This was the other restaurant in the resort. They served a mean breakfast buffet and my favorite dish, crab fat (talangka) pasta. Y U M.
We were ready to visit the small and big lagoons plus go snorkeling on our 2nd day!
These shots are truly better on video- the water around here is the clearest I've ever seen and the reefs are just so alive and untouched!
Residents of the island! El Nido Resorts takes pride in preserving the natural habitat of the animals so they can still roam freely after the new architectural elements are built on the outer parts of their islands.
Another fave - spicy tuna!!!
A cassava and cake hybrid that we ordered 3 of during our stay.
Darie's meat pie
This will probably be my last food photo but that just proves how much we enjoyed their food during our stay! We spent about $700 on snacks, lunch and big dinners for 4 days. (breakfast comes free). We normally eat 5 meals a day so those big meals were pretty worth it. That's $175 a day which is the same amount Darie and I spend for a normal dinner out in New York so it wasn't bad at all for us.
The typical set-up after a day of activities
The resort also had canopy villas which involved a couple of steps. They're pretty good since you're rewarded with a breathtaking view of the water from your room! Slightly cheaper and bit more work to get to compared to the beach villa.
Snake Island and 2 caves for our 3rd day! All activities involved free boat rides to different areas surrounding the island.
A 5-minute hike for some views
My photos entering this cave weren't pretty.
Favorite sunscreen to date,
Suntegrity Natural Mineral Sunscreen for Body SPF 30 - an all-organic, vegan sunscreen that totally works! It's just thicker and leaves a white cast but I'd rather have that than spread bad chemicals on my body and leave them in the water for the fish to take in. Really, I recommend this stuff!
The messy room before we left. We obviously had an indulgent 1.5-hour massage the night before. Massages cost $30-$50. Not bad!
Back to Manila & reality.
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Dying to go back to Pangulasian Island after this trip! I literally cried before leaving our beach villa- I miss the fish I greeted each morning and afternoon while snorkeling and kayaking just a few meters outside our room! What I loved most about the resort is that they emphasized how they carried out sustainable practices to preserve and improve the island and its ecosystem. They keep track of the fish they serve and never overfish, they use safe ingredients for their toiletries and laundry, encourage visitors to pick up trash and store non-biodegradable waste in the free bags to take them home, etc. It was the perfect getaway and I highly recommend this place to everyone! I wanna take the family with us next time. They have bigger villas with 6 rooms and I'm excited to be back with the rest of the fam!
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