As
promised, a second article regarding my trip to EL Nido, Palawan. This was our
third day in our dreamland. We have visited various lagoons and islands during the
previous day (see previous post) and we just can’t get enough of the beauty God has created. So
instead of lying down on the beach and touring the downtown of El Nido, we decided
to endeavor another tour. This time we chose Tour B. As usual, we woke up at 6 am
since the electricity is being turned off during that time for the entire place
(This is their means to conserve energy. Mother Earth is so proud!)Our tour
guide and the boat man prepared the snorkeling equipment, life jackets (Very
important especially for non swimmers like me!) and food. We started to board
by exactly 7 am to be able to enjoy the sun longer. It was a bit gloomy that
day because a storm was about to hit the north of Palawan which was where we
were. Luckily Mr. Sun showered us with his presence even for only half a
day.
Our
first stop was a lovely island called Inabuyatan Island. It was a great place
to snorkel. We were not allowed to dock on the beach though as it was being
developed into a whole new resort. My first thought was “Sad that they are
building concrete cabanas before we even had a chance to explore it.” But then these thoughts were taken out by once again the great view I witnessed underwater.
Fishes, huge coral reefs, more fishes (of different kinds) and the ever popular
jelly fishes. But luckily, I was not stung this time.
Oh!
I failed to mention on my previous post that I was stung by a big fat pearly
white (or transparent, I think) jelly fish or the locals call “salabay” while
we were walking back to the resort after we finish our first
tour. I was screaming so loud because it was a horrifying experience of great
pain. My friends were like, “The jelly fish just greeted you on your birthday.”
Yeah! It was my birthday! Such a luck! And that was one of the reasons why this
trip was a very memorable one. It left a scar for me to remember for a lifetime.
But thanks to a scar removal cream, it is barely there.
Well
enough of that terrible encounter with one of the sea’s dangerous creatures.
Back to tour B.
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| Snorkeling and Swimming at Inabuyatan Island |
We
then went to a site they call the Snake Island. The place got it’s name because
of the long S-shaped line of sand that runs across the water connecting one
island to the other. During low tide, the long sand bar is very much visible.
But when the tide is high, the water rises up to waste or chest level
(depending on your height.) We were led by
the tour guide on the top of the hill to see more views of the island. And
behold, we appreciated how the name was derived.
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| Snake Island:The S-shaped Sand bar |
After
we had lunch, we then started off to our next destination, the Cudugnon Cave. This was one of the highlights of our trip. Just
like most caves you have to crawl in to a small hole made of sharp rocks to be
able to get in.
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| The way in! =) |
The travel
guide padded the entrance with life vests to avoid scratches or injuries that
we might get from the jagged rocks. The opening was convenient for me as I am
quite small. But it was hard from people who have large frames. When I passed
the first entrance, I could smell the bats. Got me thinking, is this how Bruce
Wayne smells? (Boom!)
We needed to again creep into a small entrance
and that was when I was astonished with what I saw. The stones were smoother
and the formation allowed you to play with your imagination, such a sight to
behold. We even saw a sort-of-distorted hidden Mickey (image seen below), Mordor-like formation (not so, but just use your creative mind!) and a
portion of a rock that we call the Rock Throne based from the Iron Throne (move
over King’s Landing.)
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| Hidden distorted Mickey, Mordor and the Iron (Rock) Throne |
On the top
of the cave was a small gap between the rocks that allowed light from the sun
to penetrate the dark space.
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| Look up! And there was light! |
Apart from
the wonderful view in the cave, we were also taken aback by the view of the
beach. So white and powdery (the sand), so blue and cool (the water), and just sooo
relaxing. The rock formations were very tempting to climbers. And this
one did not let this experience pass. (see below)
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| Feeling the stones and making a route. That's what climbers do! |
After about
an hour of enjoying the beach, it was time for the next stop on our tour list. It
was the Cathedral Cave. I suppose it was another breathtaking view but we were
very unfortunate not to be able to get in. The wind was strong and a Kayak is
the only means of transportation that can be used. Since we were not such
experienced swimmers (or was it only me?), the tour guide advised us to skip
this one instead because the waves are kind of powerful and might cause the
Kayak to flip if not managed by experts. I was sad, in view of the fact that I
was looking forward to seeing the rock formations hidden inside and the name
was catchy, I wanna know why it was called as such. Was it because it has high
ceiling just like the cathedrals? Does it look like a church inside? But then
for safety purposes, we carried on to our final leg.
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| A view from afar, The Cathedral Cave. |
Before reaching our
final destination, we passed by the Lagen Island. But we did not get the chance
to dock on shore since it is now one of El Nido’s prime resorts. Oh well, next destination please!
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| Lagen, one of El Nido's prime resorts |
We then departed
for our last stop for the sightseeing expedition, the Malapacao Island. It was a very good location for swimming,
snorkeling and scuba diving. Given that, I am not a swimmer (the only one in
the group), I was warned by the boat man not to swim far from the shore. For the
reason that, it has what they call a part that is “kantilado” which meant that the sea floor
has a steep or cliff-like portion that go all the way as deep as I can imagine.
The underwater view though in that part of the sea was really magnificent. But
for me, that was a danger zone.
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| Malapacao Island |
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| We were not able to take a glimpse of a sea turtle, so we decided to make one. |
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| En: "This is my paradise!" |
We spent the rest of the day in the Malapacao
beach making sand castles and destroying them afterwards through our own
version of castle wars with our make shift sand balls as weapons.
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| Sand Castle Wars |
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| Jellyfish that was twice the size of my head! |
We ended our El
Nido Vacay with our last minute shopping for souvenirs as “pasalubong” to our families
and friends at downtown El Nido Boutique and Art Cafe. We then had dinner at a popular beach front restaurant called “Sea
Slugs”. I know the name is not at all appetizing but wait until you taste their
food, they were delish! Plus the live band entertained the guests (local and foreign) with beach music and some
rock ones as well.
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| Bak and Shie in Sea Slugs Beach Restaurant |
Having dinner
under a blanket of stars, good food, soothing sounds, strangers all around,
great friends and a bottle of booze, it was one of those times where you feel
that you just had the best day of your life.
