Our Six-Day El Nido DIY Tour (from Dumaguete) – Part 2
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Our day 4 started early to catch this beautiful sunrise:
And that’s Day 4.
Day 4: EL NIDO TOWN TOUR
Our day 4 started early to catch this beautiful sunrise:
This was followed by a complimentary breakfast from Tapik Guesthouse. We sat around for a while, then checked-out and drove back to El Nido Town.
After returning our rented motorcycles, we walked to Jhanna’s Inn where we have booked rooms for the rest of our stay. Our room there was pricier, but a lot more spacious and more comfortable than our previous hostel (review here).
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| View from across Jhanna's Inn entrance. |
We walked around town, then had lunch of lobster (2 small pieces), pork chops, fish & fries, rice and shakes at Umi Travel & Tours Seaside Restobar (paid around P460 each, shared dishes). The servings were large and tasted good. The watermelon shake was more juice than shake. We saw that they also arrange tours so we booked Tour A with them for the following day (P1k each, discounted price), just to compare with Tarawis =).
We walked around some more, then went back to Jhanna’s Inn to freshen up, and went to Taraw Peak Canopy Walk.
Taraw Peak Canopy Walk
We arrived at the starting point at 3:30PM where we paid the entrance fee of P400 each, received a short orientation, and put on our PPE (helmet and harness).
*Note: They only receive climbers from 8AM until 4:30 PM.
The guided climb was short with difficulty level between easy to moderate, mostly along the installed walkways. The view at the top was spectacular and more than makes up for the short hike.
Tip: Make sure your things are secured well as they are difficult and may even be impossible to retrieve if you drop them.
We walked back down following our photoshoot, returned to our inn to rest a bit, then walked to town for dinner.
We randomly chose to have dinner at Squido’s (review here) and paid around P350 each (affordable by El Nido standards considering the number of dishes we ordered).
And that’s Day 4.
Day 5: TOUR A
Day 5 started with a breakfast of pospas (rice porridge), egg and instant coffee at the food stall in front of Jhanna’s Inn for a grand total of 50 pesos. =)
We then walked to Umi Travel & Tours Seaside Restobar for our 8:30AM call-time. By 9:35, we were off for our Tour A.
TOUR A Destinations:
A. 7 Commando Beach
First stop was 7 Commando Beach. Like every other island in El Nido, this was beautiful. It was a bit crowded though. There are cottages and vendors. We chose to sit in the shade of the coconut trees and swim for a bit to cool off.
B. Small Lagoon
Next we went to small lagoon, where we rented a kayak (P300 good for 3, given that we all had smallish builds). The lagoon is as picturesque as all the magazines and tv shows feature them to be.
C. Lunch at Payong-payong Island
Following the small lagoon, we stopped by Payong-payong Island for our lunch. The guides are pretty creative with the food arrangement. We were given some free time to relax and swim.
D. Big Lagoon
After lunch, we proceeded to Big Lagoon where we again rented a kayak (P300 good for 3). You can choose to walk to the lagoon as the water’s shallow, but it’s quite far.
The lagoon is littered with underwater rock formations on which you can stand. Just be careful as lots of them have sea urchins with super long spines that protrude over the crevices.
E. Secret Lagoon
Our next stop for tour A was Secret Lagoon. It’s a very small lagoon surrounded by El Nido’s trademark limestone formations, accessible via a small cavity on the rockwall that you have to go through. The water inside this lagoon can get murky as there is no water flow (or very little, depending on the tide). It’s dark and cool inside, and your voice echoes on the walls.F. Shimizu Island
Tour A ended with a short stop at Shimizu Island for a quick snorkel. We were really tired though so we just took photos and swam for a short while.
After tour A, we were brought back to the jump-off point, from where we walked back to Jhanna's Inn.
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| The ride back was quite fast and splashy. |
Marigmegmeg Beach
We didn't stay too long at the hotel, just enough to change clothes. We then hailed a tricycle to take us to Marimegmeg Beach (P300 per cab, return trip), known for its spectacular sunsets.
We arrived in time to see the sun slowly going down and the view did not disappoint.
Following the sunset, we walked along the beach until we came upon the The Beach Shack where we had a dinner of rice, sisig, Buffalo wings and quesadillas (paid a little over P300 each).
Day 5 finally ended with a trip back to our hotel and much-needed rest.
Day 6: HOME-BOUND
By 4:25AM of day 6, we were already picked up by a van for our trip back to Puerto Princesa (we contacted the service provider who brought us to El Nido). The van went around town for a while, picking up passengers here and there, so it wasn't until 5:35 that we were finally off to Puerto Princesa. We stopped along the way for breakfast but we didn't have much of an appetite so we just ate chips and biscuits.
At 10:15, we arrived at the Puerto Princesa Pasalubong Center, where we asked to be dropped off. (Cashews & fresh-water pearls are relatively cheaper here than almost anywhere else in the Philippines).
Outside of the shopping center, we hired a tricycle (P40/cab) to take us to any lunch area and the driver suggested Ugong Rock. We were greeted with glasses of iced water which was very much welcome after the long “drought” in El Nido. There we ate sizzling crocodile sisig, tanlad chicken imperial, rice and sundaes. We each paid a little over P300 for the shared meal.
After lunch, we proceeded to the airport (P50/cab, P200 terminal fee) for our flight to Cebu.
We tried to catch the last boat from Cebu to Dumaguete but we missed it so we proceeded to the bus station, took the 3-hour bus to Tampi, ate a dinner of noodles at the pier, took the last barge to Amlan (11:30PM), then rode the bus (P24) from Amlan to Dumaguete.
I finally arrived home at past 1AM.
And that was how we spent our SIX-DAY EL NIDO TOUR.
Be sure to check out the short-version itinerary and budget for our trip here.
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