El Nido 29.12-4.1

Yup, I ain't done yet! More Philippine pics coming right atcha! 

So after Port Barton we took a private van to El Nido, which is the main tourist attraction on Palawan, located at the northern tip of the Island. The van was a total flop, totally not worth the money, but what can you do? We had booked a room in advance at Stunning Vistas, at Corong-Corong beach, which is located just outside the small town of El Nido. Here we enjoyed the beach, the kayaking possibilities, the snorkeling (they had a huge reef just out in the water by the hotel, not bad), and we went on a diving trip and an Island Hopping trip.

Our terrace at Stunning Vistas, so nice to just sit outside and read!

 Or to just chill in out in the yard...

View from "our yard".

The beach.

The view at sunset.

When the weather allowed the place had some really nice sunsets!

The beach had quite a few "bungalo" style housing possibilities. We stayed at the far end of the beach. The best end;)

We had dinner in El Nido city, right by the beach. It was so nice! That's the way I love to have dinner, candlelights, fires and your toes buried in sand with the soft sound of the waves striking the beach. Awesome setting for some romance, if you ask me...

El Nido bay by night.

Okay not a picture I'm proud to present, but I just wanted to show how I had to spend my new years and and the 1. of January, just to get some sympathy!

Well I got sick around 6 on new years eve, and by the time my body was totally emptied (and a bit more), the next day the hotel called a doctor to come and take a look. Result; the best possible day weather wise I was attached to IB fluids and couldn't leave the room. Happy? Not particularly. 

I hate needles btw...

A snapshot A took of the stunning scenery on the day of my "recovery".

Was I bitter? Very.

On the 2. of january we moved into El Nido town, for 2 nights. We stayed at a french owned hotel called La Salangane. Very nice view and the bar was super cosy by night. The ONLY problem was that the rooms got a bit to hot for our taste... 

Pictures from a diving trip we took. This is the bay we stopped at for lunch. 

A goes diving.

View from one of the beaches.

Stone art. Or something...

The amazing rock formations! Sharp as razorblades and sometimes very plastic like looking... Very cool indeed!

On our Island Hopping tour. VERY windy! It was a bit risky taking the tour the day after a bout had SUNKEN due to the shitty weather conditions. Actually the same boat we should have taken, if we had stuck to our original route plan.

Only a couple of meters to far out in the water, and we could have been goners to the strong wind and current.

The bay we ate lunch at during the Island Hopping.

Again, amazing rock formations!

I don't have that many pictures from onboard the boat, since that would have murdered my camera. But when well on shore I could shelter my camera (somewhat) from the crazy ass water.

The beach was tiny, but the mountains were huge!

This is from the inside of "Big Lagoon".

We started the day at "Small Lagoon", where I didn't manage to get a single picture due to the wind. But it doesn't matter... The place was my touristic hell! It could have been such a beautiful place, but it was SO packed with eager tourists with their stupid snorkels and screaming kids that it totally ruined the place. Even the fish were aggressive...

But the big lagoon was nice though!

That's it for El Nido. This is a picture from the restaurant Kalui, where we killed time before flying off to Cebu. Tuna sashimi and fruit salad with a lime ginger dressing, YUM!

Later!