El Nido babies! (from left to right: Kenneth, ME!, (back) Sir Rey, Dani <3, Ma'am Donna, Ate Eli, Lexie, Abby)
After drinking for a total of 7 hours the previous day, we woke up pretty early to get ready for our island hopping tour. The call time was around 8AM at the beach front of El Nido. We were surprised to see how many tourists were there at that time because there really is a lot of boats parked at the beach front and many friends and families, Pinoys and foreigners alike, waiting to board the said boats.
We were finally able to board our boat along with other tourists at around 9AM. We had a very friendly and funny tour guide who introduced us to the islands and lagoons we were headed to. He also assured us that the tour includes buffet lunch hehe YUM!
For our first stop, we headed to Seven Commandos Beach.
This beach is usually the first stop for island hopping. It's lined with numerous coconut trees which locals climb to get your fresh orders of buko (coconut) juice. We were instructed that we'll be staying at the island for 45 minutes before heading to our next destination so we did what any tourist do which is take lots of pictures!
Sunog legs but me don't care
Pilit pose
Natural pose HAHA
Aside from swimming and beach bumming, there's a basketball ring and volleyball court where tourists can play a set or two so we decided to do just that!
After tiring ourselves and ordering some fresh buko juice, we were called back to board our boats as we head to our next destination: Secret Lagoon. But of course, I had to take advantage of the ocean view, right?! HAHA
Because of the number of tourists, which equates to numerous passenger boats, we weren't able to dock near the beach. We had to swim our way to the shore with the help of some floaters. But because I really wanted to swim, I left mine at the boat and dived right into the salty waters of El Nido!
After what felt like 10 minutes of swimming, and resting by hanging at one of the passenger boats, I was able to arrive at the shore where a line has formed to enter this 'secret' lagoon.
Image taken just outside of Secret Lagoon while Lexie's phone was inside a waterproof phone case HAHA take care of your belongings, people!
To my dismay, it wasn't really that picturesque anymore. Because of the number of people, the water is no longer clear, probably because of the disturbance of the sand. It was already murky and there was a funky smell around the place. So I guess don't get your hopes too high about this place, BUT STILL! it was such a treat to get here :)
Look at the number of people behind meeeeeee and kuya who climbed was a guide and is taking pictures for those who wanted one
This was us waiting for our turn to get out of Secret Lagoon HAHA
After fighting our way out of the lagoon (you have to cross a small opening much like a cave opening to get to the other side) and swimming back to our boat, we were now heading to Payong-Payong Beach for our buffet lunch!
See me already holding a plate HAHA
We got to stay at the beach for a long time to just relax and enjoy the food. You can also do snorkeling around the area if you like. For me, I explored the other side of the beach where I found a secret spot and luckily saw a monitor lizard cross the beach! Too bad, my phone has shitty camera :((
After taking naps, sun bathing, and taking pictures, we were now headed to our last stop, Small Lagoon! Your trip to El Nido probably won't be complete if you don't get to visit this place! This has easily became one of my favorite places on earth when we got to cross the small arch serving as its entrance BUT FIRST:
Last minute photo as our tour guide shouted for us to get back on the boat HAHA
To get the full experience of the lagoon, you have to rent a kayak at PHP 300 for the big one (seating 3 people) and PHP 200 for the small one. Since we were cheap-os, the three of us rented the big one and Lexie and Kenneth took charge of rowing us while I was the one taking pictures.
We stayed at this place for about an hour simply admiring the beauty of nature and simultaneously being scared to death when we realized how deep the water is. At one point we got a bit panicky when we hit one of the limestone and couldn't get to turn our kayak properly HAHA. We also just played around and Lexie and Kenneth decided on rowing fast much like how one rows during dragon boat racing HAHA.
SERIOUS!!!
LOOK AT THAT CLEAR WATERSSSS
Eventually, as everything is, our tour ended and we were asked to get back to the boat to travel back to the main island BUT BEFORE THAT last minute stop over and picture taking!
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Funny thing about this is that we were supposed to have been checked out at around noon :)) but we got back to the island at past 5PM! We immediately went to our hostel and transferred our stuff at Ate Eli's and Abby's room and quickly got ready there. We had to make haste since we still have to catch a van back to Puerto Princesa in time for our 8AM flight the next day!
At around 6PM we took a tricycle to take us to the terminal where all vans and buses wait for passengers. We boarded a van and was able to leave El Nido at around 9PM. We got back to Puerto Princesa pretty early at around 2 or 3AM and had to wait at a convenience store across the airport since apparently PPS airport is not open 24 hours! HAHA we actually contemplated on booking a hotel room to sleep properly but since we didn't really want to shell out more money, we just bought canned coffee and waited until 5AM.
Although our trip felt cut short and we felt exhausted, I received a surprise message once I turned off the airplane mode of my phone when we landed in Manila. ALL THREE OF US GOT ROUND TRIP DOMESTIC TRAVEL VOUCHERS FROM CEBU PACIFIC! - I guess ranting in socmed (and tagging them) when our flight got delayed for 5 hours and having our flight re-scheduled paid off HAHA
Watch out for my blog post as to where I used my RT ticket!!!
NOTE: CREDITS TO LEXIE FOR MOST OF THE PICTURES HAHA
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