El Nido. Day 02

Day 2: Tour A

After eating our continental breakfast in Telesfora, with a serving of an amazing wheat bread, we headed to the town to make it in time for the 9am island tour.

Aside from the tour price (1200 for Tour A) you need to pay an additional 200 pesos for the Eco Tourism Development Fund which is used to sustain the protection of El Nido’s natural resources from tourism. This is valid for 10 days, which means you only have to pay it once if you plan to go on island hopping tours in El Nido within a 10 day period.

That's our boat!

We had a very nice boat for the tour which has a capacity of 36 passengers. It was clean and I was very comfortable sitting at the front. The best camera angles and views are seen from the front part of the boat so try to secure yourself a seat there if you can.

Tour A consists of Lagoon tours and Snorkeling.

First Stop: Small Lagoon

The Small Lagoon is right behind that

It’s like your official entry to the islands of El Nido. As the boat comes close to the entrance of the small lagoon it feels like it is giving you a preview of what the rest of El Nido looks like; hidden beaches, hidden lagoons and limestone cliffs every where.

Since we have a big boat we were not able to come close enough to the entrance of the small lagoon, so we all had to take our life vests and swim to the entrance.

Now if you do not know how to swim the friendly and capable tour guides will always help you. There is a lifebuoy available in the boat and what the travel guides will do is let you hold on to it while they swim all the way to the entrance dragging you with them. Don’t worry because they check on you time after time to make sure you’re okay.

On the other hand if you think you’re not brave enough to do that you can rent a kayak when you sign up for the tour and you can use that to get yourself in and out of the small lagoon.

We did not rent a kayak but since J had started to be friendly with our very friendly and funny tour guide Brandon the Great, he was nice enough to let us use one of the kayaks that was on the boat.

Now, I’ve never kayaked before. I only learnt how to swim when I went to Boracay with my family this May, but I guess that is what El Nido does to you, it makes you want to go into the water and experience it for all it has to offer. So we took the kayak and J decided she’d paddle because she knows how to. But since the kayak we were using seemed to ne just really for one person she was having a hard time paddling behind me and before we started arguing about sense of direction I offered to do the paddling for us. And boy…did I enjoy it! I did not want her to paddle again back to the boat.

2^nd Stop: Big Lagoon

entry to the Big Lagoon

those towering karsts. pardon the smoke. 

This I think is the most pictured part of El Nido, the Big Lagoon. The entry way made me feel like I was in one of those fantasy movies where in they have two towers on each side of the ocean .

The limestone karsts in the big lagoon Is just so amazing that even if the boat just passes through it, it will still leave you amazed.

It’s just that on our way here the boat before us was cooking lunch and was grilling on board spreading smoke that we were unable to get perfect pictures of the lagoon.

Fun Fact: Bourne Legacy shot their ending here in the Big Lagoon. According to Brandon, they were supposed to have a ship exploded there but the government did not allow it due to the possible damage on the marine resources.

3^rd Stop: Shimizu Island

Lunch time! One thing I love about this El Nido island tours is the food. From fish to pork to fruits….everything is well cooked and so delicious.

You don’t immediately eat when your boat docks in the island. With Caera travels Brandon and his team will cook the food first while the rest of you swim, snorkel and explore the island. Once it is done, they call everyone and make ourselves full of the island food. All fresh I must say! J

4^th Stop: Hidden Lagoon

inside the hidden lagoon

Another hidden wonder in El Nido. You have to swim to the entrance of the lagoon. This part did not impress me much, specially the water. I just like the fact that it is actually hidden. On the right side of the lagoon by the rock formations is a rock that looks like a crocodiles head and behind that is like a sketch of the Last Supper.

Can you see the Last Supper? How about the Crocodile head?

5^th Stop: Tapuitan Island

This is a snorkeling spot. Again if you know or is brave enough you can take your snorkeling gear and your life vest and dive straight to the water and enjoy the wonders under the sea. If not, the helpful guides, in our case Brandon is more than willing to drag you on the lifebuoy around the island.

6^th Stop: Seven Commandos Beach

Who wouldn’t want to just swim around after almost a day of snorkeling? We do. It is a beach but you can’s actually swim the length of it. You can only swim within the visible perimeters probably because the water gets suddenly deep at some point.

There isn’t much to do here unless you want to go to the bar at the left end side of the beach and buy drinks or kayak around the beach.

It was raining when we got back to town. We had to go back to the hotel and take showers and since we were still feeling full from the island lunch J decided to just lounge by the beach. Trust J to find San Mig Apple in El Nido. No San Mig Apple, well we move on. Lucky for us Coco Bar serves it. We sit by the beach and watch people walk by as we drink our cold beer to cap off our first island tour.