Far from the rest of the Philippines lies an archipelago that holds roughly 1/3 of all the islands of the country. Its a beautiful oasis that has more in common with Borneo than the rest of the Philippines. On Palawan, of the places that we visited, the area that stood out above the rest was the Bacuit Archipelago. Located in the north, the Bacuit Archipelago is a group of limestone mountains that appear to thrust themselves from the ocean creating dramatic visuals from both above and below sea.
We landed in Puerto Princessa and headed out the next day on a gnarly 10 hour bus ride to El Nido. The seats in the bus were made for the average Filipino and getting any shut eye was an exercise involving balancing and dodging. Balancing your butt on the hard seat without slipping off and dodging the rusty screws coming out of the back of the seat in front of you. The name of the bus company is Eulen Joy. What a hilarious contradiction.
The gas was pumped by sticking it through the window and placing it down a hole in the seats in front of us.
Check out the Billy Goat on the roof! This is when we got a flat tire, they had it changed and back on our way in about five minutes.
Carabow on the journey taking a refreshing bath. These are the equivalent to plow machines in the developed world.
Luckily for us the trip was expedited by the fact that the biggest boxing match since the Thrilla in Manila was being held the same day, Manny Pacquiao vs. Oscar de la Hoya. With no time to spare the driver put the pedal to the medal and our lives to the wind as he dodged potholes, other drivers, carabow, pigs, dogs, and the occasional goat. We got to El Nido in 7 hours and only three rounds into the fight. Needless to say, the pride of the Phiippines Manny Pacquiao took the belt from Oscar de la Hoya and the fight went down as one of the best underdog fairy tale stories in ages.
El Nido is an awesome little town, truly little, where you can walk from one end to the other in a few minutes. It served as our launching pad to exploring the Bacuit Archipeligo. Everyday we hired a boat and went exploring in the archipelago in order to kayak, hike, snorkel, shell hunt, chill, relax, sunbathe, and pretty much every other adjective relating to boat cruising around a bunch of islands with empty beaches, sunny skies and warm weather. The tour companies and boat drivers offer three tours A, B, and C. You can also create your own custom tour, of which Louise and I did twice. We called them D and E respectively. The cost of a normal tour with lunch was about $10 USD a day while a private boat runs for about $35. But we met a guy named Buboy and his son Nanoy on the beach the first day that offered us a private tour for $18 USD. We used him every day except for the day that we went kayaking. The thing with private tours is they allow you to do mostly what you want on your time, while the group tour is dependent on the weakest link. The positive thing about the group tour is that if you are traveling by yourself or with your buddy, you get the chance to meet other travelers.
The town of El Nido in the background.
Local kids playing with what they’ve got. These coconut shoes are kinda like the coffee can shoes kids in America play with.
We stayed in the most awesome place in the town, Makulay Lodge run by Rose, Del and Likha (makulayelnido@yahoo.com.ph). Their hospitality was spectacular. Invitations to there own home and complimentary snacks and meals with no expectation from us were common. All they wanted was for their few lucky guest to truly enjoy ourselves. They were great hosts and I highly recommend their place for accommodations in El Nido. Problem is there are only three rooms and we lucked out and scored the Penthouse. Although we didn’t reserve a room ahead of time, I would suggest others do. The Makulay Lodge also had a communal kitchen that we got to use whenever, so to save money Louise and I shopped at the local markets and cooked most of our meals.
The view from our room
Louise buying rice, she’s a darn good chef
Vegetarian dinner prepared by Rose at their beautiful home on the hill on our last night.
The areas around El Nido remain the most picturesque place we have traveled to thus far. Although I could attempt to put it into words I feel the following pictures will do far more than what I have in my vernacular.
That’s a nice beach, lets stop there!
Nanoy guiding his father around the coral heads as we enter the Big Lagoon
That’s a nice beach too! Lets stop there! This went on and on and on…….
Grilled fish and rice on one of those beaches, broke da mout brah.
Small Lagoon!
Going a bit loco on a deserted island?
Tour E that we created entailed going to an island right across from El Nido, stopping on one side, hiking through the saddle of two mountains and landing on the beach on the other side. Then we swam to the next island, where Buboy and Nanoy picked us up after we chilled for a couple of hours. No one in sight, all in perspective.
Hiking through dense jungle. There were monkeys, monitor lizards, and tons of other sheet like spiders and birds……and leprachauns.
This pic is good cause it shows the saddle we hiked through and the swim between the islands. It aslo shows our Yacht waiting patiently while we explore yet another reef.
The hike started right near this cool rock with even cooler tree growing out of it.
Close up of that tree on the rock being pushed out of the water by a Merman.
Little blackfish that you could herd and play with
These weird things were quite abundant, they looked like organs, kinda like a heart.
Louise found a bearded clam!
Nanoy guiding us into another beach for some exploring
Girl in a village that Louise made a toy for, a palm frond fishy. She was Louises best friend after that.
New Sport, Stand Up Kayaking. Actually caught some waves like this. Pretty fun. Had the locals shaking their heads.
There are some great places to see the sunset and have drinks on the other side of el Nido. Look for Corong Corong.
Corong Corong beach area was all nice sand, no waves, warm water.
Our hut for drinks is right behind Louises giant smile.
Local light poles on Corong Corong Beach.
Beers and other drinks are expensive at the resort we stopped by, but then again they have to walk the goods there from far away or have to bring them in by boat.
We were in El Nido during the largest full moon the earth has had in 15 years creating extremely bright nights.
The tides were also extremely high and low because of the Full Moon. One night while having drinks a wave came into the beachfront restaurant we were hanging out in and soaked Louise.
The underwater camera works!
Lunch will be served after you are done snorkeling sir.
Our Yacht
This is helicopter island, but from this angle it looks like a hungry hippo going for a marble. Remember that game?
Do you see the giant cuttlefish? We scared it after this pic and it turned neon blue, really trippy.
After El Nido we caught the same hellacious bus back to Puerto Princessa. We picked up the Obama jerseys I got made and checked back into the Casa Linda. Our personal trike driver and tour guide set up a tour for us to visit the Subterranean River and Cave system the next day. If you go to Puerto and need a good honest guide, please contact John “Palawan” @ 09066502292. Below are also some pics of our time in Puerto Princessa and nearby in Sabang.
John Palawan
Hot Springs in PP that John took us to. No one was there and it was quite romantic.
Every day of Christmas shopping in the Philippines is like the day after Thanksgiving in the US on steroids.
The first package of goodies going home. Should be there somewhere between 3-6 months
Local Taxi in Sabang
If you go to visit the subterranean river and caves, I would suggest staying there in Sabang. The accommodations and beach are beautiful.
One of the many beaches in Sabang.
The entrance to the Subterranean River
Bats!
Check out the pimp rims on this trike! Being held on by zip ties. Reminds me of Marcus Cintas pimp floating rims on his Tahoe in SD.
Obama Jerseys, for those that don’t know, I was lucky enough to go to the same High School as him. You know…..the new President.
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