Travel to Palawan - El Nido's Attractions

I am back! I wanted to update this blog last Friday but my internet died on me. So I took advantage of the downtime to get the much needed sleep because my poor eyebags have suffered the effects of my blog addiction.

Back to my El Nido adventure, the main activity there is the island-hopping on Bacuit Bay's stunning archipelago. The El Nido Boatmen's Association have organized island-hopping tours with standard rates and very imaginative (not!) titles. Tour A consists of visits to the Big and Small Lagoons on Miniloc Island, Simisu Island, and 7 Commando beach for 600 pesos/person; Tour B includes a tour to Snake Island, Cudugnon Cave, Lagen Island, Inabuyutan Island, Cathedral Cave for 650 pesos/person while Tour C includes snorkelling around Matinloc Island and Tapiutan Island, with a visit to the Secret Beach for 700 pesos/person. The rates are inclusive of lunch (tomato and onion salad, grilled fresh fish, rice, mangoes/banana for dessert) cooked by the boatmen on one of the islands. If you stay in the expensive Miniloc and Lagen resorts, the island-hopping activities are part of the accommodation fee.

We took Tours A and C (the must-tours according to other travellers) as we didn't have the time and the budget to do all the tours. We had to shell out 1,200 pesos for our own boat doing Tour A and 1,500 (already discounted rates) pesos for Tour C since we couldn't find other people to join us. This was a good decision as we could laze around and spend more time on islands that we really liked without having other passengers wait for us.

The first stop was the Small Lagoon on Miniloc Island. We had to swim through the small opening to get inside and the view that awaited was simply breathtaking. The Small Lagoon has crystal clear waters with varying shades of blue and blue-green and enclosed by El Nido's famous limestone karst.

The Small Lagoon's looming limestone karsts served as an intimate backdrop to our own frolicking and curious explorations. On the inner left side of the lagoon, we discovered a small cave that has a colder water compared to the rest of the lagoon. The Small Lagoon's waters was calm and perfect for snorkelling (along sides near the limestone karsts) and swimming to our heart's content. Using the life vests was good since they allowed us to just swim on our backs, gazing at where the karsts meet the endless sky.

Our second stop was Simizu Island. The island's main attraction is not its fine white sand but its marine and coral life. According to our boatmen, this was the best spot for snorkelling. I snorkelled while waiting for our lunch to cook and saw beautiful corals and colorful fishes. Too bad I didn't know what they're actually called. :D

Our boatmen cooked our lunch consisting of grilled fresh fish, rice, tomatoes and onion with vinegar and bananas for dessert, on the sides of the karsts. They forgot to bring utensils so we had to eat lunch with our hands. That made it more authentic - like being cast-aways on a deserted island :D.

After lunch, we got acquainted with our marine friends again, took a nap and just lazed around Simizu Island while waiting for the tide to rise. According to the boatmen, the boat can't enter the Big Lagoon on Miniloc Island during low tide. After more than an hour on Simizu, we chugged along to the Big Lagoon.


The Big Lagoon is obviously bigger than the Small Lagoon but not necessarily less charming. We went around with our boat unlike in the Small Lagoon where we had to enter via a small opening in between the rocks. The Miniloc Resort constructed a raft-like structure in the middle of the Big Lagoon which is perfect out for private romantic dinners, one-of-a-kind wedding proposals and even weddings! ;)

Our last stop for Tour A was the 7 Commandos Beach. I asked the boatmen why it was named 7 Commandos and they couldn't explain. Maybe there were 7 commandos who hid on the island during the war... my imaginatin ran wild again. The beach here is comparable to Boracay's White Beach - blindingly white and powdery. I didn't do much except lazed under the coconut tree while the others swam and snorkelled. It was the perfect way to end our amazing Tour A.

Next post on Tour C.