El Nido, Palawan: Day 2

Our wake-up call was 4 a.m. Thankfully, coffee and hot chocolate awaited us at the pier, which did wonders to ward off the early morning chill. Feeling very much like commandoes with our cool black lifejackets, mega-watt  flashlights and powerful speedboat, we sliced through the waters to Pangalusian Island, five kilometers away. Our mission? To catch the sunrise form the Pangalusian view deck. But first, the Pangalusian trail.

Every Breath You Take

"I-gasp!-need-gasp!-to rest!" For the first few steps of the mountain trail, I jauntily walked right behind the film crew doing a Palawan documentary. But mid-way through the climb, my legs felt like jelly and I was breathing hard through my mouth.

The trail wasn't exactly difficult -- a 2 km trek that took us deep into the lush tropical mountain forest. But boy, was it hard to keep up with my group's seemingly superhuman pace. Plenty of stops and a bottled water later, I stood on the view deck just as the sun tiptoed on the horizon. Mission accomplished.

Photo courtesy of El Nido resort

El Nido, Palawan: Day 1

For most of the time, the fish I met on the dive seemed unaware of me. They swam inches away from me-- displaying their splendid array of copper, and lime green and blue . One of them, however, looked me straight in the eye and held my gaze so steadily, that I almost dropped my mouthpiece. Face to face with an especially inquisitive fish -- it could only have happened in El Nido, Palawan.

Day 1: A Tropical Party 
El Nido is named after the nests (nido means nest in Spanish) which are built by the edible nest swiftlet (balinsasayaw) into the cracks and crevices of Palawan's ubiquitous limestone cliffs. Climbers scale these cliffs to get these nests -- for this is the main ingredient in the prized oriental bird's nest soup.

The resort lies 430 km southwest of Manila and it took a mere 1 hour and 15 minutes by plane, plus an additional 40 minutes by outrigger to get to El Nido. A veteran travel writer I knew of described this place as "heaven on earth," and when I first caught a glimpse of Miniloc resort -- a cove whose mammoth limestone cliffs surrounds dazzling blue waters and cottages on stilts -- it was clear that this was no exaggeration.

I checked into the Cliff Cotttage, which is set amidst coconut trees and against a massive cliff. The bed was big enough for three and woven sawali (bamboo slats) covered the walls. Armed with an El Nido map and wildlife checklist, I set out for my first day.

First in the schedule was a little acquaintance party right at Miniloc's pier. I knelt down and immediately, neon-colored parrotfish swarmed my outstretched hand. Even the jackfish -- one meter long and grey-black in color, gathered around us for their share of free food.

photo by Harvey Tapan