El Nido, 5th January 2023

Oh my ears and whiskers, El Nido gets even prettier when the sun properly comes out. The low pressure seems to have passed and the boats are venturing out into open water again. Unfortunately, the island hopping route I wanted to take can't be done today. A 'special tour' (i.e. shorter) is all that's on offer, but I'll take it anyway with a bit of cash-back to balance things out.
It takes a good long while for the tour coordinators to get their ducks in a row and plan which boats are going out when. We're 1 1/2 hours late in setting off. It's a good trip though. We drop into a couple of (new to me) beaches: Pasandigan Beach and Paradise Beach where the snorkeling was great. Then it was lunch on the boat as the beaches were already packed with trippers guzzling their freshly cooked fish, pork, chicken, miscellaneous veg dish, pineapple, melon, and rice of course. After lunch we had a nice visit to Shimizu Island for the beach there, finishing off at '7 Commando' beach. (I was wrong earlier; the name does come from the 2nd W.W. and has something to do with several Japanese soldiers holding out against American forces. Although the beach is packed, it's a really good beach, so it was a good last stop before heading back to town.
Yes, El Nido is getting 'touristy' but the people are almost universally inviting and genuinely cheerful. There isn't much money about, but life seems okay here. Not so good points include the huge number of stay dogs about the place, fighting and barking the place down, and the electricity keeps cutting out (or is being rationed by being turned off periodically).
Today was my last full day here, so I'll add a few 'summing up' remarks tomorrow, which includes a long travel day.Read more