El Nido, Philippines

If you’ve been reading our posts, you will probably begin to notice a trend in that we are pretty unlucky travellers. Perhaps it’s a consequence of inexperience in visiting new places, but I honestly believe we’ve just been dealt a difficult hand of cards. I use that word with caution as I feel we shouldn’t complain; we are travelling the world and are very fortunate to be able to do so. But I also can’t say that we have had it easy.

The 34-hour journey

Our trip to El Nido, Palawan was but another memorable adventure, but for all the wrong reasons. The Philippines really isn’t the easiest of places to travel, which as Ben would agree, is such as shame as it dampens your impressions of a truly beautiful country. After leaving Bohol, an adventure island that we could only explore for 42 hours, we began our journey to El Nido. This involved a 6am ferry ride to Cebu, a 40-minute taxi ride to the airport, a flight to Manila and then another flight to Puerto Princesa (the capital city of Palawan), and finally a 6-hour drive to El Nido. The first few legs were fine, albeit exhausting, and we arrived at Manila airport with the excitable nerves we felt upon travelling to a new place.

We boarded our next plane, sat back, took out our books, and waited. After the cabin crew had undertaken the necessary precautions – all were seated, seat belts were fastened, chairs upright and bags stowed away – we were informed that our flight had been cancelled due to strong winds in Palawan. The majority of our fellow passengers sat still waiting to be told next steps, but the sound of the word ‘cancelled’ fortunately triggered Ben and I to jump off the plane and ensure we would be first in the queue to reschedule our flight. As we paced through the airport, we quickly formed a strategy and charged off in separate directions: Ben to arrivals to collect the bags and myself to departures to reschedule our flight.

The Cebu Pacific desk was ready and waiting to answer our concerns, but perhaps not as prepared to give us the answers we all wanted, as I was politely informed that our cancelled flight could be rescheduled 9 days later! I really couldn’t help but laugh. I felt awful for the poor airline employee who was ill equipped to deal with the angry mob of travellers who begun to form a queue behind me. After a rather lengthy discussion, I was told that the airline would put us on stand-by for the flights the following morning. There was no guarantee, but with occasional no-shows and being placed #2 and #3 on the priority list, we hoped luck would be back on our side. I reunited with Ben and the bags, which would act as our lumpy pillows for the evening, and after wasting a good hour or two with Ben pushing me round on the trolley as if I were the queen, we found some floor to spend a glamorous night’s sleep. 7am suddenly rolled around after a restless night and we were pleased to find ourselves on the 8am flight – hurrah!

We arrived at Puerto Princesa where we decided to take a van to El Nido. I will save you the trauma of reading the woes of this decision, as Ben has already given a rather lengthy description. But what I can tell you is that the journey itself is not fun. In fact, it is surprising that El Nido has so many tourists, considering the 6-hour hajj it takes to get there even after the flights. There are two options for transportation, a bus or a van, and neither are great for different reasons. Firstly, it’s worth noting that the state and nature of the roads calls for a very bumpy, twisty, turny journey, no matter which mode you choose. The van is without a doubt quicker, but this comes at a cost. Not only is it slightly more expensive than the bus (500php per person), but you are incredibly lucky if you finish the journey without feeling completely ill. The driver swings so quickly around the bends that your stomach turns upside down and the centrifugal force thumps you into either the window or the passenger next to you. All in all, a horrendous journey to take and we made an outright decision that it wouldn’t be repeated.

We decided to try the bus on the way back. This was cheaper (295php per person) and a lot slower as it stopped along the way to pick up and drop off passengers, something that was very welcome as although the bumps and turns could not be avoided, they could definitely be helped by a slower pace. We anticipated that the 6am bus ride would begin quietly and we would be able to sleep, as the sun had not yet risen, but we were very wrong! Blaring out the speakers were awful techno remixes of crazy frog played at such a volume that even our iPod couldn’t drown it out. Never before have I heard so many bad songs played consecutively in my entire life. It was the type of music that would be played to purposely drive somebody mad, and with each beat, we slipped closer towards insanity. Thankfully, after an hour, crazy frog hopped away and the beats were replaced by a series of Mark Wahlberg films, which were pretty entertaining, particularly as the sex scenes were slowly skipped past causing childish giggling to ripple throughout the bus. The bus took just under 6 hours to arrive back at Puerto Princesa, and although the journey was a bit hot, it was far more bearable.

Arriving in El Nido

Once we arrived in El Nido we walked the 15 minutes to our apartment, and I have to admit that as soon as I saw the bed, I cried. It was 4pm, 34 hours since we left Bohol, and we were completely exhausted. I knew that travelling wasn’t meant to be glamorous and relaxing, but I really didn’t anticipate how much actual ‘travelling’ would be involved and how it would make us feel. After being stuck inside ferries, taxis and airports for what felt like forever, to see the views from our apartment were completely overwhelming and made us realise why we abandoned home comforts and decided to travel.

Our apartment was on Caalan Beach, a 15-minute walk away from El Nido Town. The large limestone cliff that loomed over and protected El Nido beach also cast shadows over the town from mid-afternoon, whereas our beach was perfectly situated to watch the sun fall between the two large silhouettes in the sea. That evening we were blessed with the most stunning sunset we had seen during our trip. Hues of orange, red and pink lit up the night-sky, almost as if the horizon had set alight. Afterwards, we demolished delicious vegetable curries sitting alongside the bay, and by 7pm, once our hearts and bellies were full again, we fell into a deep, long sleep with the sound of the waves breaking peacefully outside.

I woke early the next morning; it was my birthday and I was so excited to explore the magical El Nido. But sadly, Ben’s belly woke him and continued to all day long. I started by feeling really sorry for myself (like really really sorry for myself): ‘who wants to eat alone on their birthday?’ I thought. But after some words of reassurance (from me, to me) – ‘you are a strong independent woman’ and ‘it’s actually far worse for Ben’ – I got dressed and had a beautiful meal overlooking the bay. The next day saw a similar set of events; I woke at sunrise ready to explore, but Ben was sadly unable to leave the room. Fortunately by day three, Ben began to feel better and so we booked onto an island hopping tour to explore the wonders of Bacuit Bay.

Island Hopping

In El Nido, island hopping is the thing to do. There are four different tours organised and all companies follow exactly the same route. This makes it really easy to book onto a tour as price is the only variable, but unfortunately it leads to crowding in the supposedly ‘secret’ spots. Tempted by Miniloc Island’s enchanting lagoons and the looming limestone cliffs that surround them, ‘Tour A’ seemed like the perfect introduction to Bacuit Bay. We hopped onto the wooden outrigger boat with thirty others and despite the amount of people, every sight we saw still felt special.

Our first stop was ‘Seven Commandos Beach’, a beautiful white strip of fine sand lined with tall palm trees and surrounded by crystal clear waters, only around the bay from El Nido town. The beach is not accessible by car or bike, but very accessible by boat or even kayak, and as a result, the small sandy cove was completely filled with tourists. After our days spent on the remote Kalanggaman Island, this beach felt spoiled, and we were itching to see something new. Next we visited Shimizu Island, which was out of this world. Each time I look back at photos, I can’t believe they are unedited; the colours so vibrant from the clear turquoise water to the green vegetation growing against the defined black cliffs. Here our tour guides prepared a lunch of freshly grilled fish, rice, and salads, and due to my vegetarian requirements I was given a very inspired plate of 20 plain boiled potatoes.

Finally we visited secret lagoon, small lagoon and big lagoon. All are equally as beautiful, surrounded by the dark karst limestone formations and showcasing a kaleidoscope of marine life. Not-so-secret lagoon lies within a small island, said to be the true inspiration behind Alex Garland’s ‘The Beach’ (rather than Koh Phi Phi in Thailand) and I can understand why. Not only were the cliffs, water and sand so picturesque, but the palm trees acted as a big kid’s playground having grown in perfect formation for climbing. After our diving experience in Gili Trawangan, I didn’t think under water could get much prettier, but much to my delight I was proven wrong. We snorkelled around the big lagoon in all its colourful splendour, with eerie black sea urchins standing guard over the hundreds and hundreds of pearls dotted beneath the lagoon’s cliffs. We headed home absolutely exhausted after a day of swimming, swimming and more swimming, stopping by Altrove to eat their delicious (albeit overpriced) brick-oven pizza.

Northern Palawan

Our final day on El Nido came around so quickly. We decided against booking another island-hopping tour and rented a scooter to explore the island independently. As we made our way out of town, we passed El Nido airport, which was only 5 minutes from the town centre! Flights directly to El Nido were four times the price we paid to Puerto Princesa, but honestly, it would have been sooo worth it.

Our first stop was the Nagkalit-Kalit Falls. Ever reluctant to hire a guide, we researched until we realised that it would be extremely difficult to find the waterfalls without their help, due to the unclear paths and 7 stream crossings. Our guide was a 30-year old local man, who lived in a small bamboo hut along the main road out of town with his entire extended family. Not only did he help us find the way, but he also taught us about local fruit and vegetables as we passed the many plantation fields and even demonstrated how to climb a palm tree. For somebody who had lived in a tiny village his entire life, his English was brilliant. He told us that English was the number one priority to learn in school, above maths, science and even the local language.

After a lazy few weeks, the trek to the waterfalls shocked our bodies. There are three waterfalls in total, and the higher you climb, the better the waterfall. We were hot, sweaty and exhausted by the time we had climbed all the way to the top, swinging from the bamboo branches to reach the highest point. It was no Sekumpul, but it was beautiful, tall and refreshing. As the water cascaded down to the middle waterfall, a natural pool had formed providing the perfect spot to cool off and have a swim. We spent ample time here frolicking about, which mainly involved Ben jumping into the water and promptly playing dead, while our guide patiently waited further down.

We were shattered by the time we got back to the bike and ready for an afternoon of relaxation at Nacpan beach. The twin beaches – Nacpan and Calitang – are situated only 17km north of El Nido town, but the windy dirt passage that leads there has ensured that the beach remains unspoiled, without the crowds of tourists found on the island-hopping tours. The 4km of cream sand stretches across the length of Nacpan and is surrounded by coconut trees and glistening deep blue waters. At the southwest tip there is a small hill that offers panoramic views of the ocean. Just below lies the stretch of sand where Nacpan meets Calitang, a perfect crescent bay dotted with multi-coloured fishing boats, providing a contrast to the bare white sand on its neighbour.

We drove back home past the local villages, where young school children trundled along the lanes, swamped in their jackets with their bags dragging behind in the dirt. We also passed a giant carabao, appearing at first to be unmanned. But after the sound of giggles, two small children were noticeable, being pulled along on a homemade wooden sled – an image that will always stick with me.

By the time the sun began to set and light up the sky in magnificent shades of orange, we were sat with cold beers in hand at the delicious Happiness Beach Bar. Situated on Coron Coron Beach, it offered a magical spot to watch as the many islands making up Bacuit Bay disappeared beyond the horizon. We indulged in hummus, homemade pita, falafels and for Ben, Moroccan fish balls; a perfect end to our exhausting time in El Nido.