Island tour of El Nido Tour C

El Nido tour C includes destinations that is far from the town and where boats pass through the open sea. That’s the reason why the tour’s availability depends on the the approval of coast. They are very strict to implementing their rules, which is great to secure safety of all visitors. If available, this is also the tour mostly recommended to be taken.

We were blessed with a good weather today. A sunny sky and calm sea. We decided to rent an underwater camera that costs Php 500.00 for a whole day. The destination highlights for Island Tour A are helicopter island, star beach, secret beach and matinloc shrine.

Helicopter Island

Our first island tour destination for today’s tour is the Helicopter island. The name was derived from the islands’ limestone cliffs resembling that of a helicopter when viewed from a distance. We spent most of our time snorkeling on its clear water but haven’t seen that much. There are less fish and corals are mostly dead which could be cause by the boats docking near the site. 

A view of the island from our approaching boat, the corals and the fish at the snorkeling site.

Star beach       

Our lunch area for this tour is in Star beach. An inhabited island located at Tapiutan Strait in El Nido. In its snorkeling site, you can see a few anemone with clownfish and fish of fist size freely swimming around not minding our interference at all. Also the beautiful surroundings of the island is great for taking pictures. It was a good island to enjoy our appetizing and very-well presented lunch that I missed to take a picture. 

An amazing view from the star beach, the fish having their selfies taken and the fine shore.

Secret beach

I was a little disappointed that we weren’t able to get inside the Secret beach because it is high tide. But it was understandable that guides should implement a strict ‘rule’ for their guests safety. We were only allowed to take a picture from afar of the very small hole which is the beach’s entrance peeking from the waves.

Secret beach, which is a pocket of white sand beach at the corner of a sinkhole, is inaccessible by boat and surrounded by steep rock walls. It can only be entered during low tide by swimming underwater to get to the beach.

Rock formations outside the secret beach and the peeking small hole as the entrance.

Matinloc Shrine

Matinloc shrine is our next stop and I am very excited for this destination. I saw a lot of beautiful pictures taken here. This was a private island before but was abandoned by the owner and is now open to tourist.

The entrance to the shrine is captivating with the enclosing limestone formations and luminous water. Inside the shrine, there are few sculptures. We hiked to a rock formation at the side of the island and certainly the view from there is unarguably stunning. It was a picturesque scenery that features nature at its best. This is one of the destination worth seeing when taking the El Nido Tour C island tour.

The picturesque view from matinloc shrine, the boat’s docking area and the small sculpture site inside the island

Cadlao Lagoon

Our next destinatio is the Cadloa lagoon. A part of tour D but was chosen by our guides to be a replacement of the Secret beach we missed today. It is confined within the huge rock formations and jade-colored calm water. We had a pleasant and refreshing swim the whole time.

Cadlao lagoon’s astonishing jade-colored water and surrounding rock formations

Natnat Beach

This last destination is also not part of the tour but a bonus destination. Natnat beach is a small island where we snorkel in just a few distant from the boat’s docking area. By that time there are a lot of sea weeds floating around so the water looks dimmed.

Overall, this tour is a great experience for us even if we missed one destination. An evidence of how beautiful Palawan is has been showcased in this tour. We will definitely go back to El Nido.

If you preferred more underwater activities, check out our Ultimate travel guide to Coron. Let’s keep on wandering around and never stop learning and discovering.

We would like to hear from you too

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