El Nido, Philippines (Part 2: Island Hopping)

El Nido, Philippines (Part 2: Island Hopping)

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You can’t go to El Nido and not go on an island hopping tour. It’s like paying for an all-you-can-eat buffet and not eating.  Literally the second that we left LIO airport, we saw a poster advertising the various tours in our trike. Then once we were in town, we began seeing them on practically every wall we looked at! Town Proper is extremely small given how popular it is but probably 90% of the businesses there advertised something to get you out into the ocean via tours, diving, kayaking, or some sort of excursion. No doubt we had to get our feet wet!

Visual of map of the tours

Thanks to a little socializing at the Spin Hostel’s jam night, the guys connected with the two artists who were performing, Mike and Chris. They were able to hook us up with their friend who owned a boat to give us our own little private island tour! To make things even sweeter, Mike along with two other tourists they met that night agreed to join us for the day. The more the merrier!

Tour prices in El Nido are standardized by the government ranging from P1200- P1400 per person depending on the type of island tour. I’m sure different businesses provide very different experiences based on the personality of the crew, ship size, and number of passengers on board. We saw mostly larger bancas, but while we were exploring a lagoon, we saw one HUGE modern looking ship blasting music through speakers… definitely a party boat.

Luckily our experience was totally different. It was very tranquil and personal, giving us an awesome opportunity to get to know the people we just met (who are extremely chill and interesting!) We payed a flat rate (P6000 not including tip) for the boat for the day which included the captain/co-captain who also served as our guides and a wonderfully “home” cooked lunch. We split the costs to whatever it was equivalent to per person afterwards. And because it was such a small group and the boat was ours for the day, we were able to tour islands the way we wanted!

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Not a bad view at all

The plan was to do Tour A in reverse allowing us to see the islands but avoid the large crowds from island hopping businesses. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the names of specific islands and I’m not 100% sure that we even visited the spots that were listed in Tour A. Our tour was extremely personalized so although we aimed for the same islands listed in Tour A, we tried to stay off the beaten path and avoid large crowds by going to different beaches within the same island.

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Waiting to start our island hopping tour
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The beach in Town Proper
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Hanging out waiting for our guides to finish buying food and fuel for the day

Our first stop was in the swimming area pictured below. The water near our boat were pretty shallow so you could walk hundreds of feet without needing to swim, but if you ventured to the far side, the water was really deep! I had seen videos of a group of The North Face climbers scouting out different areas to Deep Water Solo (climbing on rock faces and landing in the water after you fall) in El Nido and had the biggest urge to climb on something. It became evident really quickly why the climbers had trouble finding spots. Limestone is extremely jagged and painful on the hands! Plus without climbing shoes, we stood no chance.

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One of our boat captains just hanging out
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Look at how jagged that is!
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Our lovely boat
Mike in front. Us in the background
Clear shallow waters
We look like ants!
Just goofing around

Seeing our desire to climb stuff, our boat captains told us about a cliff diving spot with a rope access. We decided to stop there next! One of the captains, John, climbed up the rope first. It didn’t seem that high from the water, but as soon as he got onto the cliff, he disappeared from our view. I climbed up next. I’m not really scared of heights at this point, and ever since I was a kid the going up part was the easy part. It’s the getting back down part that terrified me. So I got to the top of the rope, transferred over to the limestone cliff, and then found myself in an all too familiar situation. I got myself 25 ft up in the air with nowhere to go but down. I knew I had to jump, but boy was it terrifying! Standing on the edge knowing that you had to initiate the lunge forward to free fall into the water completely freaked me out. Thankfully, everyone counted down for me. 3..! 2…! 1…! and then I remember free falling, having a quick moment to think “when am I going to hit the water?!?” and then finally entering the ocean. Easily one of the most exhilarating moments of my life!

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Me finally taking the plunge

What’s crazier is that PJ did the jump next despite not being able to swim! He made it to the top, had a “holy sh*t” moment once he looked down, and then jumped shortly after with a group of people ready to rescue him! Insane.

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PJ about to jump, while everyone is preparing to save his life.

After that, we headed over to a beach to set up for lunch. When we arrived we saw a settlement of camping tents at one end of the beach, but no one occupying them. Mike told us that they probably belonged to people doing multi-day kayaking or island hopping excursions who camp out on remote beaches at night. How sick is that?!?! Maybe next time…

We (foreigners) goofed around in the water and chatted on the beach while our guides cooked up one of the best meals I’ve ever had the privilege of eating. I saw that they were cooking chicken at one point, and I knew that they had bought fresh fish in the morning, but I was definitely not expecting this lavish meal. By the time they finished cooking and we all gathered around the table, we had a whole table filled with food. Fresh watermelon (note that it’s yellow!), mangoes, and pineapples. Chicken, mussels, tuna, zucchini, veggie chutney, and a yummy Filipino dipping sauce… Yummmmmm!!!! I’m still surprised that all of this, including the table we were eating off of came from the boat! We enjoyed a nice meal in the jungle and finished just as other tourists were arriving to the island…

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We have this all to ourselves!
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Another swim before lunch
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I would start a massive wildfire in CA if I tried this! Our awesome captains cooking us lunch!
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They are awesome cooks!
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How amazing does this look?!?!? All prepared on the beach…
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Eating lunch in the jungle to avoid the sun
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Another view of the boat from our lunch spot
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Cheers!

After we all stuffed our faces, we were ready to explore some more. Next stop was Small Lagoon. The place was packed!!! We docked our boat pretty far from the lagoon and were approached by people on paddleboards selling Cola and beer.

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They must get really good business!

Then we jumped off and began swimming towards the lagoon. We enjoyed snorkeling and looking at the various fish and coral, not even knowing about the lagoon portion until Mike swam up and showed us a crevice in the limestone that we could swim through. The landscape and wildlife was indescribably breathtaking! I didn’t take my GoPro because I wanted to enjoy the lagoon in the moment, but I regret not having photos to share with others. We saw crabs, sea urchins, a ton of fish of all colors, and these scary looking black fish that chased down people and bit legs. Alan got bit twice to a point where the fish drew blood! The only downside to Small Lagoon was the swarm of people in kayaks who always seemed to aim for our heads while we were swimming. Not cool…

Our last stop was the Big Lagoon. Chris owned a kayak and paddleboard rental shop there, so we spent a lengthy amount of  time just hanging out. Corey, Alan and I shared a clear bottom boat and tried our very best to navigate the Big Lagoon. We had many bumps in the road but found our way through some pretty cool passageways!

 

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Big Lagoon after the crowds cleared out
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Corey and Alan working very hard to not swerve
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We scraped the boat the entire way through…
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“Indiana Jones!” …………….
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We definitely crashed a few times here too
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Sea urchins everywhere!!!!

 

Me showing the guys how it’s done… jk.
Babe being of no help. At least he got a great shot!
Alan trying to SUP for the first time
Our El Nido crew <3

Our island hopping experience was better than anything I could’ve hoped for. We were in such an awesome location with the best company! I’m so thankful for everyone who contributed to that unforgettable day! It really couldn’t have been any better!

Returning to El Nido
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