After recovering from the full moon party, it was time to hop on a boat for our first island hopping tour.
I admit being on a boat after only two hours sleep wasn't the most appealing idea however as soon as the fresh sea breeze hit me, I was feeling refreshed. We first stopped at a beautiful lagoon area to explore the area on a kayak.
I was quite impressed with Vicki and my kayaking skills - we were in sync rather well. After exploring the area for a bit, we decided to ditch the kayak and swim from the boat over to a little beach where the rest of the group were. It was a good opportunity for me to practice my open water swimming ahead of my triathlon in July.
After boarding the boat again, I enjoyed a refreshing coconut water. If only they could keep the coconuts in the fridge! I still remember the first time (in Brazil) realising that fresh coconuts are green and not the furry brown type.
Next we stopped at a beautiful beach to enjoy an amazing BBQ lunch. The food is so fresh. Fresh fish, octopus, lovely salad and of course freshly cooked rice. All washed down with a cool San Miguel light.
We did three island hopping tours in total (two in El Nido and one in Port Parton). All very similar but each one so enjoyable. The islands are all so beautiful. Idyllic locations in the middle of the sea. Unspoilt usually by people living on the island, some had a few hotels and others simply had nothing.
I loved being out on the boats. Watching each island zip past as we sailed along.
After leaving El Nido (and no more crazy parties!) we headed to Port Barton. This was our 'remote' island resort. When we first pulled up to the resort, I thought it must be a mistake. It looked far to posh for a tour group to stay at however we were here...
White Beach Annex was simply paradise. As we all got out of the vans, you could see the excitement on everyone's face - we had arrived in beach heaven.
The resort has only eight rooms, all allocated to our group. There was a small area for the restaurant, bar and reception all in one. Hammocks strung from the palm trees dotted across the resort, the white sandy beach stretch along for at least one km and the stunning pergola looked out over the crystal clear sea.
I spent the afternoon dozing in the hammock followed by joining some lovely Israeli ladies on the beach practicing yoga. I was very impressed with some of the guys joining in too (Marco had such good upper body strength!).
In the evening we took the boat over to the main resort area for dinner. We headed off for a drink before dinner. The six of us managed to get a table on the beach watching the sun set (and also watching James get taken out by a pack of dogs!). After our group dinner we took the boat back to the resort. Some people were lucky enough to see a swordfish.
For our last evening in paradise, we decided to have dinner at the resort instead of heading over to the main area again. It was nice knowing we were staying in the resort and everyone had the chance to go and do their own thing if they wanted to.
I spent the evening chatting, watching the bonfire and drinking beer. This is something I don't do at home. I'm always too busy to simply sit back and relax so for me it was the perfect evening. We decided about mid night to go for a swim, my second ever time swimming in the sea at night (this time without some creepy man keeping an eye on me - thanks dad!).
Although there were jelly fish in the sea, that didn't both us. Maybe it was the beer that was making us brave/stupid or we simply didn't care, either way it was so nice swimming and looking up at the moon and stars.
Thanks to one of the guys in the group, I did what every girl dreams about, I did the lift from Dirty Dancing (Twice!). Yes us girls are that simple. All we want is for a man to be able to lift us above his head and hold us there!
After our last night in paradise, it was time to board the van for the four hour drive to the airport to head back to Manila for our last night. The trip has been amazing so it was sad it was coming to an end however we still had time for one more crazy night...
