Island-Hopping in El Nido

In my past entries, I gave you a glimpse of the organization and people I worked with. On this part of my journey, I’d like to share with you my island-hopping experience in the islands of Palawan. Through the photos below, I hope you enjoy these beautiful places in the Philippines. Of course, I only had time to visit a very tiny part of the country… these photos certainly do not do justice to the multitude of wonderful experiences, people and places the Philippines has to offer.

Along with one of my very best friends, Janice (we’ve been friends since we were in Grade 5!), Richard (Janice’s husband), Marjorie (one of my professors and mentors from law school), Gina (Janice’s cousin and one of my now close friends) and Joan (Janice’s friend and now another close friend of mine), I enjoyed nine glorious days of island-hopping, food galore and shopping in the towns of El Nido and Coron in the province of Palawan. I hope you enjoy these islands as much as we have.

The gallery below consists of our photos from El Nido. Enjoy!

Getting ready to hit the islands

L to R: Me with our captain and chef for the next two days, Andres

Andres is a national athlete in the world of competitive swimming. He’s got 6 fingers and he thinks the sixth one helps with his strokes. Cool, eh?!

The view outside of our resort, The Entalula, in El Nido, Palawan

L to R: Gina, Richard, Janice, Gadhi

Oh, yes! Submerged in water at a temperature of about 33 degrees Celsius… who wouldn’t be partying?!

Trying to find Nemo down below… Janice thinks I may have scared him with my red lips!

Our delicious feast, made of the day’s catch (fresh water crabs and seafood) prepared by our captain (who pleasantly surprised us with his culinary skills!) and tour guide. We were definitely spoiled rotten on this tour!

Another helping of fresh fish with some local spices

Hhhhmmmm… ripe mangoes!!! These were so deliciously sweet.

What a glorious day!

The water was crystal clear for many miles!

While waiting for lunch, let’s do some selfie! From the front to the back: Gina, Janice, Gadhi and Richard

And let’s do the reverse… from the back to the front: Gina, Janice, Gadhi and Richard

Hey, Richard and Joey (our tour guide), what are you two pointing at???

Gadhi and Marjorie at the edge of the boat. (Don’t worry, I did hold on really tightly and didn’t fall into the water.)

Our view of the sun setting at The Entalula

Another beautiful sunset view

Marjorie was preparing to hog up all of the rock lobster!!! All 3 pounds of it! Kidding!!! She did share it with us.

Rock lobster from the salt waters of El Nido

Are these rocks made of volcanic material?

The hut you see above is a typical island cottage. The roof is made up of coconut leaves, while the supporting structure is consists of bamboo… definitely very environmentally sustainable!