El Nido | Kayaking In The Small Lagoon

EL NIDO | Kayaking In The Small Lagoon

Intriguingly Out Of Place And Unfamiliar

Photo above is the big karst rock island that you'll have to circle when approaching the small lagoon.

Pardon me as I am yet again posting another blog about El Nido. Just the name of the location is already intriguing and invokes images of a tropical paradise that is at home to us. I can't help it, El Nido in Palawan was the most memorable trip I got last year and it happened again this year, different approach to traveling, different blogging perspective but the same beautiful place. I even took the same tour, but that is more because I want to experience Kayaking again in its azure waters. I've done Kayaking from many other places, yet mostly it is either limited or its just a little exercise from a pool. Maybe next time, I'd finally post about my itineraries. After all, I travel cheap by backpacking these days, and my adventures just doesn't seem to end in experiencing these beautiful destinations the cheapest way for a working class like myself.

Amongst the four Island hopping tours of El Nido from Tour A to E, which allows visitors to take a leap into the Bacuit Archipelago. Taking a glimpse of the Breathtaking Lagoons (take note: I typed it starting in Caps). I can never exaggerate what is in there for the taking. Like the equally stunning tours in the Island of Coron, El Nido also has the offering of Kayaking via Tour A

Kayaking in some of the island locations and lagoons allows the guest to explore and photograph the nooks and crannies, hidden estuaries that needed to be discovered. More so, Kayaking is very much friendly to the environment, moving with stealth above silent blue waters, and allows me to get a closer inspection of the sharp looking karst rocks and stagnant pools. My inspiration had always been about photography and the challenges that it poses, seeking the light perhaps or just trying to see a world in whatever grain possible.

The reason why Kayaking is recommended but not necessary in Small Lagoon is because boats can't get in there. Of course the guest are ask to swim through the small entrance between sharp rocks. Its impossible for any boats to enter at all, and its also treacherous for Kayakers or swimmers on Spring High Tide, but where is the adventure when you listen to all the talk of caution. With my travel buddy, we rented the kayak for Php 800.00 for the entire day of island hopping.

Once you get past the tight entrance to the lagoon. It's like coming to a great threshold, from the tight opening, the lagoon opens up with high walled karst rock with overhanging canopy's of lush trees clinging through it, like a cathedral, only opened ceiling to the blue sky above, and the floors are varied hues green and blues. You can see from below, or you can't, it doesn't matter, you're in the small lagoon now. I wished it will be renamed aptly rather than saying its a lagoon, generic and without character, so different than what it is from its simpleton name.

The price tag for the Kayak felt hefty when I inquired about it, cringing about the dent it would make on my backpacking budget. But there are things that you just had to have, and at the end of the day. It wouldn't matter, you got it, and I'll look back at the Small Lagoon without regret.

Inside the Lagoon, it is tranquil, and birds can be heard nesting on the canopy's. Its what I like most about EL Nido's Islands, it is never pretentious, never borrowed and it's unassuming. I look at these locations, and I feel to myself, I've got the gift of a lifetime in here. The tranquility, even with most of the people swimming, struggling with floaters, keeping afar with the depth, the width, they're inspiring even when they look oddly out of place and unfamiliar.

Francis Balgos is a Call Center Agent, Weekend Travel Warrior, Amateur Spelunker, Sometime Surfer, Newbie Mountain Climber, Photography Enthusiast, Certified Beach Bum, A first born son, Faithful lover, True Explorer...

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