After my adventures in Vietnam I headed to the Philippines for relaxing beach time. My first stop in the Philippines was on Palawan Island where I visited El Nido and Port Barton. The majority of my time was spent enjoying paradise and relaxing on different beaches.
After a busy and adventurous few weeks in Vietnam, I headed to the Philippines for some sunshine and beach time. I had an early morning flight from Hanoi and after finding out I had to have an onward ticket booked, and finding a flight out of the Philippines quickly, I was finally able to check in for my flight and get through security. Once I got through security I saw out the windows that it was crazy foggy; I couldn’t even see many tarmacs. Luckily, since I was on the second flight out of the day, our takeoff wasn’t too delayed and I was able to make it to Manila on time. Once in Manila I had a long layover before my second flight to Puerto Princesa where, upon arrival, I headed straight to my hostel, since it was too late to get a bus to my final destination of El Nido. The next morning I headed out in search of a SIM card for my phone and then I had a bus booked through my hostel that took me to El Nido. By the time I arrived at my hostel it was late afternoon so I checked in and then walked around the area where I was staying. On my first full day in El Nido I had a nice and relaxing day spent on the beach. The beach was beautiful and I was able to find a quiet stretch of beach away from most of the crowds. From where I set up I was able to see crystal clear blue waters and other islands in the distance. It was an amazing and relaxing day. Where I was laying I also had a direct view of the sunset so I stayed there and watched the sunset, which was beautiful and a great way to end my beach day. After sunset, I slowly made my way back to my hostel and then headed out for dinner before calling it a day. The next day was a repeat of my first, however I decided to go to a different beach instead. While the beach wasn’t as nice as the beach I was at the day before, I still really enjoyed being able to sit in the sand and listen to the water. I really enjoyed my day. On my final day in El Nido I was originally planning on doing a day tour to some of the surrounding islands, however I unfortunately had a really bad night and so I spent the day at my hostel resting. While it wasn’t exciting, it was what I needed and I was able to use some of that time to plan my next location.
My second stop in the Philippines was to Port Barton, a smaller town on the water. Before arriving on the island I had never heard of the town so I went in with no expectations or knowledge of the place and I ended up really loving it. After taking a bus from El Nido to Port Barton, I arrived at the small town and walked to my hostel. Since it’s a pretty small town it’s all very walkable. Once at my hostel I checked in and spent the last half of the afternoon at my hostel hanging out with people I met there. One thing I learned on Palawan Island is that there is very limited, and poor quality, data connections and Wi-Fi at hostels is very limited. The Wi-Fi at my Port Barton hostel wasn’t working most of my time there and I didn’t have working data. This ended up being a blessing in disguise as it was a forced break from the internet and it allowed me to truly connect with where I was. On my first full day in Port Barton, I decided to have a slow relaxed morning so I went for a late breakfast on the beach. Luckily the restaurant I went to had Wi-Fi so I was able to message my mom to tell her I wasn’t dead, since she jumps to conclusions very fast and I hadn’t messaged in over a day. I was then able to enjoy my breakfast with a view of the water. After breakfast I headed back to my hostel to hang out for a while and talk with other travelers. Shortly thereafter another traveler, Sinead, checked in. She came and joined the conversation and after a bit she said she was headed to a beach just outside of town that has pigs on it. I joined her and we headed out to find the beach. Since the beach was outside of town we were told to just follow the water. After walking along the beach for some distance the beach ended and the terrain became more like a jungle. In most areas a path had been created from where others had walked but at other points there wasn’t much of a path. For the most part we weren’t able to follow a very clear path but it was a beautiful walk and we eventually made it to the beach. This beach was lined with a bunch of coconut trees and was super beautiful. Sinead and I were able to find the pigs and after getting a bunch of photos, we found a place to set up towels.
While at the pig beach, Sinead ended up seeing someone she had met at a previous stop in the Philippines and she ended up joining us. Not long later another girl, Esme, who recognized Sinead, passed by while headed to see the pigs and soon after she joined us as well. It was really fun meeting new people and everyone was so nice. After spending time at the beach, we all headed back to town and got dinner. It was a really nice day. The next day Sinead, Esme, and I went on a snorkeling boat tour. On the tour we made multiple stops at different snorkeling areas and I was able to see a bunch of different types of corals and colorful fish. After snorkeling at two different locations, we were taken to a tiny island where we were able to relax while the boat crew made us a delicious, fresh, grilled lunch. Once we finished lunch and cleaned up we headed to our next stop which was another island with snorkeling right off the beach. At this stop we were able to see a sea turtle. It was really cool to swim with the sea turtle! We then headed to the last stop of the day which was supposed to be a sandbar. When we got to the sandbar it took all of us a minute to realize that we had arrived. The sandbar was not what any of us were expecting. It was so tiny that we all had a good laugh and then we got off to “explore.” While walking around the shallower waters I was able to see a lone starfish which was cool. A few minutes after arriving another boat arrived so we all got back on the boat and headed back to Port Barton. Once back in Port Barton, Sinead, Esme and I went back to our accommodations where we each showered and changed after a day spent in the water. We met up again later that evening and hung out for the evening. The next day was my last day in Port Barton and it was a relaxed day. Sinead and I went out for breakfast before she had to get a bus back to Puerto Princesa. After breakfast I headed back to the hostel and got ready for another beach day. It was another very nice and relaxing last day spent at an other beautiful beach. The next morning I took a bus back to Puerto Princesa. Once in Puerto Princesa I had two admin days to catch up on planning and writing. The two days went by super fast and before I knew it, it was time for me to leave the island of Palawan.
Most of my time on Palawan Island was spent on the beach and it was great. I was pleasantly surprised by Port Barton. I really enjoyed my time there as well as the people I met. One thing that I really enjoyed about the town was that it wasn’t overly touristy and busy like El Nido was. It was a small town with mostly dirt or gravel roads with locals who were super friendly. My time on the large island went by pretty fast and I was excited to have seen a new island in the Philippines.
“May you never be too busy to stop and breathe under a palm tree.”
- Unknown
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