waking up in this corner of el nido is like waking up in a farm. you can throw away your phone if you’re using it as your alarm clock because the neighbors’ roosters will happily take over your gadget’s job whether you like it or not.

the roosters may or may not irritate the not-so-morning person out of you but hey, you’re in el nido! you don’t paralyze your butt sitting in a van for almost 7 hours to get there, only to sleep in and miss the early morning vibes — the calmness of the water; the slow ripple of the waves crashing gently into the shore; the cool, intermittent breezes that ruffle your hair as if teasing, “rise and shine, kid!”

and besides, call time for the island hopping tour is at 8:00. and what is el nido without island hopping, right? the best things in life you have to wake up really early for.

because they’re worth it.

there are four tour packages to choose from when island-hopping in el nido. they are ordered alphabetically, with the islands/beaches/caves/lagoons under them classified according to their locations.

tour A and B are composed of islands that are nearer to the bay, i think. whereas tour C and D are farther away and into the open sea so the waves are bigger and unfriendlier. however, i heard that they have some of the prettiest islands and beaches in the latter so… whatever rocks your boat! (the guides will not blindly take you there when they feel that the weather would not be kind, though. they will, instead, suggest islands under tour A or B which isn’t so bad at all! plus, you get to enjoy the islands alive, which, for me, is the most important thing of all.)

the big lagoon was our first stop of the day. i’ve been there a year before. it hasn’t changed much. it’s my sister’s favorite, if you want to know. every time we were there, she told me she wanted to jump into the water. both times she never did.

as for me, i was just there enjoying the view as i still harbored the silent fear of drowning. i guess i haven’t changed much, either.

everything i need to say about the big lagoon i’ve already said before in a post i wrote a year ago. so for this post, as well as the succeeding tour A-related posts, i’ll let the photos (and the previous posts) do much of the talking.