Phillipine Phiesta Pham

abril - mayo 2024
  • Jay Congdon
  • Esther Welsh
  • Lilly Russell
  • Jess Manuel
4 Friends travel the Phillipines on an adventure for relaxation as much as exploration! Leer más
  • Jay Congdon
  • Esther Welsh
  • Lilly Russell
  • Jess Manuel

Lista de países

  • Filipinas Filipinas
  • Australia Australia
Categorías
Ninguna
  • 14,1kkilómetros recorridos
Medios de transporte
  • Vuelo13,6kkilómetros
  • Carro, auto98kilómetros
  • Tuk-tuk57kilómetros
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  • Ferry2kilómetros
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  • Caminando-kilómetros
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  • Bicicleta-kilómetros
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  • Tren-kilómetros
  • Campero-kilómetros
  • Caravana-kilómetros
  • 4x4-kilómetros
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  • Caballo-kilómetros
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  • Helicóptero-kilómetros
  • 37huellas
  • 17días
  • 314fotos
  • 42Me gusta
  • Sampaguita Villas and El Nido town

    23 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ 🌙 30 °C

    Wow, we really found ourselves some nice accommodation! We were a bit apprehensive at first when we took a back road up over a mountain to come at it from the back. It seemed like it was quite in the jungle. But after exploring a little, we are a short 2 minute walk from a beach and a 13 minute walk from El Nido town. On top of that the place is very nice 👌.

    We had a brief relaxer before heading out into town to find some breakfast/ brunch at a place called Brunch via some much needed cash withdrawal! The food was delish, and the majority of us ordered the same dish - savoury waffles!

    Taking in some of the sites, the girls decided we were getting a massage, so that was an hour of the day. On our way back, we stopped off and got some snack supplies before having a couple hours of more reading of books.

    We hit the town at around 7 pm and found some 2 4 1 cocktails and a pool table. The food was a BBQ assortment and very tasty! We tipsily made our way back to the accommodation to sleep before our upcoming tour day!
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  • Entalula Island- stop 1

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Today, we organised a private boating tour to go around the islands, tours A and B.
    After a 40-minute boat ride across the mostly ca waters, we arrive at stop 1 on our private boat tour. We pulled up to the beach, and there were 2 other boats already here. Most of the boats we have seen on the way have around 2-3 tourists on them max, so they also must be private tours.

    The water was crystal clear and infested with jellyfish 🪼 of the red variety. We saw a few fish, but for the most part, the coral here is the same as the previous we had seen. Maybe blanching has happened a lot here, too. We felt some minor stings from things we couldn't quite see but nothing too serious.

    We saw a young, maybe 30s, guy getting literally carried over someone's shoulder, and he was crying, we thought maybe he had been stung, but our tour guide said he actually had chest pain/ heart problems so they were taking him to the nearest clinic.

    Our stop time here was 30 minutes.
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  • Paglugaban Island - stop 2

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    This was our next stop as unfortunately we had to skip Snake Island due to it being closed for the filming of South African Survivor - outrageous, we know!

    But this marks our first straight off the boat snorkel experience with no shallow areas to stand. What a beautiful experience, though, much better than what we had seen at stop 1, there were lots of pretty coloured water flowers, and lots of species of fish going about their day! No injuries or losses here...Leer más

  • Shimizu Island & Twin lagoons - stop 3/4

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    We arrived at a small beach for lunch, only 1 other boat was here and that had 2 people on it. The spread they had prepared for us was huge, and sooo yum!

    While we were enjoying the serenity and the food, another tour boat, nay, a boat load of people arrived, easily 30 people piled off the boat and overtook our small space to set up their lunch. Within 15 minutes, there were another 3 or 4 boats in the same spot for lunch... we promptly finished our meal and headed back to the boat to be told we were walking 5 mins around the corner to see the twin lagoons - also because we were blocked in by the other boats.

    The Lagoons were beautiful, we entered through a small entrance that during high tide would require us to snorkel up and dive underwater to enter - however this was low tide so we squeezed through, the only obstacles being the sharp rocks and the occasional holes in the ground. We took some photos in this small area that had rocks sides towering above us. Our guide was getting really into filming videos of us on the DJI.

    Then we thought it would be a great idea to go out a different exit, another small opening that took us out of the lagoon and into open waters. Our guide seemed pretty happy with the little detour, and we all just assumed it would be a short trip around, given that the lagoon was so small.
    Well, it happened again! It was going fine for a couple of minutes; we were enjoying the reefs and fish below, and suddenly, there was just depth and nowhere to stand on. While it was mostly fine, it became difficult again when we got to the unprotected area and the water became more choppy. 4 of us made it around the bend and were standing when we noticed Esther was still missing, and we couldn't quite see her. She wasn't wearing a life jacket this time, and she came around the corner, and we could tell she was struggling.
    Jess leapt into life saver mode and swam back across the inlet to help her. Before long, we could see them holding on to the overhang of rocks. Our guide took Lillys vest and swam over to give it to her. A troubling ordeal, but she made it. We then discovered she had been biting down so hard on her snorkel that she had almost ripped part of it off.

    The other lagoon was meh, murkier water and not as nice. We then headed back to the boat 🚢.
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  • Miniloc Island - Big Lagoon - Stop 5

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    A short trip, and we were at the kayak part of the tour. Big lagoon, for some reason, required kayak/canoes. We had 1 included with the tour, and we had to rent another for 350 ₽.
    It was basically a spot that had 4 companies that did the canoe rental, and the small beach was apparently owned by a rich person and was private/ off-limits. But it was a super popular spot also and was very crowded.

    There was a water passage that was low tide and walkable. Jay got out and pushed Esther in the kayak, then lilly and Jess caught up, so they also got pushed.
    The passage led to a rather large lagoon, and it was HOT. With no wind to cool you getting in the water was the only way to cool off. We parked up in a shady spot and hot into the water. It was lovely until it wasn't. The water settled, and we discovered that there were many sea urchins close by, something kept grazing our legs, and we swear there was a giant octopus just chilling nearby 🐙.
    Safe to say, we all managed to get back to the canoes ASAP!

    All in all, it was an ok lagoon experience.
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  • Twin Rocks - Stop 6

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    This had to be one of the favourite spots! Literally a minute away from the big lagoon was our final destination, our last snorkelling experience of the day, again off the boat into some deep, beautiful waters.

    There were a multitude of different species, colours, schools, and terrain. It was like a mini highway. The more you stared, the more you noticed.
    We probably spent around 45 mins here and decided to cap it all off with some beers to celebrate a fantastic day!

    The trip back was uneventful, and we were all pretty tired.
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  • Mexican, Massage and Meandering

    24 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ 🌙 29 °C

    We arrived back to El Nido at around 430pm, pretty exhausted we walked back to the accommodation and just had an hour of doing nothing.
    We decided to try a Mexican place for dinner, which was very tasty apart from the disappointing nachos that looked nothing like the pictures suggested. Quesidillas and tacos were the highlight and a controversial cocktail Jay got, which was Basil based. The writer is of the opinion it was delicious 😋.

    We popped next door for a massage. Esther and Lilly decided they needed an Aloe Vera massage, Jess, a hardcore Swedish massage, and Jay got a foot scrub and massage (agony for a ticklish person, and he's pretty sure he has friction burn in some places)!
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  • It started with rain...

    25 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Today's original plan was to get up early, head out for breakfast, and then on to a canopy tour before it gets too hot. However, the weather had other ideas. We woke to some heavy rain fall that lasted around 20 minutes, which was lovely to watch and smell.

    As it had decided to rain, we left the house much later than expected and thus decided it would be too wet and hot to do it today. As expected, the rainfall made it so humid! It must have been 80% humidity today. I think we were all more drenched than we had ever been.

    We got breakfast at a hostel that looked pretty bust, only to discover that it was the organising of a huge tour group. Regardless, we had our breakfast and decided to mission back to the house as Marco had said we could use the pool at the other villa while there were no guests staying up there today.

    Our afternoon consisted of lounging around the pool and reading. A late lunch back in town, which was not super tasty but looked fancy, and then on to some exporing shops and roads untravelled yet. Bought some cold coconuts had a beer, missioned back to the accommodation for a refresh, and then decided it was all too hard to head back to town as we were all knackered.

    The compromise was a little close by outdoor family business out of their house, which had great reviews - Mia's Bistro. It lived up to the name and was very tasty.
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  • Activities, Poolside and Gambling

    26 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    It was difficult to wake up this morning, but we rallied and headed out by 830am.
    Our breakfast was consumed at a restaurant that was a collective with an art studio above. The place was not very busy at all, and we were able to enjoy a delicious breakfast of waffles and rosemary toast while watching Ultimate Beastmaster on Netflix.

    Next at the Canyon Walk, with Jay being nervous about what to expect, imagining a high ropes course type scenario as a worst case that is suspended in the canyon. When in reality it was really easy and not scary in the slightest. We got some great views and plenty of pictures with a bonus of the Dreamcatcher route back down (that we paid for).

    The villa above us was still not guested, so we were able to make use of the pool again for the afternoon.

    Dinner was taken back in town, at The Food truck - which was Thai cuisine and delicious. Once again, Jay fell for the trap of wanting to order something and only being told - "Sorry sir that is not available", 😪 - why can't they tell you what is not available before letting you order?!

    Post dinner, we found an interesting gambling area and decided to partake. Turns out Jay and Lilly are keen gamblers but responsibly bailed out when we stopped breaking even.

    We finally bought some waterproof bags, Lilly and Jess got more massages, Jay and Esther found a Ukrainian bar that made craft beer, and we all reunited to walk back home whilst booking a tour for tomorrow 🧜‍♀️🧜‍♂️
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  • Helicopter Island - Stop 1

    27 de abril de 2024, Filipinas ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    "Begin your journey at the stunning Helicopter Island, known for its unique limestone formations that resemble a helicopter from a distance. Dive into the turquoise waters and be mesmerized by the vibrant marine life."

    Aka Chicken Drumstick, AKA Alligator Island - named so for the shape of the island at a certain angle. It was a 25-minute boat ride to this beach.

    It had a pretty beach, but the snorkelling, hate to say it, was quite boring. The coral was all dull coloured, and there weren't many fish around. There was a school of what looks like a smaller version of a swordfish that was quite near the surface. Esther saw some interesting fish with a hood of some description, and there were a couple of jellyfish around.

    The guide of the day, Daniel, gave a speil about not touching the coral as its alive and to watch out for; box jellyfish, stonefish, sea urchin, sea snakes and more (Australia has some competition) during the days adventures.
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