El Nido Paradise: sailing from El Nido to Coron

This is got to be the best way to travel between Coron and El Nido in Palawan if you have the luxury of time and a bit of extra money. It is definitely the most unique way of traveling between the islands and I would recommend it to everyone if they have the time. The expedition cruises last between 3-5 days depending on what option you go for. I opted for the 3 day cruise between El Nido and Coron. It was a fantastic experience islanding hopping around remotes islands visited only by a very lucky few, sleeping on private islands in little huts, enjoying incredible food freshly caught from the sea by our resident spear fisher, meeting families from the remotes islands, snorkelling with turtles and making friends for life around the camp fire at night.

Trip overview:

1. The trip I did and the most popular one lasts 3 days, 2 nights. It leaves from Coron/ EL Nido at 8am and everyone meets before at the pier for a safety briefing.
2. You arrive into Coron/ El Nido (depending on the direction you travel in) just after sunset (6pm) so you can enjoy one last sunset from the boat.
3. Acommodation: It is camping on remote islands in little huts as shown. Moquito nets and bedding are provided. There are toilets and bucket showers with fresh water too at each camp.
4. Price: P16,900 (E 306) per person. This includes two nights accomodation, transport, mask and snorkel, entrance fees to the sights, unlimited rum, gin and coke, all food and snacks and drinking water.
5. Food: All meals for the 3 days including snacks are provided on the tour except breakfast on the first day and dinner on the last day. The food is incredible and plenty of it. They cater of vegans, veggies and gluten free. Just make sure you say it before.
6. Safety: You are miles away from a hospital or doctor so if you are unwell or acting the Micky and injury yourself, you will be a while away from medical assistance.
7. Book in advance. At least 2 weeks in advance I would recommend booking as places are limited and book up in advance. I was lucky to get a place with a week to go before departure.
8. The trip only leaves on certain days of the week so plan accordingly.
9. Your big bags will be kept underneath the boat and you will not be able to access them easily for the trip so pack a small day bag with what you need for the few days.
10. Alcohol: Free gin and rum is provided on the trip. The alcohol is pretty much unlimited but they usually only start serving alcohol after 4 or 5pm and don’t want people taking the absolute piss. The mixers are coke and tonic so if you wish to bring wine or anything else, you can and they will keep them cool for you but there is no need if you are happy with rum and gin.
11. Weather: Like everything in the Philippines, it is weather dependant. They have had to cancel parts of the trip or cancel the trip entirely due to bad weather conditions. This is nature and can’t be avoided so be prepared everything may not run exactly as expected.

What to bring:

• Motion sickness tablets
• Suncream
• towel
• swim suit
• shorts/tshirt/ sun dress
• refillable water bottle
• mosquito repellent
• sunglasses
• personal medication
• flash light
• long trousers/top to sleep in
• Wet bag
• Toiletries

Day 1:

The tour starts with a briefing the first morning. The briefing starts at 8 am so you must be in El Nido/ Coron (where ever you are starting the tour from the night before). At 9 am the tour leaves and everyone introduced themselves on the boat. The group had about 18 people and 5 crew. I headed on this trip by myself but of course, like any of the group trips, you meet fantastic people and some who I know will be friends for life. Within five minutes of getting onto the boat, I got chatting to two Irish guys, one of whom when to college with one of my best friends from home (shock), and two other Irish girls who had just come from Sydney, my next destination. There was a good mix of nationalities and ages on the boat. A few couples, a few groups of friends, solo travellers and a mother and son.

The first stop was a snorkelling spot with a ship wreck and near by island. One of the guys on the trip is a mad spear fisher and went around with a knife strapped to his leg and a spear gun in his hand. He provided a lot of entertainment and food on the trip. He would abscond in the night to go fishing which would cause the tour guide a bit of anxiety but he was always pretty successful in catching something!

After some more sailing and exploring the islands, sunbathing on the roof deck and getting to know everyone, we had lunch. I don’t know how they did it but the chefs produced the most incredible displays of food everyday.

We were supposed to go cliff jumping in the afternoon but it was too rough so we made our way across a pretty choppy crossing to the first nights campsite. On the to the first camp at about 4 pm, it was declared rum time. We arrived to the first camp after having a few rums, watching the sunset and swimming from the boat to the island.

After getting bucket showered (pure luxury being able to rinse salt, sweat and sun cream off you), changed and settled in our little huts for the night, we had dinner and drinks around the fire. Again how the cooks manage to pull off such an incredible dinner on this tiny desert with no running water is beyond me. I think the food was prepared on the boat and then shuttled across the sea from the main boat on a tiny rowing boat. The sunset that night was one of the most beautiful I have witnessed.

Dinner was phenomanal family style dinner as usual and despite having a 5am wake up call to go see the turtles, most of us stayed up past midnight around the fire drinking rum and chatting shit.

With a woeful hangover, we were woken at 5am to swim onto the main boat to go in search of turtles. The area we went to go snorkelling is a popular area for spotting turtles. After swimming with a few squirts, a buffet breakfast of fresh tropical fruits, eggs, pancakes and porridge was served on the boat.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was visiting the local people who lived on one of the islands we visited and playing football with them. Tours like this can cause an ethical and moral dilemma of privileged people coming to gawk at those living in impoverish and marginalised communities. From the minute we stepped off the boats onto the island you could see the local people did not find it intrusive and looked forward to our visits. El Nido paradise has built a basketball court and a school on the island with the money generated from the tours.

The staff knew the families and children well, one of the staff who is French has learnt the local dialect of the islanders and organises classes and games with the children. Thankfully most of the tourists were very respectful and refrained from poking the lens of their camera in the faces of the children and gaping slack jawed at the living conditions of the islanders. The visit to the island felt more educational rather than exploitive and it was lovely to see where and how some of the profits from the company were being distributed. The children sang us a song and got involved in a very competitive game of basket ball followed by football. Some of the younger girls wanted to play with our hair, they were particularly fond of long blond hair.

The second day was a lot choppier than the first and El Capatan was concerned if we would make it to the second camp island. At one stage a kayak went flying off the side of the boat and the staff jumped over board to get it. Madness I thought, but they managed to recover it. By the time we reached the second island, the sun was beginning to set and the sea had calmed down. One by one, we arrived to the island via kayaks with our things wrapped tightly in plastic bags. The second island was my favourite. The cabins were the cutest things I’ve seen. I had one of the best nights sleep here of the past 11 months travelling. It was complete silence bar the lapping of some waves and not a single light could be seen except for the moon. I also had broken by phone by getting it wet earlier that day so maybe having no technology and being miles away from noise and light pollution made it the best environment to soundly sleep.

The third day was filled with more snorkelling, drinking rum from coconuts, visiting incredible islands and finally with a visit to Coron’s infamous Barracuda lake.

Barracuda Lake is a popular spot with divers as it presents the curious with a unique opportunity to dive in a harmonious mix of fresh and salt water set against a backdrop of imposing jagged limestone walls. The temperature increases and you descend which is due to the fact the lake is made up of salt and fresh water. The lake is one of the most popular spots to visit on day trips from Coron so it was nice to see it and tick it off on the tour. We got there in the afternoon so most of the crowds and day tours had been and gone.

The trip from Barracuda lake to Coron port was a short 20 minute boat trip. It finished with farewells over looking the sun setting over the harbour in Coron, saying “see you soon” knowing full well you actually will. I explored the rest of Coron with the other travellers on the tour. Two weeks later I ended up seeing a friend from the tour in Singapore, who I’ve promised my sofa to when he comes to Sydney next.