El Nido and Bacuit Bay

Limestone Towers Rising Straight Out Of A Bay Of Forty Odd Islands, With Lagoons Entered Through Cracks In The Rock And A Town Whose Waste Water Has Not Kept Up · El Nido, Palawan

BACUIT BAY IS FORTY-ODD ISLANDS OF BLACK LIMESTONE RISING SHEER OUT OF WATER SO CLEAR THE BOATS APPEAR TO FLOAT ON NOTHING, and the shapes are the reason El Nido is on every list: towers, blades and overhangs eroded into a coastline that looks invented. THE LAGOONS ARE THE SET PIECE. BIG LAGOON IS A FLOODED VALLEY YOU PADDLE INTO BETWEEN CLIFFS; SMALL LAGOON IS ENTERED THROUGH A GAP BARELY WIDE ENOUGH FOR A KAYAK; SECRET BEACH IS REACHED BY SWIMMING THROUGH A CRACK IN A ROCK WALL. Tours are sold as fixed packages - A, B, C and D - which exists to spread the load and largely does not. AND THE ROW WILL SAY THE OTHER PART: EL NIDO TOWN HAS GROWN FAR FASTER THAN ITS DRAINAGE AND WASTE WATER, the beachfront is crowded, and the bay carries more boats than anyone designed it for. Take the first boat out - the lagoons that are serene at eight carry dozens of craft by eleven - and get up to Nacpan, four kilometres of sand with a fraction of the people.

El Nido, Bacuit Bay, Palawan, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines

EL NIDO IS REACHED BY FLIGHTS INTO LIO AIRPORT from Manila and Cebu, or by FIVE TO SIX HOURS BY VAN FROM PUERTO PRINCESA - the van is cheap, long and winding. AN ENVIRONMENTAL FEE IS COMPULSORY, bought once and valid for several days; carry the receipt because it is checked. ISLAND TOURS ARE SOLD AS FIXED PACKAGES A, B, C AND D, each a set circuit, leaving mid-morning and returning late afternoon; BIG LAGOON AND SMALL LAGOON HAVE SEPARATE CAPPED ENTRY AND KAYAK REQUIREMENTS that change, so ask when booking. TOURS ARE CANCELLED IN ROUGH WEATHER and the bay closes when a typhoon signal is raised. THE WET SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY JUNE TO OCTOBER. Book tours the day before; the popular ones fill.

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