Stopover at Nagcarlan

Located at the foot of Mt. San Cristobal and Mt. Banahaw, Nagcarlan has a relatively cool climate and is surrounded by lush greenery. It is a large municipality in terms of land area (78 square kilometers) but it is not heavily populated; there are less than 60,000 residents according to a 2010 census. We’ve been...

Painting the Sky at Corong Corong and Marimegmeg Beach

We didn’t think much about sunsets while preparing for our recent visit to El Nido. Anyway, there was already much to see here during the daylight hours. We were planning on just spending restful evenings at our resort after each day spent touring the islands at the Bacuit archipelago and other spots in El Nido....

Nacpan and Calitang: El Nido’s Twin Beaches

Ever since we returned to the Philippines eight years ago, our preference has gravitated towards off-the-beaten-track, relatively undeveloped travel destinations. Not only are those places devoid of the usual huge tourist crowds, they also tended to be much more pristine. (It’s one reason why we never even considered revisiting Boracay.) Our recent trip to El...

Shimizu Island Stopover

After our morning adventures at the Small Lagoon and Secret Lagoon in beautiful Miniloc Island, it was almost lunch time. Our boat hoisted anchor and headed for Shimizu Island, an islet with towering limestone rock walls and a gorgeous white sand beach that would soon double as our lunch picnic spot. Of all the islands...