Location: El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

Sav: ‘TOUR C’ DAY!

We started this morning by sitting down for breakfast with Nicole and Jake, chatting about what today’s tour could possibly entail. We didn’t actually do any research… when we all decided to do another tour together we just asked what a good one was and then took their word for it- here’s hoping! If it’s anything like yesterday it will be awesome.

Jake, Nicole, Naomi, Travis, Simone, Emily, Max and I were all stoked to be spending another day together. You often meet some really cool people on tours but we all got along well and everyone was really relaxed the day before, so we had high hopes for today. It started off on a great note at Helicopter Island. As we approached the guide pointed out all the parts that made it look like a helicopter- and he was totally right! We quickly realized that from another angle it also looked like a sleeping Yoshi, and as it turns out many of the locals call it Yoshi’s Island. We also found out it’s for sale for $100,000,000 USD – so if anyone’s in the market for a Yoshi/helicopter shaped island with white sand beaches in the middle of Bacuit Bay… you’re welcome for this tidbit of information.

We snorkelled around for a little while, looking at all the cute little fishies until I saw a bloom of jellyfish and noped right out of there. Thank you, next. I instead lay on the bow of the boat that had absorbed a ton of hot sunlight and almost fell asleep! Nicole was stung by one of the jellyfish (luckily not badly!) but I’m glad I didn’t stick around in the water. Max followed suit as soon as he realized what I was doing.

We crossed the bay to Secret Lagoon, a much smaller lagoon than yesterday but not at all less exciting. We hoped into a teal blue kayak, almost the same colour as the water, and paddled our way towards the black cliffs inside. Once again they rose up sharply, knifelike pointing at the sky. The water reminded me of blue Kool-aid at some points, and teal slushes at others. I realized that I was associating the water with drinks because:

1. The colour seemed so blue
2. I had no frame of reference and couldn’t figure out exactly what it reminded me of
3. I was so thirsty (so much sun!)

Turns out we had another secret to visit: Secret Beach! This one you had to swim hard against waves pushing you into the jagged rocks to eventually reach a little hole to swim through.

Max: We hurriedly swam inside, pushing past the other tours that were leaving. (Our guides motto was something like ‘be there late and everyone will have left already’ and for the most part it seemed to work out for us.) We exited the cave onto a small beach perfectly enclosed by the black cliffs. The whole thing must have been 20 meters across in every direction. Precarious and slimy rocks led up to soft white sand. I felt like we had stepped into a hidden little pocket dimension. Although not super different from a lot of what we’d seen, this place didn’t feel like it belonged. It almost felt like if you approached from literally anywhere other than the underwater entrance, the whole place just wouldn’t exist! Unfortunately, we were only given about half an hour to explore before we had to hop back in the water and swim against the tides back to the boat.

As we climbed up the ladder, a man in a little kayak full of stuff pulled up next to us and started hacking at coconuts. Travis looked at me and said “it’s on me” and I was immediately worried. Before I knew it, the kayaker poured about five shots of rum into the coconut, plunked a straw in it and handed it to me. Travis and Jake got one as well. An entire coconut. Topped with rum. All to myself. (S: I don’t love coconut water or rum so he was on his own for this one!) On the bright side, I was pretty hydrated for the rest of the day…

With way too much Tanduay rum in my stomach, we arrived at Hidden Beach. The entrance to it was definitely not as hidden as we expected based on the name, though it wasn’t any less beautiful than the other secret places. We were dropped off in a passageway between two jagged cliffs straight enough that they reminded me of a hallway. The crystal clear water came up only to our knees as we made our way down the corridor. We turned a corner onto the beach… that we never actually made it to! The water just in front of it was so warm that we opted to just sit down there instead. (S: the beach reminded me of something you would find in James Bond movie.) I may have tried to climb one of the rocks… It turns out they are as sharp as they look, and not at all easy to grab even for climbers hands

We made our way back to Frendz Hostel, and after many thanks to our guide for the two amazing days, we went out for dinner with the crew. We hit up a restaurant called Happiness, a hip Lebanese health food place that played a really great reggae soundtrack. All the decorations were made of wood and bamboo, and there were even swings at the bar. Our food came in bamboo dishes and Sav was so excited about getting her falafels. Apparently they were amazing, but I haven’t had enough falafel to know what amazing falafel tastes like so I’m going to take her word for it. I got the closest thing I could find to a cheeseburger, which at a place like this was a tuna sandwich. Despite how that sounds I actually enjoyed it. A final meal with our new friends felt like a great way to wrap up our time in El Nido, and the little ice cream bars we picked up on the way home were just a bonus to an already great night.

We packed it in earlier than we wanted to, as Sav and I have to mentally and physically prepare to ride in another van back to Puerto Princesa tomorrow. We gave out a round of hugs and said goodbye to our new friends on the rooftop of Frendz, which felt appropriate.

Travel day tomorrow!

Sav