El Nido IV

Third day in paradise, I'm glad that we were able to put our issues behind yesternight yet one problem lingered. My phone was now pretty much busted showing nothing on the screen. I saw Rusty at his gym in the morning and asked him for a recommendation on where I could repair by phone. But with no way of contacting Nelson, I had no idea if he was coming or not as he was pretty late. I was waiting at the side of the road and talked to several tuktuk drivers passing by. They all seemed to know each other but none knew where Nelson was. After a bit of anxious waiting, he did get to our place. I asked him to take us to Rusty's recommendation but it was still closed. He convinced me that I would just charged an exorbitant fee so we just decided to push through with the island hopping tour. I rented another pair of goggles for the day, this time I was sure to take really good care of it.

Our first stop was Entalula Island, the island had one of the most turquoise waters we've seen so far. We had a good time swimming here and on our way to the next island, we saw a sea turtle. Under different circumstances, this would have been an amazing sight but this turtle was apparently choking from eating a plastic. There were some fisherman who were helping it and we were told that they were going to bring him to someone who can help. We went to Snake Island next, it got its name because it had a sand bar that acted like a bridge which connected it to the neighboring island. There were no snakes at all unfortunately. The island activity was pretty cool because it included a short hike to a small view point. On the way, our guide showed us some pitcher plants which were unique to the island. From the top, you could see the sandbar and the surrounding islands. We also had lunch here, another delicious buffet with a lot of fruits. Thankfully, no fights this time around over food. After eating, we took a dip by the sandbar and just had this general sense of relaxation. This day was different in that there was really nobody else on the island. Probably because it was the weekday now and Tour B wasn't exactly the most popular one as opposed to Tours A and C.

After a long respite in Snake Island, we went to Cudugnon Cave next, a first for the island tours so far. It lied deep in a secluded part of the island. We had to cross through waist-deep waters to reach the very small entrance to the cave. To top it off, we had to do these special maneauvers to fit perfectly and not hurt ourselves from the protruding stalactites. Once we got in, the cave turned out to be huge with the roof of it so high up. The stench of bat excrement threw me off a bit but it was still an amazing sight. There was another way towards the side that led to the main chamber with the sunlight seeping through a small crevice, lighting up and showing us how colorful and intricate the cave interior was. After taking our photos, we had to do the fancy maneuvers on the way back to boat. The next stop was another cave but this time we weren't getting off. The Cathedral Cave is a cave by the rocky side of the island. Our boat fit in just at the right position to get the most optimal photo angle and we were off to the final island of the itinerary. Our final stop was Papaya Island, this island was different from the other beaches because it had these cool swings that made for such a fun photo op. After our picture taking, Janelle and I went to the snorkeling area. So far out of all the islands, this one seemed to have the best coral reefs with the widest range of biodiversity. We held hands and swam around the expanse looking at all these fish swimming under us. I was able to pick up some garbage on the floor as well.

On our way back, we were still hoping to catch the sunset but the weather was looking gloom on one side and looking pretty good on the other. We decided to take our chances as it was the last day so when we got back to El Nido, we took a tuktuk to Marimegmeg beach straight away. This was actually one of my favorite spots of El Nido, it was so peaceful here and the water was so calm. On the horizon were some mountain islands and as the sun was setting, it got covered by clouds. There's a silver lining though as I was able to capture these amazing blue hour photos that looked almost unreal. After spening some more time on the beach, we went back to Bulalo Plaza to eat our last meal and stopped by the souvenir shop to buy some souvenirs. I got the El Nido mask, which was the same one I had in my AirBnB room. I also got a dream catcher keychain that matched my owl bag's color.Read more