El Nido and Coron, Philippines

Flying from Cebu to Puerto Princesa with the inviting turquoise ocean glistening below was magical. Traveling to El Nido was just as a lovely as that's pretty much where every tourist is heading, so we could just jump in a minibus full of other travellers. When we arrived the town took us by surprise as there is a lot of construction work going on to support the tourist boom. The streets were packed as it was high season and it felt like the town couldn't quite cope. We were staying in a beautiful lodge, Makulay, up hundreds of step in the hills overlooking the bay which was significantly more glamorous than we expected and just far enough out of town that we didn't hear any noise. It also meant we were very much a part of nature and one morning we were woken up by two cawing hornbills in the trees outside our window. Unfortunately this also meant we were visited by a very large huntsman looking spider which, whilst quite tipsy, we safely got out of our window with a bit of screaming.

The top thing to do in El Nido is exploring the lagoons and islands surrounding the town. We booked a boat tour which we hoped would be better than our previous experiences. The day didn't start well as we waited on the beach for over an hour due to the volume of people trying to get on the boats. We then had to wade through the brown sea carrying bags on our heads as the waves came crashing around us. Our first stop left us thoroughly disappointed as the pristine beach was packed full of people. Luckily the next stop, the small lagoon, was less crowded and we got to kayak around in the turquoise water looking at the beautiful cliffs surrounding us. The big lagoon was much the same but, you guessed it, bigger and we watched hornbills glide around the karst mountains. We also got to see a white sand beach with unbelievably clear water although sadly without any coral as it had all been destroyed. The secret lagoon was our last stop and completely deserted with an adorable family of dogs that I could have played with all day! This was one of the only days in El Nido that was sunny, we spent many days here hiding from the torrential rain due to ANOTHER Typhoon, unable to do anything except hope for better WiFi.

On our first night we were lucky to speak to another British couple and then bump into them all over town with nothing else to do but drink the night away together. We arranged to see Jamie and Laura on New Year's Eve where we went for a drink in the Reggae bar waiting for the fireworks to begin. When midnight came the sky lit up with fireworks being set off from every inch of the beach by locals throwing them in the sand and hoping for the best. It was colourful chaos for about twenty minutes with the air thick of gunpowder until it finally began to subside and the partying could begin. Jamie and Laura are definitely couple goals and so much fun to hang out with. Our stay in El Nido was made all the better for spending time with them.

We were leaving El Nido on the early morning ferry to Coron so we were on the move at 5am ready to start our journey. It wasn't until we'd all been loaded onto the boat that one of the luggage staff mumbled to me that the ferry was cancelled. Not a single member of staff came on board to let us know so I then had to be the bearer of bad news and tell all the other people on the boat. We were stranded in El Nido for an unknown amount of days with nowhere to stay whilst we waited for the typhoon to pass. It took two more mornings waking up at 4am to see if we could leave and finally we were on our way. We shouldn't have been so happy because it was the worst trip of our lives. Around half of the people on the small ferry were sick, including me, due to the horrendous waves and it didn't ease up for the whole five hour journey. There was one point we thought the boat would capsize as we lunged side to side so dramatically. Finally we made it onto dry land vowing never to step foot on a ferry here again. 

Coron definitely turned things around due to the beautiful sunshine and quaint feel to the town. It was bigger and more touristy than we expected but able to cope with the influx much better than El Nido. We had lost quite a few days being stuck in EL Nido so we condensed what we wanted to do and started with diving in some of the best wrecks in the world. Akitsushima was our first stop, a huge 150m long war ship laying on its side that was sunk in 1944. The thought of going inside terrified me so we stuck to the outside of the boat which was covered in hard and soft coral with lots of fish to see. We also visited Okikawa Maru and Lusong Gunboat with the latter being our favourite by far. Here we saw baby cuttlefish, lots of clown fish and amazing nudibranches on this shallow dive and even got to swim through the deck. Reggae Divers were a wonderful dive shop and we really enjoyed the way they handled everything!

The next day we hired our own private boat to take us on a tour of the infamous lagoons on Coron Island. Interestingly the town of Coron in on Basunga Island and most of the amazing lagoons are located on nearby Coron Island which is covered in a thick forest and jagged hills. Our tour guide took us to each spot at exactly the right time so we had it almost to ourselves, we heard it can get very busy so asked him for his expert advice. Swimming alone in the azure water of kayangan lake and Twin Lagoon, which are a mixture of fresh hot spring water and salt water, was an amazing experience and one we'll never forget. There were such interesting rock formations and lots of fish to see, some very territorial that would nip at your feet if you got too close! We spent the rest of the day snorkeling and relaxing on stunning white sandy beaches, it was truly wonderful. When coming back into port we noticed a half sunken ship we didn't think we'd seen before. When we asked our captain about it he laughed and said that a tourist boat had collided with a big boat and it had sunk in the harbour with everyone on board losing their belongings. Luckily they were all alright but this nonchalant attitude to a problem like this was in true Filipino style. 

Despite what I said earlier about never getting on another ferry we had one more trip on an overnight journey to Manila for 15 hours. Of course this couldn't go to plan, it was delayed so instead of sleeping the night away we had to endure this trip in the day at 9am. The facilities were atrocious and it being a night ferry we only had bunk beds to sit on instead of chairs. There were around 300 people crammed in the same small room all snoring, sneezing and screaming. Getting to Manila was a relief although a short lived one as this city is tough! Our last day involved another surprise from Josh where we took to the skies by paragliding just outside of Manila. It was exhilarating being thrust into the sky and riding the thermal currents, plus our guide made it feel like we were on a roller-coaster by spinning us around. This day was made even better by Bernie the little dog who waited for us on the hill and excitedly wagged his tail every time we returned. Next stop is Auckland so we are preparing for our long flight to beautiful New Zealand where we are meeting Josh's Mum, Dad and Brother for a roadtrip through the North and South Island.