El Nido Island Tour Day 2

Another morning in paradise…

For the second day of our tour, we already know thedrill. We wait for the boatmen to load things we'll need and made sure we rented a kayak for the day. The sky out in Bacuit Bay seems dark and cloudy, but we hope it won't rain on our El Nido parade.

Today’s tour is also known as “Tour B”. The sites we'll go to are farther away from the main island. It took us about 45 minutes to get to the Cathedral Cave, our first stop. We whiled away our time by asking each other what figures we can make out of the different islands and rock formations.

Cathedral Cave

The Cathedral Cave got its name because of its cathedral-like opening. The cave can be entered by using the kayak, but we decided not to. It will be difficult to steady the kayak to get on it becauseof the strong waves this morning. By now, the dark clouds, obviously carrying rain, is directly over us. Our guides say we also can’t swim into the cave because of barracudas that bite under the cave’s water. At the mention of this, I remember the trailer for Piranha the movie (different fish but both bite).Okay, we’ll just admire the cave from here.

Cudugnon Cave

This cave, we were able to enter. As we were approaching the island where Cudugnon Cave is located, my eyes darted to the stretch of white sand beach on the other side. Unfortunately, it’s not part of the tour. Maybe it’s private. Oh well, I’m sure another beach is just around the corner.

Entering the cave is like entering a needle’s hole.Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but the entrance is really small. Our guide brought along a couple of life jackets to cover the bottom of the entrance so we don’t scratch ourselves. There’s a technique to entering this cave, which your guide will show you and help you through.

Upon landing inside, there’s a higher level which you can get to with a bit of climbing. Be sure to have your footwear, because the surface of the rocks can be sharp. The opening at the very top allows sunlight to shine through that makes the cave picture perfect. You’d think these are just rocks, but it’s amazing that somehow this space is left hollow while outside rocks, trees and plants blend together.

In between Cudugnon Cave and Snake Island, we saw a couple getting married and a leaping horse.

Snake Island

Sandbar! Need I say more?

Ofcourse, I have a lot more to say. This stop is also where we’re setting up for lunch. While the other guides prepare for lunch, Rodel showed us up the hill for photo op. He’s really good. He knows which spots we should stand to get the best photo. It’s funny how other tourists were waiting for their turn on the same spots.

After seeing the magnificent aerial view of the beach, we can’t wait to get into it. The water is clear and the sand is soft at the sandbar. Around it, corals and marine plants are plenty, making it difficult (and scary, because there might be sea urchins) to walk in. Many are walking the length of the sandbar to the other island. At noon, the water’s still between the knee and waist level at the deepest.

After our lunch at the boat and after most of the people have moved on, we lingered a while longer to enjoy the beach and did some kayaking. At this time, the water has gone lower, around knee level at the deepest. You can see the waves coming from two sides of the sandbar converging at this point, creating the sandbar. It was an amazing sight to see.

According to our guide, the water would be low enough for the sandbar to show up around 3pm. We contemplated staying until then, but we didn’t want to miss out on the other sites. So with a heavy heart, we all got on to the boat and said goodbye to the sandbar and the starfish we got from the sea.

Pangulasian Island

Affectionately known as “Panga” among the locals, Pangulasian Island was the location of the first resort in El Nido. It burned downin the 90’s and it’s just now that they’re renovating it. Because of this, wecan’t dock in the island. It’s really unfortunate because they have a longstretch of beach like 7 Commando, which will also soon be private.

We’ll just come back next time when they’re already open.

Beach-hunting

For our last stop, I’m not really sure which one it was supposed to be. We already dropped our anchor in an island but there were too many boats and no where for us to dock, so we looked around for another beach. Not a problem when you have many to choose from.

This was too crowded and another was too shallow for the boat. We finally decided on this one that didn’t have many people, looks nice and had other beaches nearby we can kayak to.

We took turns in the kayak, frolicked in the sand, picked rocks and shells and bird-watched. Even our boatmen were feeling playful and made origami animals out of leaves. Our guide from Puerto Princesa was making shapes in the sand. We’re relaxed, carefree and away from everything else.

Towards the end of the day, everyone has found a spot to lie down. It was really difficult to get up. Maybe because we’re tired, but also because that means we’d have to leave this island and leave El Nido the next day. We just had to comfort ourselves that we’ll someday return for another tumble in the sand.

El Nido Posts:
Journey to El Nido
El Nido Island Tour Day 1
El Nido Island Tour Day 2
The (Perfect) Alternative
That French Restaurant in El Nido