided to not over do it . I kayaked watching the beautiful
karst formations surrounding the islands. It was similar to Halong Bay in Vietnam and to Guilin and Yangshuo in China. At around 11:15 I started to head back as I only had 15 more minutes and a hard hike ahead of me. Going back was even tougher I felt I paddled and the kayak would not move. It was an in tense 15 minutes of paddling paddling strong and constant so that the current would not interfere with my destination. Finally I got close tot the shore, but I noticed the Art Cafe sign was not there so I paddled back to the other area. When I thought I had reached my destination and pulled the kayak to the sand I realized the Art cafe was still a way ahead so in pushed the kayak back to the ocean and hopped on and paddled to finally the right location. I parked the kayak with the help of two boys of 7-8 years old who after harrassed me for money. I went to my guesthouse changed into shorts and tshirts, sneakers, filled my camel bag with water, my camera and hat and was ready to hike up he cliff.
Hiking
/ Rock climbing up El Nido cliff
I met with my guide a Filipino guy bin his late 20s and two German guys at the Art Cafe and we walked am through a little neighborhood saw locals houses, women doing laundry, men doing manly chores as cutting the fish and meat, fixing things etc., there were little kids jumping rope, running and playing outdoors. We reached the start of the hike where to go up the cliff. It started with a short dirt trail not really maintained and about 250 meters we reached the rocks. It was a already rock climbing for an hour and fifteen minutes. At first it was not too bad and I climbed with confidence,/security enjoying it. When we reached the half way there was a very steep vertical rock and not too many places to hold grip. It was anlittle scary thinking I could fall and hit a rock and roll and roll and roll! I managed to climbed it successfully and continued the way. Along the way we saw a few green ghekos and a green garden snake which was very thin and log about 20 centimeters. We reached the cliff and the
view was simply stunning! The cliff was 145 meters high and you could see the whole town of El Nido and all the islands of the Bacuit archipelago including the lagoons in the area. The karst formations on the water look magnificent and gigantic. I took a several photos including a few of myself with the cliff and view on my background. At 4:00 we bagel our descent the two German guys headed first and I stayed with the guide.
It took a little longer as always climbing down rocks is more dangerous and difficult than going up. The guide was funny and e kept making jokes about sleeping in the cliff , going down the easy way aka jumping down the cliff LOL and trying to make conversation with me. We reached down around 5 :45, I made it! I had a few aches, scratches and a lot of mosquito bites but nothing that lasts forever. I felt so proud of myself. I know someone that always encouraged
me challenged me and believed in me and always supported me along tia outdoorsy adventures he would be proud too! I went to my guesthouse relaxed and lay down
then took a shower and headed to The Alternative for a nice dinner. The resto at was packed but I managed to get a little enclave with cushions under the stars. I order a mango shake and chicken curry with rice. I read, wrote on my blog checked emails and the food had not arrived . It got to me after almost two hours. The service was also awful. I ate my dinner and as soon as I finished I paid and left. It is supposed to be a great backpackers spot but like I said they'd are very very slow and not vey helpful I went to my guesthouse and crashed for the night.
Day 2 at El Nido
Island hopping and kayaking and snorkeling
I woke up at 8:00 AM and got my small backpack ready for a day of island hopping, kayaking and snorkeling. I went to have a light breakfast at the Art Caffe and. To pay for my tour. The tour was scheduled to leave at 9:00 AM so every one on it gathered at the Art Caffe beach front. There was a couple from Chile, but in spite of having the
same for booked we were not on the same boat. I ended up on a boat with a group of Chinese and a guy who said he was from Holland but turned out to be American ( ugh why do all Americans say the city where they are from like Everyone in the world is supposed the thousands of cities in the US… I thought he was from the country Holland which made sense as he said Holland to the question where is he from!? Anyway I ended up having to share a kayak with him and it turned out it was his first time on a kayak I was more experienced! Hahaha! The boat's crew was three Filipino guys all seemed young one was captain other the deck it and the kayak and snorkeling guide. The first island we visit was about 25 minutes away from El Nido and it was where the small lagoon was. I hopped in the front seat of the kayak and the American guy on the back and he guide had its own kayak. If you have ever been on a kayak you know these both persons on it have to be synchronized and
the person in the back is for most of the time the leader. Well, this was not the case as I mentioned before it was the guy's first time on a kayak and he had no idea how to do paddle synchronized so it was me who ended up leading the rhythm of the paddling. The beach was beautiful color of turquoise and emerald very clear so that you could see the bottom. the karst formations that surrounded it were immense and stunning . It was clearly a beautiful work of nature. The beach was crowded with other tour boats and kayaks as well as with not so good swimmers who were snorkeling. Our guide went first and we followed. We had to paddle slowly to make the kayak go straight and not crashed against boats and maneuvered through a maze of snorkelers. We went through a small karst rock tunnel and were at the small lagoon. It was all surrounded by tall, uneven and stunning karst formations. We saw a small hole kind of like a cave and parked the kayak on its side and off I swam inside it. The entrance was narrowed and with a few rocks
on the side and bottom that served as doorstep. On the inside it was dark with a very small source of light coming from a high opening of the rocks. I took a few photos and headed out. (later I found out that my underwater camera was missing a red round rim I guess for protection and we had to come back here the guide and me to try to look for it ). We kayaked back to the boat trying to avoid the maze of snorkels and boats. When we reached the boat the Chinese people hopped on and the guide the US guy and me headed on the kayaks to the next destination. The weather was sunny but at the same time with a few clouds on the sky it wasn't too hot for kayaking nevertheless i wore my long sleeve water shirt. We were kayaking on the open sea and the wind was starting to blow a little faster so there were a few waves coming our way and it made the ride a little difficult. As I said before I was leading the kayak, so I kept saying left, right left right right I kind of
felt like a military woman LOL! We saw the karst formations surrounding the area it was beautiful and very similar to he ones I saw in Halong Bay, Vietnam and Yangshuo and Guilin, China, we reached the desired destination he big lagoon and we were the first ones there so glad we could enjoy ( for a short time) the lagoon and scenery so peaceful and quiet. We kayaked through it and noticed the depth was really shallow we could see very clearly the bottom. The water this time was more of a light emerald green and the lagoon was way more wider than the small one. We say a large group is sea urchins and they were all bundled up together waiting for a prey either a fish or a clumsy tourist. We navigated through the lagoon and went inside a tunnel and around the other side of he lagoon As we were heading out. I noticed my camera was missing a part. I looked in the kayak and in my waterproof bag but bit was my there. That's when I thought it might have fallen in the cave in the small lagoon. We kayak to the boat and
snorkeled for a bit. There wasn't much to see just a few corals and small school of fish. It was funny that the small fish would swim really close to me and actually even touch me! I kept jumping every time a little fish would touch me (they tickled). We hopped on the boat ready to go to a small beach for lunch. I asked the captain and guide if we could kayaked back to the small lagoon and see of we find the camera part. So back to the small lagoon. We went and as the captain and other boat crew set lunch I hopped in the kayak with the guide to try to find the camera part. We backtracked with the kayak and I even swam inside the little cave, but we had no luck.Sad we went back to the boat, I would not be able to take more underwater photos. Luckily the big snorkeling part of my trip was done. The guide dropped me at the beach for lunch and while they cooked lunch (filled fish and beef kebabs with salad and rice) I relaxed on the beach reading for awhile and listening to music Lunch was
served and I ate the beef kebabs, ride and some cucumber salad and for dessert fresh mango and watermelon. Lunch done and everything cleaned we hopped on the kayak and kayak to the next destination. This one was a bit father away and more toward open are so there were more waves and wind to count on. The guide had stated kayaking first so he was well ahead of us. We followed and after about 25 minutes we reached a coral reef again packed with boats and snorkelers we hopped off the kayaks and put snorkeling gear and snorkeled for about 20 minutes. The reef there was way better and more corals of different shapes and colors plus a lot more fish to see and they were bigger than in the small and big lagoon. After the snorkeling 20 minutes passed I swam back to the boat and took of my snorkeling gear and hopped again on the kayak. We kayaked through boats and annoyingly and absentminded snorkelers and reached a small beach. The guide pointed to a small hole and said we would go through it but I could not see it until I was really close. We had
reached the. Secret lagoon. There wants much to see and do there. It was simply a stagnate seawater lagoon worn impressive and tall karst formations. We got out and kayak to the boat put the kayaks on the boat and drove to our next and final destination. We had 50 minutes at the beautiful isolated and white sandy beach to enjoy it. I took a walk from one end to the other and saw a small beach bar ( pricy ) and bought a cold beer and relaxed on the sand enjoying the cold beer and a good read. It was time to go back to El Nido so. I took a few last photos of the area and hopped on he boat. The boat dropped us off at the Art cafe pier and I grabbed my stuff headed to my guesthouse took a shower and went out for a walk. I bought a few more postcards and souvenirs and decided to get a foot/ leg massage ( my thighs are horribly sore from the rock climbing cliff hike to the point I have to go down the stairs without alternating legs!) I found a cheap and clean massage place
and bargain the price a lite finally settled for 500 pesos an hour long leg massage. It felt so great and relaxing I fell asleep! Feeling relaxed I headed to eat dinner. Being very picky and indecisive as for eating I could my find a place so finally I went to the Art cafe which had not so expensive prices. A good selection of fruit shakes and a great live music band playing good music g and ambiance . I set shop for a few hours reading, writing postcards. chatting and enjoying the time . I went to my guesthouse around 10 PM and after watching a few shows I crashed for the night.
Day 3 at El Nido
Feb 10
Last day at El Nido Paddle board fun
I woke up to roosters cock-a-doodle-dooling, dogs barking, music from the guesthouse, a drill and people talking. I got dressed and went out to enjoy my last day at El Nido. I paid the 3 nights at the guesthouse and left my big backpack until it was time for me to go to the bus terminal. I got a coffee and a calamansi juice at the Art Caffe
then I was ready for a fun day on the paddle board. It was a cloudy and a little drizzle was falling, but I could see a little bit of the sun peaking from the clouds so I put on my girly billabong shorts and my OC long sleeve water t-shirt and took of with the paddle board under my arm. I found a spot with less boats and put the paddle board on the water and sat with my legs hanging on he sides and paddle a little until I reached a clear spot away from the boats. I practiced a little sitting on my knees and paddling from that position it was easy so I gave it a to to stand up. To stand up was a little tricky I had to wait for a the waves to pass and have the sea calm then I could stand up. So I gave it a try and started paddling. It was easy! I paddled for awhile getting away from the boats, shore and people. I continued to paddled and I discovered the most fun workout ever!!! I took some photos of me (arm shots with the feature of me
underwater camera specially for that and as I was putting the camera back on the paddle board I stumble lost my balance and Splash!!! I fell in the water… Oops! I climbed back up and sat down for awhile enjoying the calming and peaceful sound of the wind and waves and the beautiful scenery surrounding me . I paddled from the sitting position then to the knee position and back up I paddle standing. I paddled constantly for the next 35 -40 minutes until my hour was over. I paddled towards the shore and just when I was reaching the sand I trip and fell flat on the paddle not hitting the water this time but splashing a little water. The guy in charge of the paddle board was at the beach so I asked him to take a few photos of me on he paddle board so I could have a memory of how much fun paddle boards are LOL! I went to my guesthouse and took a quick shower before heading out. I ate a small lunch at the Art Cafe while checking emails and charging electronics and bought a few snacks (choco muchos yum!!!) and water and
at 139 I took a trike to he van/ but terminal the van terminal was a vacant lot with a shack made from wood (simply four poles and a roof) showing sobs of the different transportation companies. Surrounding it was the local market and a few shops to buy water, snacks, food etc. I walked around found the public toilets ( unfortunately I had to use them, they were filthy but it wasn't. The worst I had used). I walked back to the “waiting area” to find two French guys and a girl ( later I found out she was staying in the same dorm in Puerto Princesa. The rest of the people on the van were Filipinos. As the driver and staff where putting the luggage in the van I decided to be safe and put my passport carrier and laptop in my small backpack (thanks God because they put our backpacks on the roof of the car (with plastic cover) and a little before arriving to PP it began to pour really heavy rain. The van drive was tough and bumpy the first hour but I managed to sleep until the first stop in Tay Tay after that
stop I really tried to sleep but couldn't so I read, listened to music and wrote on my blog. There was not much traffic however the time in the van went slow and sit was painful because they put 4 people on my row of seats and the guy next to me moved and left me with very little space (at least I was on the window and could rest on it.) I noticed we passed the big mall Robinson in PP and then reached the airport so I asked how far was the bus/van terminal and a girl said about 35 minutes so I did not want to go back for another 35 minutes considering my hostel was about 10 minutes from airport. When I mentioned the name of my hostel the Australian girl said she was heading that way too so we agreed to be dropped of at the airport and have a taxi, but since it was raining heavily the driver said he'll take us. Great! When we got off at the Mc Donald's across form the hostel the streets were like a river full of water and mud. We got soaked as we waited for our
bags. The two of us walked to the hostel with the two French guys who wanted to see if they had rooms available (they wanted to go to Port Barton but got on the wrong bus/van). I got my dorm bed and the Australian girl too ( same room) and I went to ask about the underground river tour he next morning. I was hungry but it was rainy and the streets were wet, and water was really high with mud and I did not want to walk in this situation too far so I went to McDonald's (ugh) and ordered a coke fries and nuggets. I got back to the hostel are my dinner and charged electronics while watching a movie ( Slum-dog millionaire ) while chilling on my dorm bed. I went to bed around 11:00 PM ready for an early wake up morning ( 6:00 AM) the next day to see the Sabang underground river one of the new wonders of he world!
Feb 11
Sabang underwater river UNESCO nature wonder site
I woke up several times during the night because of the mosquitoes, hear and random thoughts. At 3:00 AM a
backpacking girl got in our room for the night. Then at 4:30 the hostel's roosters started cock-a-doodle-doo and then dogs barking, what a night. I went back to bed and woke up at 5:45 AM took a cold shower (no hot showers since Donsol and Legazpi) and got ready for my day. I was ready by 6:25 AM thinking I would be picked up at 6:40 AM and waited and waited. I chatted with a few other guests one which was an Uruguayan living in Australia. Finally at 7:45 my pick up arrive and we left at 8:00 thinking we would just be picking up guests and heading to Sabang I was super excited! I would see the underground river and zip line yay!!! Well the company I used messed up and they did not have permits for the other 11 people most Filipinos and an annoying Swiss guy. So we had to pick up the first group dropped them at the permit place pick up the next group drop them at the print place and waited! It was 2 hours of my time and money wasted as I had already my permit and they could have placed me with
other group and I could have been among the first at Sabang. Zip lined and do a mini hike! Well I was upset and annoyed because the tour guide kept saying not too worry but she did not understand how important two hours are when you travel specially when you already paid for a tour! We reached Sabang at 10:15 and the guide wanted to have an 'early lunch' to wait for the boat. Well if we did that we would have gotten to the river at 12 and back to. the pier at almost 2 giving no time to zip line and make it in time to airport! Well thanks to my persistent we got moving and got a boat quickly, we were at the beach of Sabang at 11:00 and while taking photos of the area, the macaques, the lizards and the beautiful white sand beach and emerald sea water we waited for our second boat. I had eaten some chocolate wafers and stuck the garbage in my backpacks' outside pockets which, well the crazy monkeys saw the shiny paper ( thinking it was food) and dove for it and clanged to one of my legs, my backpack
and my shoulder! Ahhhh I had 3 crazy monkeys on me! Of course I was the photo shoot of all the other tourists . I shooed the monkeys away and proceeded to put my hand sanitizer and my flashlight away ( they were hanging from a caribin) bu as soon as they saw me with something in my hand they thought it was food and. One monkey clanged again to my leg. -finally the monkeys realized I was no fun LOL and had no food and went to 'attacked' another group of tourists. The waiting area to go in the river was a 5 minutes walk from the beach were the pier boats dropped you and it had a cool trail resembling a jungle trail. I saw a few butterflies, lots of flies and mosquitoes, the crazy monkey and a few lizards. We waited for about 30 minutes for our boat inside the river. I got on the last seat of the boat trying to get a good view of the cave. The boat had a Filipino guide paddling at the back and a light at the front, the tourist who sat on the first sit would be in charge
of holding up the light. As we were leaving the beach our guide yelled 'good night see you tomorrow' which apparently was a joke ( not so good one!) among other guides. As we paddled and navigated through the river cave every time two or more boats crossed paths the guides would yell good night see you tomorrow. Apparently it was related to the fact the we entered and it was sunny outside and went into the dark and back again into the daylight. Not sure where the 'joke ' was but I'll let them be. We navigated through the river and. On the top we could see lots of bats sleeping upside down and a kind of disgusting smell which was the 'guano' ( bat's poop). The guide mentioned that when we look up we should keep our mouths close just. So that if a bat pooped we did not tasted the 'guano'. As we navigated the guide mentioned the different areas of the cave and the stalactites and stalagmites and rock formations on the limestone. There was an area called 'the market' and along it we saw different rock formations that resembled veggies and fruits ( some were
actually pretty similar). We saw onions, garlic, cabbage, carrots, melon, papaya, etc. There was also a 'catholic section with formations similar to The Virgin Mary, Jesus, the nativity, etc. We saw Sharon Stone, a sexy lady and the iceberg no Titanic. We navigated for 1.5 kilometers which took us about 1 hour to go in and out. The whole underground river is 8 kilometers but after the 2nd kilometer it is very hard to navigate. We got off out boat and headed to find the boat back to the pier to get lunch. Lunch was a Filipino buffet consisting of rice, noodles, pork, chicken on coconut milk, salad and some stir fried veggies noting fancy actually it was not good at all. When we finished at around 1:15 I was feeling confident that both me and the other group would get to our flights on time and that we could do the zip line. Oh no the guide said no we had to leave now so disappointed and sad I hopped on the van back to Puerto Princesa. We got back at around 3:30PM and they dropped me off at the post offside I mailed my 34 postcards to family
and friends in almost every continent of the world except Australia ( need to find a friend there) and o lc course Antarctica! LOL. Then. I walked a little around town (basically it had one Main Street called Rizal that went on a straight line a little up hill from the airport to the main Catholic Church). There were a few shops Filipino style with open doors and clothes and items hanging from ceiling, a few local restaurants and at the end was the Catholic hitch in front of a plaza that looked kind of gray, dirty and abandoned. I wandered through the perpendicular streets trying to find a way to the ocean , but he sun was scorching hot and I was carrying my big backpacks so instead I stopped at a coffee house called Divine things and chilled under its AC roof enjoying a mango shake and free wifi before heading to the airport to catch my flight # 8 to Manila for my last night in Philippines' land. At around 5:15 I grabbed my backpack and headed to the airport on a trike (probably the last one of the trip.) i checked for my flight and waited
in a very crowded airport waiting room. Again my flight was super on time. Yay for Cebu Pacific's punctuality!
The 3 weeks beach vacation was over and now 4 days await for me in the cosmopolitan city of Hong Kong.
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