Satellite
Show on map
  • Day 146

    Day 145: Snorkelling in El Nido

    November 8, 2016 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Time for our snorkelling tour. There are four main tours out of El Nido, creatively called tours A, B, C and D. They all visit different areas, and there are probably a hundred different operators, but they're all essentially the same tour and the same price. After a little research we chose Tour A run by the Art Cafe, which has been around in El Nido for about 20 years and has a good reputation.

    So we rocked up to the Cafe at 8:30 in time for our 9am departure, permits purchased and snorkelling gear ready to go. As usual there was the typical third world sitting around for unknown reasons before we finally left the dock at about 9:15, not too late thankfully.

    Stop #1 was an area known as the Small Lagoon, and it was exactly what it sounds like - a small lagoon! It was absolutely insane, with perfectly coloured green water surrounded by sheer limestone cliffs, jagged pinnacles covered in tropical jungle greenery, palm trees swaying on nearby beaches, and a small rock arch to get through where the water was calmest. A little bit of coral reef to see, but the best part was really just watching the scenery and taking photos.

    Thankfully the boats couldn't get into the actual lagoon itself, so you had to swim a hundred metres or so, but that's a small price to pay. The only downside was a huge load of kayaks, as it seems a lot of people did the kayaking tours which we'd decided against (I can't sit comfortably in a kayak). Sadly after about 45 minutes we had to leave the lagoon, so we swam back to the boat and off we went.

    Next stop was the Big Lagoon, which was exactly as you'd imagine - a big lagoon! All of these I should add are sequestered away from the sea behind rocky outcrops and in little bays etc, so the water is quite calm. The scenery here was much the same as the Small Lagoon, just the Lagoon itself was much deeper this time making it a very deep shade of blue. Annoyingly, we weren't allowed to swim out into the deep water (although obviously the kayaks were allowed to go out there).

    Did a bit more exploring of the coral on the way back to the boat, but there wasn't a huge amount to see. You're encouraged to wear reef shoes here since the water is basically only ankle deep in some places, and nobody wants to get a coral cut. The obvious downside of this is that people just tend to trample on the delicate coral rather than swimming over or walking around, and the local guys didn't seem to have much concern about throwing their anchor into the reef to stop the boat either. It's a beautiful place, but I'll be surprised if there's anything left in 10 years at the rate we're going. Sorry for adding to the problem!

    Stop number 3 for the day was the Secret Lagoon, so called because it's only accessible via a tiny tunnel in the rock a couple of feet wide and a couple of metres long. This one also required a 50 metre walk over rocks and coral, where I decided to wear thongs rather than risk another cut to my feet (I'd already gotten a small cut at the Small Lagoon).

    It was actually the first disappointment of the day here - the lagoon itself isn't very large, and since it's completely enclosed, circular and only about 30 metres in diameter, you go through the tunnel, have a look and go "huh, that's cool", then swim back out again. Not much there unfortunately, but at least we can say we've seen it!

    Thankfully our tour guides were on the beach nearby setting up for lunch. After a brief swim and sunbake we all tucked in to a feast of freshly grilled fish, pork and chicken skewers, rice, a couple of salads and a pile of tropical fruits. Decided to skip on the beer since we still had a couple of snorkelling spots left!

    Once we'd all filled up it was back on the boat and off to stop #4, which I've unfortunately forgotten the name of. It was a channel between two small islands with a nice coral reef where we had a swim around. Unfortunately the current here was really strong, and you had to really swim hard to avoid coral outcrops (and of course getting swept between the islands and off to Vietnam!). I ended up about 50 metres from the boat and had to swim against the current to get back - normally a 50 metre swim wouldn't be a problem, but against the current and with no flippers in shallow water it was a bit of a struggle. I made it safely though!

    Back on the boat for the last stop, Seven Commandos Beach. The story behind the name is that seven Japanese commandos were stranded here during WW2, though I don't recall the end of the story. I think they stayed there for quite a while? Anyway, this was another amazing spot, and probably our second favourite of the day after Small Lagoon. It was a narrow strip of beach running for a couple of hundred metres, surrounded by more rocky outcrops and with a great coral reef right at the base of the cliffs.

    Most people were pretty tired at this point and just spent the hour relaxing and sunbathing, but I set off exploring the cliffs and the reef. Lots of great coral to see, and a single outcrop had two different families of Nemo (clownfish) living in different anemones. Got some good footage, though didn't quite manage to find any stingrays or reef sharks! I'm sure they're around though.

    Back to El Nido where we handed in our gear and walked back to the hotel. Almost collapsed into the shower to rinse off the salt, though we couldn't spend long in the room as it was excruciatingly hot. There was a power outage in town at the moment, and the hotel's generator was only strong enough for lights and essentials (including ceiling fans). So no AC for a while.

    Went out to a sunset bar at one end of the main beach and drank our fill of happy hour San Miguels for 40 pesos (about $1.10 AUD). Close to the cheapest price we've paid all trip for beers, but these were just regular size, not longnecks. I think still the cheapest is the 10,000 kip longnecks in Laos (that's about $1.60) - and BeerLao is better than the other local swill beers like Chang and Bintang.

    Despite cheap beer and a little puppy running around, we didn't stay for dinner as food prices were quite high. Since we were tired we just opted for a takeaway pizza from a promising looking Italian place, and ate it back in our hotel room. Quite tasty! Bed early again tonight as we're quite tired, and our ferry to Coron is leaving at 8:30am tomorrow morning.
    Read more