Flower Island and Sabang

Flower Island Resort was our home for the next three nights. This private island oasis resort is nestled in the waters of Palawan. We received a friendly welcome from the staff and were adorned with a seashell necklace and provided a refreshing calamansi welcome drink. The resort only has 20 bungalow villas making it a private and secluded affair for their guests. We stayed in a beach view villa adorned with Balinese-inspired touches, a large veranda with a hammock and an open-air private bathroom. The island resort is an ideal location to relax, recharge and connect with nature. There are plenty of water activities to partake in such as snorkelling, kayaking, diving, and SUPing. There is limited connectivity with wifi only available by the bar and the restaurant. The intent of staying here is to shut off and enjoy the surroundings and the activities it has to offer. During our stay the resort was at half occupancy with the majority of guests (18) from a German family. We met a lovely Swiss couple, the husband was a diver a spoke highly of his diving experience that he convinced Z to sign up for a dive. On our last evening we met a family from Tunisia whom Z could speak French and Arabic with. The resort offers a buffet breakfast, lunch, and dinner and all guests dine at the same predetermined times. The beach bar did have al la carte options and we opted to eat there for lunch instead of three buffet meals a day. All the meals were incredibly delicious, so full of flavours, and mostly Filipino inspired cuisine; we learned the chef has been working at the resort for 20 years. The staff on the island double in many different roles and all live on the island, with their accommodations somewhat hidden away behind the restaurant. 

The whole island takes about 30 minutes to walk around and you can take a path up to the lighthouse where you can see 360 degree panoramic views of the island and the surrounding other islands. Just slightly off the island is another small island, accessible during low tide only with a covered seating area that was great for reading in peace. 

Jack, the owner of Flower Island Resort is  present on the island and interacts with the guests during meals and other times. He greeted us our first night there and reminisced about time he spent working in our home town long ago when he learned where we were from. Jack also owns and operates a bunch of pearl farms around the island which we had no idea was such a big thing in Palawan. A resident friendly chocolate lab dog that roams around the island and comes to visit guests often during meals and on our second to last day we noticed the island  is also home to a peacock who seemed to really have taken a liking to our neighbour’s villa and was found hanging around on their roof and front deck. 

The reason we added this stop in our itinerary was because the island is surrounded by a reef and so snorkelling is supposed to be really good. Unfortunately about a month and half before we were there the island was hit by two back to back pretty bad typhoons which significantly damaged the coral reef. We still managed to see quite a large amount of different fish including a stingray. A bit further out to where the reef ends and drops into open ocean, we were able to see a bit of coral life.  The resort offers many different tours and we ended up taking the coral island snorkelling tour which is basically the only area that wasn’t severely damaged by the recent typhoons because it is further out in the West Philippine Sea. We found the resort does a great job with their tours and given they were only at half capacity availability was abundant and it was only Z and I on this tour. We had the boat to ourselves and had the dive master Che act as our snorkel guide and had another dive master with us trailing as a safety. The coral at the spot was vibrant and alive. We saw countless clams, mostly turquoise or purple in colour, and an abundance of different variety of fish. The tour lasted about an hour in the water, probably the longest single snorkelling stretch I’ve done without getting out of the water. This tour was certainly a highlight. Z went diving one afternoon with dive master Che to ‘The Middle of Nowhere’. He was the only one on the tour and had both the dive master and a safety diver all to himself. He came back from that tour very satisfied having seen all sorts of fish, coral, stingray and blue spotted rays. 

This stay lived up to the experience of relaxing and recharging, and after three nights it was time to move on for New Year’s Eve. The hotel helped arrange a more direct transfer route to our next location Puerto Princesea than we had originally booked. Instead of a seven hour drive after a 40 minute boat ride, the hotel suggested we take an hour boat ride to TayTay Pier and then take a four hour drive to our hotel. This suited Z much better given his tendency to get car sick if he’s not the driver. While it often felt to me like our booking requests wouldn’t actually get arranged, like clock work on departure day, the cleaning staff were waiting outside our room right at our departure time, another staff was there to bring our luggage to our boat transfer and our boat was waiting for us while we settled our bill. And after a few corrections to our bill we were on the boat ready to leave when one of the staff came running up the pier with my glasses in hand. I had forgotten them in the room and had they not noticed in time, that would have been disastrous for me. As we left the pier we had a lovely dancing send off from the staff on shore. This resort really is great at its hospitality and guest experience. 

We arrived at TayTay Poet just over an hour after departing Flower Island and our van transport was already waiting at the dock. Our driver was really good, cautious when needed but also speedy. We had a couple stops along the way for bathroom breaks and for lunch. All in all the journey with stops was about four and a half hours. 

Our next stop was in Sabang staying at the Four Points Sheraton. We arrived around 3pm and our upgraded room was ready. We stayed in a well appointed, modern junior suite with a garden/pool view. The room was very spacious with a large rain shower and separate soaker tub in the bathroom, a king sized bed and a couch and chair with table in the seating area along with a coffee/tea station and plenty of space to unpack our stuff. It was New Year’s Eve when we arrived and our stay included going to the Gatsby themed New Years celebration that evening. We had ordered some stuff to help dress up for the part but unfortunately it arrived a couple days after we left on our trip so our back up garb was going to have to suffice; which it more than did. A lot of guests didn’t dress up at all. We even ended up buying Z a hat in El Nido to compliment his outfit. The evening included a buffet dinner with a carving station that included roast beef, fish, a whole roasted pig - head included, chicken and turkey. By far the pork and chicken were the best of the meats. There was a cook to order seafood station, pasta station, veggies, salads, and so much more food than you could imagine.  The desserts were unreal and they had shaped the cakes into 2026. During dinner there was live music and as the party continued through to midnight, a DJ took over to get guests dancing. We ended up winning a 30 minute  spa massage as a door prize. And as the clock struck midnight we rang in 2026 along with all the other fellow travellers from all over the world. 

Aside from being here for the New Years celebration, we spent a good amount of time just relaxing. The resort is located right on the pristine Sabang beach with its fine white sand and crystal clear water. It is surrounded by lush tropical forests and towering limestone cliffs. It’s a good beach for swimming with varying waves and no real undertow. 

Just a short boat ride from Sabang beach is the Underground River, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the new Seven Wonders of Nature. The underground river is truly an impressive experience. The river is 8.2kms flowing through a complex limestone cave system directly into the sea. The guided tour takes you along the first 2km of the river with an audio guide explaining different aspects of the cave system, the biodiversity including numerous bat species and birds, the discovery of many different minerals, and the dramatic limestone formations of stalactites and stalagmites. The boat is steered by a local who wore a headlight so we could see within the darkness of the cave. At one point he turned it off for a few seconds and you are in complete and utter darkness. This tour was  worth doing and getting to experience something so unique and natural was really special.   

Philippines - El Nido

We spent Christmas into New Years in the Philippines. After a 14 hour  Christmas Eve red eye flight we landed in Manila early on Christmas Day morning. We both mostly slept on the flight having had quite a bit going on in December and a fairly long day leading into departure time. With such an early arrival, when we got to the immigration area, the officers were just getting on shift. No other flights had landed so there was no queue and it was a breeze getting through. First stamp in my new passport which I had to get in time for this trip. We had a connecting flight to El Nido a couple hours later and found the terminal transfer bus with a little help from a couple locals. Our flight to El Nido was a short hour and a half on a small propeller plane operated by Cebu Airlines. The El Nido airport is tiny and appears to only accommodate one flight at a time with only one arrival and departure gate. Our luggage was rolled into the arrival area, no conveyor belt. To get to our resort, we took a tricycle… a motorcycle with a covered sidecar attached. The tricycle was weighed down by not only us but our luggage as well and on some of the uphills I wondered if we would make it. 

El Nido is a developing city with some infrastructure but with many sign of neglect and poverty. The main road from the airport to the town centre was in relatively good condition though still made for a bumpy ride. To get to our beach resort though, part of the route involved driving on the actual beach to reach another road that led to our resort and a few others. 

We stayed at Cadlao Beach Resort in a lovely rustic garden view bungalow. The resort had beautiful grounds and beach access, only the tide was always out during the day so making it not a swimmable beach. We did however take then opportunity to go for walks along the beach and explore the beachfront that way. One thing that really struck me as saddened me all the same was how much litter was just thrown everywhere and anywhere. It was quite disheartening and I kept saying the beach was in dire need of a shore clean up but Z commented that it likely wouldn’t make a difference and just end up in the same conditions again. So sad for a very beautiful beach that has such potential. 

The staff at the resort were gracious and super friendly. On site there were three separate pools, a spa, and an open air restaurant. We enjoyed some extremely tasty Filipino cuisine here for breakfast, each morning trying something different including a sample of their baked items. We also enjoyed Christmas Day dinner here and their special holiday dinner menu. We may also have enjoyed a couple of their unique desserts as well which were delicious and full of flavour. 

El Nido town was about a 20 minute walk away and shorten by a hotel drop off to the edge of town where the road meets the beach. The town looks like you would expect from a developing country, lacking modern amenities and infrastructure but yet with all you needed. There were stray dogs roaming around the streets everywhere. We witnessed some road work being down with a worker using a jackhammer wearing flip flops; clearly different safety standards. There were restaurants and shops lined along the Main Street through town. Most had some sort of Christmas decor and music playing. It was quite a festive feel. Part of the main street was sand, sidewalks were in some spots, but not everywhere so most people walked along the street dodging the tricycles and other transport vans. Everyone we encountered was genuinely friendly. We stopped in at one restaurant for a drink and enjoyed the atmosphere so much we ended up having dinner there the following day after our day long boat tour. 

The reason for staying in El Nido was to do a tour of the surrounding pristine lagoons and beaches. There are quite a few tours to choose from and we settled on tour A which was more a scenic tour than full on activities. Tour A had five stops starting with  Big Lagoon which was incredibly breathtaking. Here we got to kayak into the lagoon and explore for about an hour. Heading into the lagoon was one of the many pristine beaches we’d get to see. The water was quite calm and easy to navigate and quickly turned to turquoise blue before becoming crystal clear. The bottom was sandy and in several spots into the lagoon was shallow enough you could get out of the kayak and be standing in the ocean bottom. The lagoon was surrounded by limestone volcanic rock formations that rose out from the ocean and each was uniquely shaped with peaks and crevices and some even with caves. These rock formations are all throughout the waters that surround Palawan. It is quite the site to see and nothing sort of spectacular. 

Our second stop was a short boat ride away for half hour of  snorkelling. I struggled here, guess my stamina wasn’t what it needs to be for back to back water activities and I just couldn’t calm my breath enough to feel comfortable but Z was like a fish and really had an enjoyable snorkel after bringing me back safely to the boat. 

Our third stop was lunch on a pristine and secluded beach. Well maybe secluded isn’t exactly the right word because all the other boat tours seem to stop at this spot but secluded in that no one lives on that little island. We got to enjoy a lovely Filipino buffet lunch which our tour guides brought on shore in coolers they had to carry through the water including floating a table to shore where they could place all the food.  We couldn’t dock close enough to just hope onto the beach so we all had to swim a bit as well to get to lunch. 

From here we then set off to stop number four which was a secret lagoon that required us to climb through a small opening in the volcanic limestone before immersing ourselves into the enclosed circular shaped lagoon surrounded by limestone reaching high into the sky. Some of the unit limestone shapes included a crocodile snout and a dinosaur’s teeth. 

Our last stop on this tour was to an incredibly pristine white sand beach for some beach time after a full day at our other stops. The water here was crystal clear and warm, great for some bobbing around and swimming. It was a great final stop to end our amazing tour before we head back. 

At first we didn’t think there was much around our hotel and that for different restaurant options we’d have to go into the main part of town. But we quickly discovered how wrong we were and we ended up finding two incredibly lovely restaurants a short walk from our hotel. For one lunch we went to a place called Alimos a small restaurant attached to a hotel where Z enjoyed yet another fish dish; he was in seafood and fish heaven on this trip with the fish being caught daily by fishermen we could see from the shore, while I enjoyed a tasty pork dish. Neither of us could complain about our preferred proteins.  We learned to owner of Alimos was actually the head chef at Cadlao until a couple years prior when she decided to focus on her own place. 

For our last supper in El Nido we tried a small family run restaurant called Cool Station, also a short walk from our hotel. Here we met a lovely German couple just finishing their meal. We learned they too were travelling around the area for a couple weeks. The restaurant house dog and cat were roaming around the tables and quickly befriended us when our food arrived. The dog was bold enough to stare at me with his puppy dog eyes and extend a handshake to me. We did resist the urge to feed either and instead enjoyed our vegetable curry, my chicken curry, and Z’s fish ourselves with an explosion of goodness in every bite. 

We really came to love Filipino cuisine. Every dish we had was just so flavourful, fresh,  and aromatic; not a single dish had a flavour we didn’t like. 

After three nights in El Nido it was time to transfer to our next destination, Flower Island. We made our transfer arrangements directly through the hotel and included an hour van ride to Sibaltan Pier for a 40 minute speedboat ride to the island. Tide was out when we arrived at the pier which meant we had to wade into the water about knee deep to climb into the boat. It also meant the staff had to do the same but also while carrying our suitcases so they wouldn’t get wet.