PALAWAN

Boarded on a 20-seater Dornier aircraft on a 3500 altitude for 75 minutes made my mom say: “Never board on a small aircraft again”. Though the flight from Manila to EL Nido airport went well, the sound of the airport made my brain lights up as it’s going to be a huge one. I was wrong.
From there we hopped on a jeep that looks more like a mini-bus, which people could literally stand up on the roomy inside of it. Quite lucky we were not packed that day, I can already imagine the scenario in the sweltering hot summer days! It was a 15-minute uphill and downhill ride to the seaport of the small town of El Nido. The trail was never far copied from the breezy trail of Tagaytay. Though I have never been, mom told me that the small town mimics the site of Boracay, and the ambiance by the day.
There was no doubt that freshest of the fresh air filled our lungs up, while those eyes who boarded on that jeep, darted on the town’s untouched winding scenery.
Moments later we set foot the small town. The stretch of the green towering mountain behind, greeted us over the aqua blue sea of Palawan, which you will be forced to utter “wow” under your breath with such an authentic amazement!
I managed to stole a shot of mom’s pic, as we were ushered hurriedly with one of our friendly tour guides to the ferry, that would take us another 40-minute breezy ride to our designated island. Mom and I were such lost for words on how beautiful Palawan is. We were both quite, just taking our time to adore and be thankful to the Creator to have been in such a beautiful place.
Then finally came to my senses, my purpose of being an adoring fan of God’s creation, I took the camera from the bag. How can I keep my fingers from the shutter; I need a huge amount of evidence that we have been here!
Then Lagen Island came to view, so picturesquely perfect from a far. The high stilt mountain serves as a backdrop, atop the trees as if somebody had placed them neatly, carefully in line. So quiet & remote, yet unanimously safe.
The people who worked there greeted us congenially with handmade fish necklace made from coconut leaves. I thought that was cool. So, we are then ushered to the lobby, they all sang a song that has to do with welcoming guests, and what’s even more cooler when they served dalandan juice; lip-smackingly refreshing!
Each of the guests were accompanied to their respected cottages. Literally, there ain’t no room to jump straight to bed and rest. None of that! What we did was checked out the unobstructed gorgeous view from our room. Water cottages nestled on the foot of the stilt mountain, reflection of the sky, cottages reflected over the calm, crystal clear water, the sun that was doing its best to shine were summed up into one: priceless!
Almost lunchtime, mom and I didn’t pass up a chance to let the camera rest at all for the day. Our tour coordinator then arranged the activities for our 3-day stay. We had lunch alongside the infinity pool and the sea. It was buffet. The food for the whole stay was great I have to say. Every food is definitely worth a try, and all are gastronomically satisfying. I was going to do a lot more helpings myself, but time called us for our 1st activity.

THE BIG LAGOON.

I was quite scared to think that mom and I wouldn’t make it steady on the kayak. It was more for me because I was nervous for her, as it was her 1st time to paddle in the open sea, ok? We went on a tandem kayak on a 30-feet deep blue water of one of the boasted spot of the resort, the Big Lagoon.
The small opening that looks somewhat cave-looking entrance is ahead of us, which only the size of a kayak can go through inside. The tour guide said: “The highlight of El Nido”. Quite interesting, all are intrigued…I could feel instantly that the 6 of us was so eager to get there and uncover what the Big Lagoon has to offer.
Dumbstrucked. Awestrucked. Startstrucked, whatever you may call it, is sure earned enough bragging rights for this lagoon to be called stellar! Surrounded by a tall stilt mountain, in blue & calm warm water, is truly one of the wonders of El Nido. The battery’s running out low, so low that we were frantically pleading to have more pictures taken while we were inside of this so-called haven.
Thank God, our tour guide managed to take lots! We took once again our limited precious moment to adore this beautiful creation. Trying to savor every second that flown by, for I know soon enough, being stuck in the city is where the reality awaits.

SNORKELING.

Mom was whisked away with the tour guide away from me. So, I did my usual admiration stance, adjacent to these hundreds of harmless creatures of the ocean floor. I was surprised that it’s not much saltier than the sea of Puerto Galera.

ISLAND HOPPING.

(The Cudugnon Cave, Snake Island, Miniloc, Pangalusian & Entalula)

Island hopping is offered in every resort around Philippines. It was such a great experience that every island in Palawan has a unique attraction that people can actually enjoy. It’s as diverse as the people who go there and visit every year.

SNAKE ISLAND is where tons of snake slithered past your ankles. No it’s NOT! It’s called as such because the 2 opposing currents formed a snake-like white-sand islet in the middle of the open sea. The water quality makes it a top notch ideal for swimming, as you were in the pool.

MINILOC ISLAND.

Miniloc and Lagen are 2 islands owned and operated by ME!. Yeah I wish!

Operated by The El Nido Resorts. FAST FACT: A year ago, I saw this Miniloc Island picture being posted and advertised at Xtreme Magic Sing (magic mic we called). I was such in an awe by the artist’s incredible ability to capture the island’s beauty. Since then I was passionate about El Nido.

Then when I came home in Pinas, sure enough, the rest was history.

THE CUDUGNON CAVE.

One of the guests, who is a little over than 6 feet had a hard time of getting through the cave. Lucky enough, my physique classified as petite. Our tour guide showed us the technique on how to get inside without a scratch or a bump. A dark cave came to view, then a cathedral-like cave came to light. I was impressed with the inside look. Natural sunlight goes thru the hole as if it was placed there on purpose, reflecting the natural, warm, and cool colors of the cave. All that’s missing were the nuns who sings calmly at the church. The cave has said to be an anciet tomb during the native occupancy, which the ministry then recovered the remains of the dead to put in a museum. The picture below, might be some bone fragments, who knows.

ENTALULA ISLAND.

The island which said to be has powdery white sand like Boracay, blue-greenish water, made it prominent among the islands. Hanging-amihan strucked our rather medium-sized boat leaving that beautiful island behind, and showered us for half an hour with salted water from head to toe.

Everything was all wet except our buri bag with camera inside. ;)

I'm still mesmerized with this photo I took from Entalula Island, its like there's some kind of an enchantment glued into this picture!

PANGALUSIAN ISLAND.

Recently restored, one of the beautiful islands in Palawan that had been destroyed by the fire not long ago. The triangular-shaped green backdrop with fine nude color sand complements to the color of the blue-greenish water surrounding the island.

DEEP-SEA FISHING.

I couldn’t feel that I was tired after the wake up call that startled me at 5:30am. Mom and I were signed up for bottom-fishing @ 6am somewhere deep. At the meeting place, there we met Tita Myrna, Tracey and Mike (from Minnesota).

We all had fun trying to hook up the potential catch of the day, and have those poor little bisugo lie down on a BBQ grill, and served for breakfast. Yum!

DIVING.

One student, one dive master. Hand signal, as the main language in scuba, the dive master misinterpreted my “I-just-wanna-do-this-for-5-minutes” sign to– “my-watch-is-no-good-for-100m-dive” sign. There we go he didn’t quite get it.

The 2nd time we submerged, I couldn’t equalize the pressure on my ears. So, I just call it a day. Although, I didn’t finish the session, I’m glad I did try scuba diving.

Tip: I didn’t have the underwater case for the camera. Make sure to bring one, it’s worth capturing every living creatures underneath plus yourself diving!!

SOME OF THE PICTURES I TOOK WHICH I STRONGLY BELIEVE ARE UNIQUE AND EXTREMELY BEAUTIFUL:

In general, rating our 3-day holiday was greattttt! I never knew mom would be that excited to try such activities that normally, only young people would do. After all, the holiday was a birthday surprise for her, and I’m glad she enjoyed it as much as I did! It’s good to know that my mom still does rock the boat!

Lagen Island ~ Miniloc Island
El Nido Resorts, Palawan
December 17-19, 2008