Lovely El Nido

I shall pick up where Gabe left off...

After eight hours on the roof of a Bangka, careening past the hundreds of islands of Northern Palawan via the South China Sea we arrived in the quaint town of El Nido. This beach front town, backed up against massive limestone cliffs and surrounded by rocky outcrops looming from the ocean, is quite a sight in itself. Add to that a population of friendly locals, lot's of hammocks, restaurants where you can sip smoothies with your toes in the sand and absolutely adorable children begging to say hello and sing you songs, and you have the little slice of heaven that is El Nido.

We spent our first couple of nights in a little hut backed up against the cliffs...but the early wake-up call of roosters just feet away and motorcycles roaring to work each morning had us packing up to look for something a little more peaceful. Upon the hi recommendations of Michelle and Shelly, we made our way to a lovely place called Sunset Lovers Point...what could be better for a honeymoon. Here we found ourselves a perfect oasis right on the ocean. Many hours were wiled away on our lanai sipping SMB's as we listened to the waves.

The real draw to El Nido is for the island hopping. Just beyond our honeymoon hideaway the Bacuit Archipelago lay before us. This bay of 100+ islands is filled with towering limestone formations. Hidden among the impressive rocks are tiny lagoons only accessible by swimming through cracks in the rock, white sand beaches where you can sit in the sun and soak in tropical rays as well as a vision of the ocean in every shade of blue, healthy coral reef offering more fish then I've seen in years along with so many colors of soft and hard coral. We spent two adventure filled days exploring the islands. What an awesome place!




A sweet hat made by our awesome guide Dodong




Another adventure that must be mentioned is of the culinary sort. Let's call this one Gabe conquers balut. For those of you that don't know, balut is a very popular Philippino snack comprised of a hard boiled ckicken fetus. That's right, fetus. They take the fertilized chicken egg, boil it and serve with a bit of vinegar and chili. This is not my idea of a good meal but Gabe would not be stopped. So despite my thoughts of bird flu Gabe took on balut and I think he won. Our fantastic island hopping guide, Dodong of Seaslugs, was stoked to share his national food with a crazy, hairy American. They bonded over feathers and beaks. You will have to ask Gabe how he liked it...apparently it tastes like chicken!




The obligatory Asia motorcycle adventure, part 1. We named her the green monster. It was a fun ride out to a local waterfall.




On to the next adventure!