[Travel] El Nido, the Seven Shades of Blue

Most people love visiting El Nido for the hidden lagoons, virgin beaches and islands hopping, and delicious food. We’re going on such tour for the day and opt to rent a smaller boat for the six of us from Entalula Guesthouse, the guesthouse we’re staying at.

For a group tour package C, it’s ₱ 1,400 per-person but we’re also have discount from the hostel. The package already included islands hopping, lunch, towel and snorkeling gears.

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We didn’t get to land in Mantiloc Shrine since it’s used for private booking. So we go snorkeling in nearby island with its beach and IMHO is more beautiful with the coral reef under the blue water and the weather is so nice even to relax in the boat. We spend the morning soaking in the warm sea water.

Next we hop on to Star Beach for lunch. Let me tell you now, lunch time is THE LUNCH. While my other siblings and cousins do…whatever they do (suntanning, snorkeling, exploring the island), I have my camera taking photos of the unique limestone and karst hills with sharp pointy rocks. El Nido and Palawan are well known for this unique formation much like the Ha Long Bay in Vietnam, Guilin in China (check my posts here) and Krabi in Thailand. El Nido and Palawan are part of the Sunda Plate.

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Lunch of course is the best experience we have in my holiday. Red filipino rice, BBQ pork, seafood, eggs and vegetables, fresh fruits… you named it, they have it all. To top it all, my cousin bring beer, Tequila Rose and Jack D. I opt of soft drink and fresh and cold coconut and a shot of Tequila rose.

The water the land

The sky

Next we go to a hidden beach where we just chill out and swim some more. The water is up to the knee in a lagoon size enclosed water. It’s so much fun soaking here as well. Insert warm and fuzzy feelings.

Lastly, we end up watching sunset in Helicopter Island. We saw some people set up some tents and sleeping bags in groups. Our tour operator said they are glamping (glam camping) i.e sleeping in the open, under the stars on the beach… not sure where the glam in that, maybe the expensive gears?

All in all, we have a nice islands hoping today. Hopefully my skin darkened evenly like brown sugar and not charcoal hahaha. After we go back to the guesthouse and have a long hot shower, we cool down a bit and spend the dinner out. Check out the seafood restaurant by the beachside. IMHO I love the food for our lunch better though.