El Nido has over 45 islands all filled with white-sand beaches, limestone cliffs, lagoons, and unspoilt corals. We visited around nine of these islands in an island-hopping trip that took up the whole day and rented a private boat with a guide to take us around some of the most popular islands of El Nido. I was mentally playing Pure Shores on loop in my mind because it's really the most perfect song to daydream with when you're in El Nido.
The tour operators at El Nido offer four sets of tours with around 4-6 islands each. We took the Tour A & B set with 10 islands but we were too drained by the end of the day to complete all stops. The Tour C came highly recommended but it involved swimming through an underwater hole to get to the other side to see the "Hidden Beach". No way am I swimming through any underwater hole. After breakfast at our by then favorite Pukka Restaurant, we set off to see the islands.
I was way excited when I found out we would be passing through the gap between the two limestone rocks that greeted us every morning for our view. It was like a dream passing through the mountains covered in lush greenery and limestone with the clouds hanging over them.
After a couple of minutes on the open sea, our tour guide pointed out Helicopter Island. I thought it looked like a whale but eventually got the resemblance. Haha!
wearing Zara top, Dorothy Perkins bikini
First stop was the Miniloc area. We "parked" in an area enclosed in limestone rocks and swam our way to the crack to see the Small Lagoon. The swimming part was hard since the water was deep but the view was rewarding--imagine being surrounded by limestone mountains encircling a secret lagoon. We had a blast soaking up the view. It was really worth the effort to get there. Plus, there were some playful fish swimming around us. We even saw Nemo!
Off we went to the Big Lagoon where, thankfully, we didn't have to swim. It was big and beautiful. At Christmas, the locals put up a raft in the middle with a lighted tree and they sing Christmas carols from the raft. Just this photo alone makes me want to book another trip just in time for the holidays.
Our next stop was Shimizu Island which was the popular spot for lunch for most of the island hopping boats. Our tour guide said it was named after two Japanese tourists who died there while scuba diving. Such a sad history, yes? The island was beautiful, though. Tiny crabs greeted us when we set foot on the shore. Dark rocks surround the beach with a roof-like formation and we had a blast sitting on the shore while kuya grilled our lunch of fish and liempo with fresh fruits. I wanted to snorkel but it was a good thing we didn't 'cause there were apparently jellyfish in the water. Nightmare!
The secret lagoon was right around the corner but kuya wisely chose not to take us there because the waves were strong and we had to swim through a small crack partly submerged underwater to get there. We braved the waves and headed straight to Entalula Island--my favorite among all our stops. Our hotel was named after this island and I can see why, it's beautiful, deserted, and absolutely breath-taking. We were the only ones there because most of the boats didn't want to cross the open sea with the strong waves. It's worth the risk, though.
That giant limestone rock was absolutely majestic in real life. It's enough to make you appreciate the raw beauty of El Nido.
Our next stop was Snake Island, not because it's inhabited by snakes but because of the snake-like sandbar connecting two islands. We trekked and hiked all the way to the viewing deck (yes, in my bikini!) just to see the awesome view. I'm an idiot when it comes to hiking so I was a nervous basketcase the entire time.
We then set off for one of the islands with a cave and were greeted by these friendly dogs. Dogs love Jake. There's one in Boracay named Friday that followed him around every morning, I miss that labrador.
We had no idea what was expected of us while walking towards the cave. When we finally realized we had to crawl through a small hole, we backed out like chickens. Haha! We were too tired and I was too scared to encounter bats inside the cave. We just asked our guide to climb in and take our picture from the hole. Losers.
El Nido has a weird weather pattern. It gets sunny and cloudy at the blink of an eye. The weather circles the whole area so it depends on where you are. When we left the sun was shining but at the far end out on the open sea it became dark and dreary. It totally works, though. We had a dreamy view of the gray and shadowy islands on our way to the final stops. Looks like a watercolor painting, right?
We finally reached Pinagbuyutan Island with the small forest and again, the limestone rocks. You can totally hear some wild birds up in the trees. Like most of the islands we visited, it was deserted and we felt like Survivor contestants.
On our way back to the town beach, we saw this Nemo boat. We found out you can rent it for your island hopping tour for a couple of extra bucks. So cute!!!
I can't wait to go back and explore the rest of the 45 islands. :-)
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