I am very sorry for not having posted soonest. I forgot i promised i will be posting the succeeding episode for El Nido. I have been working, working while travelling, travelling and working, only travelling, absent from work and...overstressed from them all. Now i am back, posting hopefully a lot for my two blogposts.
Now here comes the promised continuation. We booked for Tour B and C, which has the maybe more difficult passages and has about 5-6 islands. However, sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances like big waves so we forego some and got some near ones included in Tour A. We didn't bother to be fixed, as long as we are going to islands.
This is smaller than our boat, however excitement didn't remind me to take a photo of our own boat! That can be understandable and forgiven, huh!
Will anybody not get excited with these horizons, seemingly so near yet in reality is a little bit far. Waters seem to be very friendly, yet in some straights and passages there are also big waves. Colors of the waters signify their depths. The turqoise-looking one at the middle means there is a sandbar almost near the surface, and the sudden deep blue adjacent to it means there is a sudden deep plunge. That can be dangerous for snorkellers, as there might be fast currents on those areas.
The cliffs on this island are so vertical and high. The birds or swallows reside on those cliffs and make nests on the limestone holes. The nests are gathered to make the birds' nest soup! Have you tasted that soup? Gatherers risk their lives climbing those cliffs for the much sought birds nest, much appropriately called Nido Soup. Ah that can probably give them the Intellectual Property Rights for Geographic Indication. I should maybe ask the IPO if that is possible.
Islands have their individual characteristics. This island has a wider beach to explore, so we also did the almost mandatory jumpshot. I can still jump, can't you see. I am the one with the hat and the lifevest. Only one guy was with us. Who says weight prevents anyone from doing the jumpshot!
Above is not an island included in the tour, as there will be no shallow waters to move the boat in. It looks harsh to people but it is a very beautiful sight while onboard. Nobody talks, just "wow", "ohhh", "ganda"-Tagalog word for beautiful or spectacular!
This island is very easy to remember, the Snake Island, because of the circuitous shape of that sandbar connecting two islands. During low tide it serves as a bridge for people and animals to transfer to the island we are now on. In fact there is a dog that comes here during low tide to eat the food given by tourists, and then return to its owner in that big island at low tide. What a very resourceful dog. There are residents and houses in that island beyond the sandbar.
This is another view at the top of the look-out at the Snake Island.
In one of the islands we did this also almost mandatory swimming and snorkelling. There are corals and fishes that we found below which are also interesting.
This is not an island but like a passage or a long cove with tall ranges of mountains on both sides. This is called the Big Lagoon, an almost mandatory place to visit in El Nido. There was also a Small Lagoon on the way to this, but we opted not to go there because of the big waves on the way in.
This Big Lagoon looks mysterious at the entrance. It also reminds me of my just recent experience to the Milford Sound Cruise in Queenstown, New Zealand. It is just that travelling this one is narrow and short compared to Milford Sound. The greenish-blue or turquoise water reveals it is not very deep. All of us kept on clicking our cameras, cell phones, and whatever we have. It is a different world, one word that describes it is "awesome".
The cliffs here, like in Milford Sound, have distinct characteristics from the one beside it. One is barren showing the limestone cliffs, as above, while the next cliff (below) has more dense vegetation.
Above is already on the way out, look at the small shallow passage. This time everybody starts talking because we are already on the way home.
This is our group minus the 5 including me, who are at my back taking photos.
This time i will be promising again for the next post. I hope you will not be waiting that long as the first one. Enjoy your travels too!
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