Day 3. El Nido Island Hopping Tour C

We had breakfast again at 7am. I booked this trip from Klook. It was 200 PHP per person cheaper than local rates. There was no free towels, so we packed a bottle of water and two beach towels. 

We went to the Klook meeting spot at 8:10. There was a big crowd already. During the check in, I gave the lady the environmental fee receipts that we got the previous day. We were told that we would be on the boat Stingray 2. This happened to be affiliated with the Stingray Travel and Tours that we used yesterday. Then we waited for about 30 minutes before we went to the boat. 

There were more than 25 people on the boat in this tour. The lady sat next to me was from Singapore and traveling with a group of her friends. They were all retired ladies. She said that they went to Tour A yesterday, just like us. While we had lunch on the boat yesterday, they had lunch on the beach. She did not like it though because they had to wade water and walk on reef rocks to get to the beach. The waves were strong and one person in her group lost balance got a cut on her leg by the reef rocks. She said that she liked Coron more and highly recommended that island.

As we left the town, we could feel that the water was choppier than yesterday. One crew member said that if it was not safe for an attraction site, they would go to a different spot as a substitute.

Cadlao Island

This was my favorite place in El Nido. Similar to the Big Lagoon visit, we rented a kayak and paddled from the ocean to the island. This island had some amazing limestone rock formations. 





I found sand dollars (one live, one dead). Tourists are not allowed to take anything, shells or rocks. So I put the dead sand dollar next to the alive one and only took a photo.

Secret Beach

We were supposed to swim from the boat to some reef rocks first, then pass through a hole and reach a beach. The waves were so strong that I had serious concerns about safety, so I asked Claire to wait with me at the boat. Several people went in the ocean following the guides. After like ten minutes, they all came back. One person had a cut on the leg and was bleeding. The guides said that it was not safe and that we would cancel this stop. I was happy with that.

Lunch Place

We went to a different island with a nice beach. We needed to swim to the beach. I asked a crew member to carry my dry bag to the beach. On the return trip, Claire carried the dry bag to the boat. I also asked a crew member to help me to swim to the beach. 

The crew set up the lunch table on the beach. We had chicken, shrimp, veggie, rice, noodle. We relaxed a bit on the beach. Claire did not want coconut this time. Some tourists bought coconuts. I did not see the crew helping them cutting the coconuts to reach the meet like the crew we had yesterday.  

Snorkel Place

We stopped at a snorkel spot. I even saw a squid from the boat. There were many small colorful fishes.

Helicopter Island 

This island looks like a helicopter without the rotor blades. We again swam to the beach. Claire took care of the dry bag. I relaxed on the beach while Claire did snorkeling. One crew member built an art display and took great photos of me and other people on the tour. 

A guide found a snake on the beach. It was a small black snake. He used a stick to pick it up, walked all the way to the end of the beach, and dropped it there.   

Back in El Nido

We then went back to El Nido town. I went to the Klook spot. No one was there so I asked a lady at a nearby shop for help to get my environmental fee receipts. She talked to a guy and he helped me with that. 

After cleaning ourselves up in the hotel, we went to Vibes Restrobar for dinner. I had mango mojito and Claire had the same without alcohol. We both liked the drinks. For entree, Claire had chicken skewer again and liked it. I had a medium beef tagalog. I did not like it at all. The beef was too chewy. We also ordered a mango, it was sour and not ripen enough. On top of that, they charged us 180 pesos for the mango while it was listed as 80 pesos on the menu. I pointed it out to the waitress and she got it corrected.

Tips for Island Hopping Tours A and C

Bring in the dry bag: 
  • Beach towels
  • One filled water bottle (The boat has water at lunch, and there were kayaking people selling coconuts, so one bottle is enough for the family)
  • Sunblock
  • Cell phone
  • Wallet with cash and hotel key card
Bring in the wet bag
  • Mask
  • Snorkel
  • Fins (I would rent a pair next time)
Wear
  • Water shoes (the rocks we walked on had sharp edges)
  • Swimsuit
  • Rash guards (good to prevent sun burn)

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