Everyone in the group, except M, had tried the island hopping activities in El Nido. We initially thought of passing up on it, but we considered doing it again for the sake of our friend. Well, it’s his first time on this part of Palawan and we thought we’d treat him to a combo island tour to maximize his island hopping experience.

MOTORIZED OUTRIGGER BOATS USED FOR ISLAND HOPPING IN EL NIDO

El Nido has four island hopping options grouped into Tour A, B, C, and D. The two most popular routes are Tour A and Tour C. If you have limited time like us, you can actually combine these tours—choose where you want to go and cross off those that doesn’t interest you. Already familiar with most of the islands and beaches on the list, that’s exactly what we did.

Linapacan was our second choice for our Palawan getaway. We originally planned on going to Balabac, but due to weather constraints and the threat of being eaten by crocodiles, we whole-heartedly settled for the latter. And can we be so choosy? Linapacan has been tagged as having one of the clearest waters in the world.

LINAPACAN HAS BEEN DUBBED AS HAVING ONE OF THE CLEAREST WATERS IN THE WORLD

Located between El Nido and Coron, Linapacan is actually a municipality in Palawan. It is a menagerie of islands, some of which used to belong to Coron. The town’s jump off is about an hour away from El Nido, and I’m quite puzzled as to why the boom in the region’s tourism hasn’t reached it yet.

“That beach can’t really be as pink as that.”  I told W, as I was browsing through Komodo Island’s Pink Beach on his Instagram account. A few days later, we docked on that same beach. And I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was bowled over. Its sand was even more pink as the photo I was shown.

ABOVE AND BELOW INDONESIA’S KOMODO NATIONAL PARK

Besides komodo dragons, the largest lizard on the planet and a living Jurassic creature at that, the Komodo National Park also boasts of beautiful beaches and extensive underwater gardens fit for snorkeling and diving. The three we visited, much as I wouldn’t want to admit it, can go head to head with the best that the Philippines has to offer when it comes to beaches.

Under a deep blue sky, we glided along North Lombok’s strangely creamy and sparklingly azure waters. It was the first time we saw the real Indonesian sea after several days of touring around Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta. Yes, it was finally time to visit the beach and Lombok’s three famous islands; Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno and Gili Air, fitted our beaching needs to a perfect tee.

THE VIEW EN ROUTE TO GILI ISLANDS

From the Golden Tulip Hotel Mataram where we were staying, we boarded our tour bus early. A couple of hours of scenic ride later, we alighted at the Bangsal Harbor, the public jump off point for the Gili Islands. The fast boat fee is at IDR85,000.00 per person and IDR15,000.00 for the public boat. As I learned in Sasak Village Sade, Gili in Sasak means small island, so Gili Islands is really a misnomer, if you have to be a grammar nazi about it.

The minutes quickly passed as our tricycle roared off into the humid streets of Siquijor. It was already two in the afternoon, and again, we disembarked and found ourselves staring right into a gnarly body of a huge centuries old Balete tree growing at the end of a shallow swimming pool.

VINES STRAGGLING DOWN THE SIQUIJOR BALETE TREE

The tree is said to be around 400 to 500 years old, depending on who you ask, and is definitely the biggest of its kind on the island. Balete or banyan trees are usually parasitic in nature, creeping up on unsuspecting healthy trees and wrapping itself around it until the host finally dies. This leaves a hollow core in the middle where one can enter if it becomes big enough.

► SEE: SIQUJOR TRAVEL GUIDE

I jumped, mask firmly in place, biting on my snorkel. The warm translucent water enveloped me, thousands of bubbles forming right before my very eyes. Once my vision cleared, the underwater world of Koh Rok opened before my eyes, gigantic mounds of healthy corals teeming with colorful tropical fishes. Paradise.
 
It was a typical morning stay in Koh Lanta for us—waking up early and having a leisurely breakfast at Soontreeya Resort. The only difference was, instead of simply wasting another day walking around and lounging at Long Beach, we actually have something else to do.

With engines in full throttle, our wooden long-tail boat parted the aquamarine waters of the Andaman Sea. Our destination, a vague menagerie of islands and snorkeling spots that I failed to grasp when it was relayed to us. It really didn’t matter, as long as we’re at sea, I’m totally good.

ISLAND HOPPING AT KRABI

From the horizon, we can see the outline of massive stone karsts jutting out from the sea like humps of a sea creature totally alien to us. Our boat moved closer and our jaw dropped in awe. The rocks soared, higher than I have imagined them to be, lush green vegetation and dry ones in golden hues interspersed across its dark craggy face, the morning light adding poetry to their splendor.

I’m unable to count the number of times a clown fish tried to stare me down as I glided across El Nido’s warm waters. The underwater life at Star Beach was really good especially near the huge drop in the sea wall. The water’s just around 4 to 5 feet deep before plunging 60 feet down into murky darkness of the drop. Not really the best of swimmer, I opted to stay on the shallower parts where it was easier to get up close and personal with the fishes.

It’s day 14 of my Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao road trip and our second day in Malapascua, an island northeast of mainland Cebu. The clouds have cleared up and the water’s looking fine. We found a boatman that would circle the small island and bring us to some of its numerous snorkeling spots. Being non-divers, we didn’t spot any thresher sharks, which is what the island is really known for, but it was a fun underwater adventure nonetheless.

The warm water enveloped my body as I dived into the calm turquoise water of Tambobong Beach. From the images I saw at Google Maps, Dasol Bay looks quite promising for underwater fun; it was spotted with different shades of green, indicating a rich a marine environment.
The clarity of Tambobong’s water is excellent as I swam my way from the shore to its deeper regions. It took me a while though as the seabed has a very gradual slope. I got pretty far, having no fear of being dragged by the current, the water being as calm as it was.

I was totally filled with regret the first time I went snorkeling under the azure waters of Coron, the fishes are everywhere but I have nothing to capture it with but my own fragile memory. This time, I came armed with an underwater camera. Coron’s underwater is simply marvelous, I didn’t even have to make an effort to capture its beauty! There are so many fishes here that they unwittingly block my angles. Swimming photobombers! :D

I don’t mind bringing along a bagful of snorkeling equipment just as long as I can glide along the surface to my heart’s content of whatever beach my sore feet takes me. I was expecting to find good snorkeling grounds in Villa Igang as per my previous experience in Raymen Beach not one year ago but I was a bit disappointed as I dove down and switched on my underwater camera. Everything’s not lost though; there were still some pretty interesting things down under every few feet or so; this was no coral garden, but it was a fair enough in-betweener before my next snorkeling trip.

The blue-green waters of the Minalahus cove enveloped my body as I jumped from our boat to access the island.

A few minutes ago, we were stuck waiting, a hundred meters from the shore, from our outrigger boat. The nearby cove was too shallow to navigate and we have to wait for the tide to rise back up. I was itching to start snorkeling; our boatman said that this was the place to do some underwater fun.

Not wanting to wait any longer, I opted to just swim all the way to the shore.

I was panting like a dog as I reached the peak of Matukad Island’s jagged karsts, I’m definitely not a mountaineer, let alone a rock climber. This relatively low climb at the northeast corner of the island was totally dangerous. As I rested my unwieldy legs, I was thinking to myself how I got myself into this situation.

We started off from the town of Caramoan earlier on six-seater tricycles then transferred to a middle-sized outrigger boat at the mangrove-speckled port of Bikal. It was already pretty late and the sun was already high up. We circled the coasts of Bikal and Paniman, and after more than an hour of being splashed with saltwater, our boat docked at the wavy shore of Matukad Island.

Matukad, according to our guide means mataas, and I can definitely see why. The island is dotted with sharp rocky outcrops.

Finally, after making the compulsory rounds at Banton’s Tabunan Beach, I laid my cameras down and put on my snorkel. Time to hit the water! The descent from the shore was modestly gradual. From the sandy beach, the bottom turned stony before finally exploding into colorful corals.

Banton’s Fish Sanctuary, a project by a certain Manong Ish, has been in operation since 2007. Four years, I suppose, is not enough time for a full recovery from Romblon’s heavy fishing of the previous years.

The hike from Poblacion to Togong definitely took its toll on us. So, after a hearty lunch and a restful afternoon siesta, we took to the beach. The said beach, being just a stone’s throw away from D’s house and was practically part of their backyard.

From a distance, Malabiga looks like a typical beach; white sand and azure blue waters surrounded by lush coconut trees. But upon closer inspection, things were not as they seemed. The fine sand from afar, upon closer inspection, were hardy pebbles and broken corals.

It was hard walking with slippers on, as the ground shifts with your every step and the pesky pebbles gets into your sandals, but it was harder to walk barefoot as the rocks, which were really grounded corals, were sharp to bare skin.

It was almost four in the afternoon as we alighted from our outrigger boat into the creamy sands of Bulog Dos Island. As the cliché goes, time definitely flies by when you’re having so much fun. 
 
This was the smallest of the three islands we visited that day, but I liked it the most among the three. Being 1/8th the size of Banana Island, it can be explored in less than thirty minutes.

Our second destination for the day was just a few minutes sailing from Malcapuya, the Dicalabuan Island or more popularly known as Banana Island.

I asked our boatman why it was named as such as I really wasn’t able to see any Banana trees during our stay there; he said that it’s because the island’s looks like a submerged banana. Hmm.. Doesn’t every island do? It’s a stretch, but okay (I tried checking Google Maps if maybe the island looks like a banana from the air, well no banana there too).

It was another fun in the sun day in Coron, this time we’re off to the farther islands of the Calamian Group. First stop was the very popular Malcapuya Island.
 
Roughly 18 hectares large, this island is dubbed as the Boracay of Palawan; fine white sandy beach, crystal clear waters, lush greens and wooden huts for the occasional visitors. The island was originally owned by the Tagbanuas and was purchased by Mr. Eddie Reyes for only Php4,000.00 during the 80’s, what a bargain huh.

Next stop on our island hopping tour was the dive to the Sunken Japanese wreck which I don’t have a photo of since I don’t have an underwater camera (advice to those planning to go to Coron, you gotta have an underwater camera with you, even if just the cheap disposable ones). So I’ll be moving ahead to the Twin Lagoon which was our almost last stop for the day.
  
Again, I was expecting a cove where we might get to relax a bit but it turned out that not unlike Siete Picados there ain’t no sandy beach to land on here too.