THE NEST: EYE THE SHARK !!!!

After the 42-hour adventure on the boat “La Milagrosa” we decided to stay one day in Puerto Princesa before the next stop, and what a stop…

In Puerto Princesa we meet another of the characters of the trip: Attila! This man, Turkish by origin and who lived in Rome for about 20 years, is now in the Philippines rebuilding his life. From day to night he decided to throw the house out the window and travel adventurously. It was funny talking to him especially because in the conversation we mixed Italian, Spanish, English, French and Filipino… a picture!

But if we have caught a 42-hour boat it was not to see our friend Attila, but to go to one of the most famous places in the Philippines: The nest!

Here we arrive after a journey of about 5 hours on roads full of curves and at the end of potholes … what a pain in the butt! Hopefully we have found a good and cheap accommodation, although in the first place we asked they asked us something like € 250! And it wasn’t exactly a resort!

If you arrive in El Nido it is for one reason: sea. And as soon as you see El Nido beach, you think: what am I doing here? In fact, although the environment is very beautiful, the beach and especially the water is not the end of the world at all. But it’s worth taking a walk around the little town and seeing the amount of tours in which there are: A, B, C, D… This is how they are classified. This is promising!

We decided to do the tour A and we do not regret it: you leave in the morning and throughout the day you visit 3 impressive lagoons (the Big Lagoon takes the cake), you eat delicious little fish and grilled cuttlefish, delicious pork and chicken, fresh and sweet fruit, And why not rice on a paradisiacal beach where two meters from the shore you can see lots of little fish, not grilled eh, if not snorkeling!

And before ending the day watching the sunset on the beautiful beach of 7 Commandos beach there is a stop that for us was the most exciting and beautiful of all: snorkeling in Intalula beach.

I didn’t make it to the beach. To tell the truth, at first I didn’t even get to the water at all … And is that the feeling of getting into the sea and seeing how deep it was and above all … what is this ??? There I turned like Usain Bolt to the ladder and the first few minutes I couldn’t say goodbye to her!

Imagine the scene, a 27-year-old aunt, sitting on the ladder of the wooden boat, looking at the sea with her glasses without lifting her ass off the ladder and worried that a giant, mean and ugly squid would eat her brave boyfriend who he was swimming in the sea.

We have never seen anything like it in life: meters and meters of coral that started on the shore ended and the depth of the sea stretched below us, the bluest blue we had ever seen, and so, suddenly … without warning. What excitement and jolin what fear!

But curiosity won out and little by little I got away from the ladder and what I found was something hidden, full of life, it was the marine world: how many fish, corals and things … strange! I was drunk with color! It seemed to me that I was in the middle of the Nemo movie and as soon as I remembered a bit of the movie the sharks came to mind and I went back to the ladder… hihi

It was incredible, one of the greatest emotions of our life, and one that we can never forget… bye bye Palawan, I know that we will see each other again one day!

USEFUL INFO

Transportation How to get to El Nido from Puerto Princesa?

To get to the Puerto Princesa station (new market) we caught a jeepney from the center that cost us 13 each. To get to El Nido from Puerto Princesa there are 3 alternatives:

• 1) local bus without air, costs 350 pesos
• 2) local bus with air conditioning 480 pesos
• 3) private minivan 600 pesos

The local bus did not leave until 11, so we negotiated with the minivan to leave at 10 at 450 pesos.

The lap We did it by local bus without air, which left at 4.00am! It cost us 350 pesos. Once we arrived at the Puerto Princesa station, we took a jeepney for 12 pesos each that took us to the junction near the airport. From there a tricycle brought us to the terminal for 8 pesos each.

Accommodation Where to sleep in El Nido?

We sleep in the Relucio Travelers Pension. On the beachfront, next to Alternative Pension. Our room, number 2, cost us 500 pesos because it was the smallest. The others are a bit more expensive. Very good place, huge terrace and good views. Clean perp shared bathrooms, free coffee and water. And a very nice family.

Activities in El Nido, tours

There are a lot of agencies with similar prices (A: 700 pesos / B and C: 800 pesos / D: 900 pesos) but you can haggle a bit. In the end the Tour A cost us 600 pesos per person. It is very worth it.

Las Cabañas Beach

To get there we took a motorcycle taxi for 150 pesos (round trip but wait)