Brett and Bernii

Manila

On Tuesday 24th of March I left Brett at 9PM to make my own way to the airport. My flight from Sri Lanka to the Philippines departed on time at 12:40AM. There was a short stop at Kuala Lumpur but after 8 hours, I arrived in Manila.

In my free time before I joined the Intrepid tour group, I walked from the Lyf Manila Malate (AUD $72 /night) to Rizal Park, which is the site where José Rizal, a Philippine reformer was executed by Spanish firing squad. At the park there are many monuments memorialising the events that took place in 1896. While Rizal didn’t lead the rebellion, he had exposed injustice under Spanish rule and his published writings inspired national identity, helping spark the Philippine Revolution. Rizal’s martyrdom encouraged many to continue the struggle for freedom and strengthened the push for independence.

From here I continued through Intramuros, the walled city built by the Spanish in the late 1500s to serve as their center of government, religion, and military power. Walking around, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were suddenly in Spain with cobblestone streets, beautiful churches and colonial buildings, and an old fort. It’s a very well preserved heritage city.

I made my way to Fort Santiago, paid the 70PHP (AUD $1.70) entrance fee and wandered the grounds. It was quite chilling to learn about the dark history of the fort and to visit the dungeons where 600 prisoners were locked and left to starve and suffocate, but I felt like it was important to visit.

That evening I met my guide, Ian ‘Big Oso’ and fellow travelling companions on the Intrepid Philippines Palawan Island Getaway tour. There were 12 of us in total, 3 from England, 1 from Canada, 1 from New Zealand, and the rest of course were Aussies. 6 members of the group had just completed an Intrepid tour in the north of the Philippines and were already well acquainted. Despite this, everyone was super welcoming and we all instantly connected and got along like old friends. We would be spending the next 8 days together exploring Palawan Island.

Puerto Princesa

For our first full day on tour, we caught a short flight to Puerto Princesa. When we landed, we were instructed to wait for our row to be called before we could get up, grab our carry-on bags and leave the plane. Only once have I been on an airline where this instruction was given and NOBODY followed it, so I was thinking, ‘Yeah right! Let’s see how this works!‘. But to my surprise, everyone was very obedient and actually waited until their row was called.

We had a couple of days to explore Puerto Princesa. When we weren’t enjoying the 2-4-1 happy hour cocktails in the pool at the hotel, we visited some stunning natural sites. First up, we enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch at a restaurant on stilts above mangroves and crystal clear water.

On the way from lunch, we visited a butterfly sanctuary.

Later, we returned to the mangrove forest at night to witness the magical fireflies twinkling in the leaves.

The next day we took outrigger boats to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature: Puerto Princesa Underground River. We transferred to canoes to float through a small but stunning section of the 8.2km navigable subterranean river. Inside the dark caves were impressive cathedral-like cavernous chambers, ancient stalactites and gigantic stalagmites, and thousands of bats. I’ve been in other underground rivers and caves in Vietnam, but this place was next level unreal! The national park is pristine and the people here are really concerned with preserving the fragile ecosystem for generations to come.

Port Barton

Our next stop on the itinerary was Port Barton, but before we arrived, we made a stop at a cashew nut farm to see the process of growing and harvesting cashews. I had no idea they looked like this and that they were so arduous to collect! Now I understand why they are so expensive!

The farm also featured the most adorable baby kittens, goat kids, chicks and piglets.

After checking into the hotel, we took a short hike to cool off at a nearby waterfall before returning to our beachfront hotel for drinks and dinner.

The next day we went out on the most beautiful turquoise water for an island hopping adventure. In the morning, we stopped at 2 different reefs to snorkel. There were clownfish (Nemo), blue tang fish (Dory), friendly turtles, angelfish, parrotfish, puffer fish, starfish, and so many other varieties of fish. Thankfully there were no sharks or jellyfish.

We then stopped for a delicious seafood lunch on the beach of our own private island and relaxed for a while beneath the palm trees, before heading out to 2 more locations for more snorkelling, swimming and fishing.

Everywhere we looked, the scenery was glorious and we were pinching ourselves to prove we were really there and not dreaming. Port Barton didn’t seem to be overrun with tourists. It definitely felt like there could and should have been more boats out and about, but we realised there were probably fewer tourists due to a lot of flights being cancelled through the Middle East.

El Nido

The next day, a short 3 hour drive took us to paradise. When someone asks you to picture a deserted island, you are picturing El Nido. Here the water so clear you can see the ocean floor and barely need to use your goggles when you’re snorkelling. When you look out across the ocean, you see hues of turquoise, aquamarine and indigo which cleanse your soul. It is utterly pristine, picturesqe and sublime – like stepping into a postcard.

El Nido is part of the Bacuit Archipelago, 45 islands and islets comprised of limestone cliffs, stunning lagoons and beaches, and vibrant marine life. The main drawcard is the island hopping and there are four tours you can take: Tour A, Tour B, Tour C and Tour D. Each tour goes to different islands but they each offer kayaking, snorkelling, beaches, and lagoons. People stress about whcih tour is the best, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them. Tour A and C are the most popular, and people who are short on time generally choose these tours, however, this means it gets quite busy at each of the sites.

Our tour included a full day private island hopping and snorkelling adventure and our group was allocated Tour D. Our guides were Bert and Albert, AKA ‘The 2 Berts’ and they were a lot of fun. They were flexible with our itinerary and navigated us to less busy spots to avoid the crowds. They cooked us the most delicious seafood lunch which we again ate ashore on a private beach. They also collected the most amazing drone footage which completely enhanced our trip.

After a full day on the boat, it was suddenly and sadly the last night of the Intrepid tour, so we headed out to Vanilla Beach to watch the sunset and enjoy our farewell dinner. It was sad to say goodbye to such lovely new friends. We were very fortunate in that our group gelled so well and we shared so many stories and laughs while we travelled together.

But it wasn’t goodbye yet for a small group of us who had committed to another day of island hopping with The 2 Berts. This time, we took a private speedboat which could get from spot to spot much quicker than the big outrigger boats. As a result, we were able to combine Tour A and Tour C in a single day! It was the best! There were secret beaches, hidden beaches, turtle beaches, small lagoons, big lagoons, more kayaking, more snorkelling, more swimming. Honestly, it was spectacular!

I would have liked to also tick Tour B off the list, but sadly, I developed an ear infection and was prohibited from doing any more swimming or snorkelling. Instead, I enjoyed exploring El Nido’s shops, restaurants, and beaches and the facilities at Bakoko Garden, an Airbnb gift from my colleagues at BSSSC.

A few days later, I was back in Manila to transfer to Bangkok to reunite with Brett and hear all about his solo adventure trekking Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit. Stay tuned for his update coming soon!