Just Call Us Kermit: Two Days of Island Hopping

Phillip and I spent the last two days island hopping. No, we didn’t literally  jump from island to island nor did we actually see frogs (except for the little one that the pension owner’s dog played with). We went on all-day boat tours of some of the island near El Nido – and it was a great time as you’ll see in these pictures. We used the same tour company both days, so the boat on the second day looked pretty much the same as this boat for our first day. Twelve passengers with a crew of three. The distance traveled by the boats on both days wasn’t far, all within the bay area so the water was quite smooth. Even when I saw swells today, the design of this boat minimized rocking and bouncing, so it was a pleasurable ride, not a white-knuckled one. The sunshade over the seats was certainly necessary as those clouds you see in this picture were not with us very long.
Yesterday, we took Tour A, which went to five islands near to El Nido. We snorkled at every opportunity and saw fascinating coral. Phillip used the GoPro camera for the first time and got some great video. Remember, coral is not a rock, it is a living organism. They moved with the water and came in such a variety of shapes and colors. These looked like a 6-foot wide mushroom. The next picture shows a variety of the shapes. Some remind me of pasta, others look spiney and some are more of a blob. The  next one was really waved around like a purple mop. It wasn’t bright purple, rather a muted shade. And within it, you may be able to see the clown fish hiding. Nemo! There you are! Our favorite, however, was this one. These fellows opened and closed. Phillip and I saw several clusters of these, in all different colors. One cluster was close enough to the surface that he could wave his hand above it and we watched them close up as they felt the water move. I know Phillip has video of these in action. They appeared to be almost like colored fissures in the rock as they opened.
Our boat dropped anchor almost up on a beach. While the crew fixed lunch – fresh grilled fish, beef kabobs, rice, cabbage salad, and fresh fruit – Phillip found a cave and climbed up to it. Only at the beach areas did we find white sand and white rock like the one Phillip is on. Most of the islands are of black volcanic rock, and most do not have beaches or have only small beaches. None of the islands we visited or saw today had beaches that went around the entire island. A final picture from our first day. At one point, the boat went into a lagoon, but the entrance was shallow, so the captain had the six people seated in the rear of the boat move to the very front to change the weight distribution. While we were there, Daniela took our picture.
Today, we went on Tour C, at the recommendation of the other passengers from yesterday. Tour C goes farther out from El Nido and had more fish to see during our snorkeling opportunities. At our first stop, we swan into the “Hidden Lake.” We actually had to snorkel into it as the rocks were just above the top of the water. Once on the other side of these rocks, the walls opened up. Basically, we went into the side of the island through a crack in the rock. A couple more pictures of the islands:



We saw a lot more fish today as we snorkled. One variety of fish kept swimming in front of me and looking at me. Phillip said that those fish actually came at his camera and hit it as he was videoing. I haven’t watched the videos yet (except for one from yesterday to make sure he was operating the camera coreectly), so I’m looking forward to that video in particular. I saw a lot of these little blue guys, but they’d usually swim out of the frame before I could get their picture, but they were bright blue. At all our snorkel locations today, there was a definite drop-off at some point out from the rock or beach. This is what it looked like from a snorkeler’s perspective. I never swam out above the drop-off because it looked like a cliff. Yes, I was wearing a life vest and would never have fallen in, but it was heart-stopping for me. This picture was taken looking down, not out. Actually, I can’t say for sure that our last location had a drop-off. I can tell you it had jellyfish. Phillip and I did not get stung, but I came out of the water as soon as one got about an arm’s length from me. They look like big blobs of floating mucous. With a multitude of mucous legs. I tried to take a picture, but, as you can imagine, I didn’t get close enough and it was like taking a picture of a ghost. One guy on the boat yesterday did tangle with some and ended up with red rash-looking stripes across his chest. The final picture for this posting is of us with Daniela, the international teacher we met in the Manila airport. We enjoyed her company on both tour days and learned quite a bit about Saudi Arabia, where she taught for a couple of years, and China, where she teaches now. She has traveled extensively and recommended several locations for us to visit for our adventures. Thank you, Daniela!