I managed to book a very last minute 2 night and 3 day expedition which started in Coron and ended in El Nido. I annoyingly had already booked my accommodation in El Nido and ferry from Coron to El Nido which was all non-refundable/ I couldn’t cancel but totally worth loosing £50 on for a once in a lifetime overnight island hopping expedition!
A guy I met in my hostel in Coron said it was the best thing he’s ever done and he’d been travelling for the past nearly 3 years, so obviously it was a no brainier to splash out and book it! There are many company’s which do the excursions but the main and most popular expedition company’s are called Tao and Buhay Isla and you can do 2 to 5 night expeditions. I was actually really lucky to have been able to book on to the Buhay Isla trip because most trips were fully booked and people had booked months in advance but luckily there was 1 space left on the right date just for me - perks of being a solo traveller I guess!
There was 12 travellers on the boat and 8 crew members including the drivers, chefs, guides and mechanics. After quick introductions and a brief itinerary of the next 3 days we set of to our first stop which was around 1 and a half hours away from Coron - Ditaytayan Island also known as the sand bar! This was also our destination for lunch and the lunch was amazing. Definitely the best food I’ve had so far in the Philippines!
We spent around an hour exploring the sand bar and enjoying the lush blue waters and sandy beaches - it was paradise!!!
Our next and final stop for the day was Araw beach. Unfortunately the weather got really bad and it actually started to rain when we were there but I still got in the water and went snorkelling!
We then set off to our first base camp where we were sleeping in tents right on our own private island!! We had another amazing dinner, followed by a camp fire as well as many rum and cokes!
The next day I got up to watch sunrise from the beach before breakfast. Not long after we said goodbye to the island monkey, cleared up camp and were back on the boat for day 2!
The first stop for the day was cliff jumping which was around 13 meters! We then went on to Cagdanao Island for snorkelling (I managed to find Nemo!) and our lunch stop! Another amazing buffet prepared by the incredible chefs!
In the afternoon we visited the local fishing village called Bulawit village. It was really nice to walk around the village and meet the local people who live there.
After Bulawit we went on to our base camp for night 2 which was this time sleeping in a little Hut instead of tents. We were luckier with the weather this evening so got to watch a beautiful sunset while swimming before dinner and of course more rum and coke!
We had a breakfast buffet on the beach and enjoyed the sunny morning before heading back on the boat for our final day.
The first stop was 3 hours away - Nacpan beach which is one of El Nido’s famous beaches. We swam to the shore from the boat and spend around an hour enjoying a beer on the beach after lunch. Our final stop of the tour was Cadlao beach where I managed to see 2 turtles swimming!
The tour ended in El Nido Port and we headed out again for some much needed rum and cokes!
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