Arriving in El Nido

I arrived in Puerto Princesa, Philippines at around 17:30 after changing into another plane in Manila. I met two young travellers, Silvia from South Korea and Eduardo from Columbia while getting on small a van to El Nido. As it turns out the roads were not built all the way to El Nido yet so we had to prepare for a very bumpy and long trip. At 01:00am we finally arrived and managed to find a very shitty little room for the three of us. Smelly and the toilet didn't flush. Better then having to sleep outside in the torrential rains though.

The next morning we found a better place before breakfast. We thought it would be a good idea to go for a little Kayak trip on the sea, so we got a 2 men Kayak for the three of us. As we got further away from the shore the waves started getting bigger and the wind stronger. We decided to head back as it was just getting unbearable and very wobbly. I had luckily bought a waterproof case just before going out to store my camera and some of their electronics in. Just after turning around there was a beautiful stone formation above us which we wanted to remember. I handed Silvia her brand-new Samsung phone, she took a picture and the combination of her wet hands and a small wave hitting us right in that moment made the phone slip. We saw how it slowly swayed from left to right as the phone travelled down to the ocean floor.

What a shock, however after a small outburst of hysteria we realised there was nothing we could do. The wind was getting stronger and it was starting to rain heavily now so we were paddling like mad to get to the shore as fast as possible. We didn't even get close. After travelling about 50m from where the phone was lost another nasty combination of weather, uncontrolled paddling and 3 people sitting on a tiny kayak occurred and flipped the Kayak over. As our heads popped out of the warm and salty water Silvia and Eduardo realised that they had carried a little plastic bag with them. The contents of which not only included some cigarettes but also all the money in Philippine Peso (ca. 200$) that they had brought from Puerto Princesa. (El Nido itself does not have ATM machines)

Surprisingly they both took it extraordinarily well, after the first shock of losing the money they were able to relax. Eduardo in fact didn't complain about the money being lost but instead was bitter to have lost the new green wallet that contained the money. Without the will to paddle back to the shore we headed for the nearest yacht and our wet and thirsty bodies were welcomed by the owner. He supplied us with beers and some water until the rain calmed down and we were back in our 'normal' state. The process of calming down continued in the evening when we went to Pukka Bar, a reggae bar, to relax.