After the adventure of 42 hours on the boat "La Milagrosa" we decided to stay one day in Puerto Princesa before the next stop, and what a stop ...
In Puerto Princesa we met another of the characters of the trip: Attila! This man, a Turk of origin and who lived in Rome for about 20 years, is now in the Philippines rebuilding his life. From day to night he decided to throw the house through the window and travel to the adventurous. It was curious to talk to him especially because in the conversation we mixed Italian, Spanish, English, French and Filipino ... a painting!
But if we caught a 42-hour boat, it wasn't to see our friend Attila, but to go to one of the most famous places in the Philippines: The nest!
Here we arrived after a journey of about 5 hours on curvy roads and at the end of potholes ... what a pain in the booty! Hopefully we have found a good and cheap accommodation, although in the first place where we asked they asked us something like € 250! And it wasn't exactly a resort!
If you arrive at El Nido it is for one reason: Mar. And as soon as you see El Nido beach, you think: what am I doing here? In fact, although the environment is very beautiful, the beach and especially the water is not the end of the world, at all. But it is worth taking a walk around the village and seeing the amount of tours in which there are: A, B, C, D... so they classify them. This really promises!
We decided to do the tour A and we do not regret it: it leaves in the morning and throughout the day you visit 3 impressive lagoons (the Big Lagoon takes the palm), you eat delicious fish and grilled cuttlefish, delicious pork and chicken, fresh and sweet fruit, and how not rice in a paradise beach where two meters from the shore you can see many fish, not grilled eh, if not snorkeling!
And before the end of the day contemplating the sunset on the beautiful beach of 7 Commandos beach there is a stop that for us was the most exciting and beautiful of all: snorkeling in Intalula beach.
I did not reach the beach. To tell the truth at the beginning I did not even reach the water ... And it is that the feeling of getting into the sea and see how deep it was and above all ... what is this ??? There I turned like Usain Bolt to the stairs and the first minutes I could not say goodbye to her!
Imagine the scene, a 27-year-old aunt, sitting on the wooden boat ladder, watching the sea with her glasses without lifting her ass from the stairs and worried that a giant squid, bad and ugly would eat her brave boyfriend who I was swimming in the sea.
Never in life did we see anything like it: meters and meters of coral that started on the shore they ended and below us the depth of the sea extended, the bluest blue we ever saw, and so, suddenly ... without warning. What an emotion and jolin what a fear!
But curiosity won and little by little I walked away from the stairs and what I found was something hidden, full of life, it was the marine world: how many fish, corals and things ... weird! I was drunk with color! I seemed to be in the middle of Nemo's movie and as soon as I remembered a bit of the movie, sharks came to my mind and I went back to the stairs ... hihi
It was amazing, one of the greatest emotions of our lives, and we can never forget ... bye bye Palawan, I know we will see each other again one day!
Transportation How to get to El Nido from Puerto Princesa?
To get to the Puerto Princesa station (new market) we caught a jeepney from the center that cost us 13 each. To get to El Nido from Puerto Princesa there are 3 alternatives:
- 1) local bus without air, costs 350 pesos
- 2) local bus with air conditioning 480 pesos
- 3) 600 min private minivan
The local bus did not leave until 11, so we negotiated with those of the minivan to leave at 10 to 450 pesos.
The return We did it by local bus without air, which left at 4.00am! It cost us 350 pesos. Once we arrived at the Puerto Princesa station we took a jeepney for 12 pesos each that took us to the junction near the airport. From there a tricycle brought us to the terminal for 8 pesos each.
Accommodation Where to sleep in El Nido?
We slept in the Relucio Travelers Pension. On the beachfront, next to Alternative Pension. Our room, n 2, cost us 500 pesos because it was the smallest. The others are a bit more expensive. Very good site, huge terrace and good views. Clean shared bathrooms, free coffee and water. And a very nice family.
Activities in El Nido, tours
There are a lot of agencies with similar prices (A: 700 pesos / B and C: 800 pesos / D: 900 pesos) but you can haggle a bit. In the end the tour A cost us 600 pesos per person. It is very worth it.
Las Cabañas Beach
To get there we took a motorcycle taxi for 150 pesos (more waiting)
