It's more fun in the Philippines Part 5 (Palawan Trip Day 4)

Swiftlets Breakfast

We woke up from our deep slumber and jumped out of bed immediately, it was already 9am when we woke and it is also time for us to get picked up for our second day of island hopping tour. I guess we were quite tired from the previous day's activities so we did not get up with the alarm went off. The Swiftlets breakfast looked quite good and it was already on the breakfast table just outside our room. However, the same guy from Faith Agape was already there to pick us up in the tricycle, so we put the bread, egg and ham together into sandwiches and placed them into some plastic bags to takeaway.

Tall limestone rocks

At the Big Lagoon

Things went pretty much the same, except that we were doing Tour A on the second day, we were happy that the same guides and boatmen from the previous day were there. The boat was more crowded on the second day with 14 guest, and the rest were all filipinos except for me. Honestly, I enjoyed our company on the first day more, as the other 12 guys with us on the second day were all from the same group, they seemed more interested in taking pictures than enjoying the scenery around us. The guides were also exceptionally kind to us as they already knew us, felt like VIP! :)

The guide offered to take pic for us at Big Lagoon

Big Lagoon reminded me of Halong Bay with the many towering limestones. The boat stopped just outside the entrance and we jumped into the sea to snorkel around. As this is the second day of our island hopping tour, we already know the drills quite well and felt comfortable exploring the sea. 

Another bungka nearby waiting to get into Secret Lagoon

The second stop, the Secret Lagoon, is somewhat like the Secret Beach on the previous day. As we had to wade through shallow corals again, the guide put our phone into his dry bag and brought it into the lagoon so that we can take some pictures. It was still a pity as the view at the Secret Beach was nicer compared to the lagoon. 

The secret pathway to the lagoon

Just like the Secret Beach, there was a small cave that we could get through to gain access into the lagoon. Unlike the previous day when the depth of water was really deep, there were shelves of stone right at the entrance of the cave so we had to sit on it and get ourselves across. 

Selfie we took in the lagoon

Might as well take more since we brought the selfie stick

The very nice guide climbed up some rocks to help us take this 

After the very good lunch the previous day, I'm really looking forward to the fresh seafood again. This time, the spread was even bigger and better as there were more people on board. Just like the first day, we stopped at a really cool snorkeling area so that we can do more snorkeling while the guys get the lunch ready. It was nice looking out at sea while we enjoy such a good meal, I was savouring every minute of it as I reminded myself this is the final day of island hopping tour on El Nido for us, till we are back the next time, if ever.

Big spread of fruits and seafood

Very clear water at the lunch area

Weather had been really good today, as the sky was threatening to rain but it did not happen and the hot sun was hiding behind the dark clouds. When we left the lunch area to proceed to the next destination, we could see that it was pouring in the distance but the bad weather did not get to our area and we only had some light drizzle. The next area is Small Lagoon and it is the highlight of the day for us. 

Boats taking turns to rent the kayak

Dark clouds at the small lagoon but it did not really rain

Even though it is named Small Lagoon, the area we could explore was the biggest and I could see many people kayaking  or swimming around the area. When our guide gave us a choice between kayaking and snorkeling, we chose kayaking immediately as we had quite enough of snorkeling over the two days.

People swimming around the Small Lagoon

Selfie while kayaking

I was quite happy and excited for the change of activity after we embark on the kayaking exploration. It cost us 300php to rent the kayak but its quite worthwhile. After some calculation, we reckoned the kayak rental guy here must be earning big bucks from the tours as many people chose to do the kayak rental here and it is a trade monopoly.

Happy feet 

The area around the Small Lagoon reminded me of Kampong Mamam in P.Ubin as it had some meandering parts which led us into some exploration. I was glad we were on kayak as it will be tiring if we want to swim and explore the whole area.

We had enough of kayaking, went to the beach at the side and took a bit of rest and selfies (again). But we quickly left as we realised there were mozzies around the area.

Selfie time again

I was surprised to see a ice cream vendor on his boat (look at the clear water)

Went back paddling and the really nice guide helped us took some pictures

Bravo! Clear blue/green water underneath us!

We enjoyed ourselves at the Small Lagoon

After we had enough fun at the place, we ditched our kayak and went swimming around the bungka for awhile. But we got tired of that soon enough and just went up the boat to wait for the rest to come back. We also bought several ice cream from the floating vendor. It is more expensive than the ice-cream sold on mainland but he has the monopoly here so there were lots of tourists buying from him too.

The ice cream vendor stopped at our bungka to sell his stuff

The last stop for our island hopping tour A was the 7 commandos beach, but I have no idea why it was named that way. It was one of my least favourite destination during the two day tour, simply because it felt like a normal beach at Sentosa lagoon to me. It was commercialised as all the tourists stopped there to get their dessert fix, I was keen to get back to land soon but we spent over an hour just lazing on the beach. Perhaps other tourists enjoy taking a break there but it did not appeal to me.