EL NIDO | Hidden Secrets of the Islands

This is the third and last chapter of my blog for El Nido, Palawan. As I've mentioned in my previous entry the main activity you can do while in El Nido is island hopping. This time our tour brought us to the striking  spots where unique mysterious caves, limestone formations, landscapes and sand bars can be found. These are the Snake Island, Pinagbuyutan Island (my personal favorite island), Cudugnon Cave and Pangalusian Island.

The Malapacau Island. Looking at this island reminds me of the film Avatar...

We had a 'reverse itinerary' for this tour because Snake Island was suppose to be visited in the morning but I requested the boatmen to take us there in the afternoon when its low tide so that the sand bar is more visible. With that sudden change, our first stop became the Pinagbuyutan Island which is just right in front of Dolarog Resort. Here we spent our time snorkeling and this is where I first attempted to swim more than 10 feet under and hold my breath for a very long time.  I have never tried it before and it was really awesome! The deeper I dove the livelier the corals were. Priceless!

Pinagbuyutan Island - most interesting shape with pure limestone walls and fine white sand

A small house by the shore of Pinagbuyutan

Bent Tree

Who like pearls? :)

Kim with her STARFISH

The Biggest Starfish I've seen in my entire life!

We nearly spent 2 hours in Pinagbuyutan Island playing with the fishes and then we headed to our next stop. But before we continued our tour we dropped by at Cathedral Cave. This is short distance from Lagen Island Resort. Boats are not allowed to enter the cave due to its narrow entrance so there's nothing much to do but look from the outside.

It was exactly lunch time when we reached Cudugnon Cave but before we went spelunking, we settled first our lunch in the Nipa Huts of a small resort in the island itself. By the way the island has a good shore so if you want to take a swim you can do that plus there are many fishes in shallow water.

Cudugnon Cave is believed to be a mysterious and intriguing cave in El Nido, Palawan because of  the prehistoric bones and artifacts that were found inside it. Our tour guide James also shared his version of the story about this cave. He told us that 9 years ago a bunch of gold bars were found in this site. In fact, it should have been them who could have taken it. However, when they came back all the gold bars were already gone and the huge rock that was set as a killer trap was moved as well. Only skeletons were left for them and every piece of gold was  missing. Well, I am not sure if this is just a myth but somehow it appears to entertain me and it added value to my experience while inside the cave.

The big rock on the lower left corner of the photo is the rock is the killer trap I am referring to.

This is where the gold bars were found along with skeletons

Just a few minutes away from where we left, we reached this amazing sand bar called Snake Island or originally known as Vigan Island. I've seen sand bars before but this one really shapes like a snake. Yes, it was named as 'Snake Island' not because of the snakes present in the island but because of its perfect shape that also connects two hills on both ends. On aerial view you could visualize the hill as the head of the snake while the sand bar is the body. As mentioned, the perfect time to go here is during low tide to so that the sand bar is fully visual. There is also a viewing deck in the hill to allow tourists to have a better view of the island and appreciate its very unique shape.

Survivor Obstacles

Snake Island

A closer look of the Snake Island

It was getting late already and we had to discontinue the trip so instead of going to Pangalusian Island which by the way another usual beach in El Nido, we then decided to go back to our resort. Hence, I was planning for a surprise to Kim so I had to rush back and worked with the Dolarog Staff. ;)

Anyway, this ends my experience in El Nido, Palawan and I hope was able to promote this amazing paradise in a way that you guys will try it likewise consider it as one of your destinations in the future.

Until the next destination,

Teng