Month: August 2016
It’s a long weekend which would allow us enough time to head to Palawan Island, also one of the most beautiful islands in the world! Palawan is quite a big island and tourists usually head either to Coron or El Nido. As we do not have the luxury of time, El Nido was our pick. We book a package from El Nido Resorts for PHP25,870 per person which includes full board accommodation for 2 nights, any activity offered by the resort and return air tickets from Manila to El Nido.
The islands of Palawan?
Saturday
We’re back at Terminal 4 to hop onto the Airswift propeller plane which will bring us straight to El Nido in a 1 hour 15 minute flight with some pretty bad turbulence but you do get a very nice view at the thousands of islands that Philippines has.
We land around noon on a short strip of tarmac and get onto a “bus” to bring us to the arrival “hall”.
The airport is one of the most interesting airports I’ve seen in awhile and we’re greeted by the airport welcoming committee.
It’s about a 30 minute boat ride from the airport to Miniloc Island. From the boat ride, you can view the multiple limestone hills/islands of Palawan as the sea breeze runs through your hair.
We catch the first view of Minoloc Island and I’m a bit disappointed that the beach is so short then I look at the water and it’s crystal clear and you can see fishes swimming just right outside the resort.
First order of the day, we use the kayaks, which are free to use for all guests, and head to the nearby islands where we get a little freaked out by pretty huge lizard. We head back to the resort and go snorkelling. Very beautiful, there is a lot of marine life and its so pretty. We also get bitten by a fish, which is called damsel and is territorial hence it bites anything within her territory.
Sunday
Lagoon exploration time! We first cruise through the Big Lagoon.
Then we stop by the area outside small lagoon to kayak into the Small Lagoon.
After that, we stop by the entrance of Big Lagoon to snorkel. The water isn’t as clear today for snorkeling as visibility isn’t very good. The area outside the resort was much better. We return to the resort in time just in time for jack feeding!
We head to Entatula Beach Club right after to relax and have lunch. The Entatula Beach Club is meant for you to engage in non-motorised sports but because it’s the afternoon and the sand at the beach isn’t very fine, we relax on the multiple sun chairs and drink our coconut water.
After that, we head to the secret cave, where people previously hid in. I forgot the full story though. We head to Snake Island after that before calling it a day and chill at the resort and play some pool.
Monday
I have some time before my flight in the evening, and my friends left on the earlier flight, so I joined the tour to the Secret Lagoon. We arrive at the stop and have to walk in chest deep sea water, with the waves coming at you, before climbing through a small hole into the Secret Lagoon. I kinda regret not wearing my life jacket. Thank goodness nothing happened.
After the tour, I went kayaking for a bit and enjoy the beautiful marine life from the kayak.
I went for a short snorkel after that and got bitten by that territorial fish again.
Soon it was time to say goodbye to this beautiful island.
Overall
A weekend won’t be enough to enjoy this island. 3 days was just sufficient because I finished most activities that I wanted to do except for the sunrise tours which were cancelled due to the weather. If you dive, perhaps 3 days is insufficient. El Nido is really beautiful, the crystal clear water and the variety of marine life was a winner for me. I also liked the fact that I could wake up, walk out of my room, rent some snorkelling gear and hop straight into the water to snorkel. I thought that was amazing. The only thing which I hoped El Nido would have was a nice sandy beach to relax at.
The Weekender
21 weekends 