On Christmas Day, we rented a motorbike and rode out to Nacpan Beach, which is about 25 km from El Nido. It’s the quintessential beach – white sand, clear blue water, powerful crashing waves, and coconut trees lining the shore.

jay did the driving

nacpan beach

nacpan beach

christmas on the beach

There were some kids on the beach that were going around singing Christmas Carols. They sang the same two songs we had been hearing carolers sing all week – Feliz Navidad and O Holy Night.

We stayed there all day until the sun began to set. We decided it would be best to make the trip back to El Nido while there was still daylight. Here are a couple of clips from the motorbike ride back to El Nido. The first clip is when we are just leaving the beach, the second is at the end of the ride when we are back in El Nido. The quality of the videos is not the best because it takes too long to upload the hi-res versions on wi-fi. The one of El Nido gives you a feel for what the town is like…clean and tidy would not be the words I would use to describe it.

On another day, we took a long walk from El Nido up the coast – just exploring the area by foot. The first part of the way we followed the dirt path/road through the palm trees, then we headed to headed to the water and walked along the rocky shore.

making a couple of friends along the way

the rocky shores of el nido

looking for crabs

once we spotted this first one, we saw many others

hmm…maybe we should have worn our trail runners instead of flip flops?

That night, we headed to Las Cabanas beach, which is about a 10 minute tuk tuk ride from town. It’s a beautiful beach and the perfect place to watch the sun set.

sunset on las cabanas beach

las cabanas beach

Relaxation is a big part of any beach vacation. And being in El Nido forces you to relax. It’s a laid back place. There is limited electrical power here, so the power is only on for certain hours of the day. We heard it’s supposed to be on from 2:00 in the afternoon until 6:00 in the morning, but our experience was that it was not always on during those hours. From what we gathered, there was less power during our stay because it was the busy holiday season. Regardless, the people here are used to getting by without power, and many of the restaurants have generators (as well as some of the hotels – but not the one we stayed at). Probably the toughest adjustment for us was very poor internet access. There are no telephone or cable lines in El Nido; internet is only available through crowded satellite and cellular networks. The times we were able to access the internet, it operated at snail pace. But at the end of the day, all of this just further forces you to unplug and unwind…which in the end, is one of the main reason we came here anyway.

kick off your shoes & relax…many places ask you to remove your shoes before entering

For our last beach day, we decided to go back to Las Cabanas Beach. We walked the first part of the way, stopping at the bus station/market for food and drink for the day.

at the bus station…it was typical to see buses overloaded beyond capacity

I asked if I could take a picture and several of them posed for the camera

at the market, we had the option to buy a pig head…we purchased fruit instead

From the market, we took a tuk tuk the rest of the way to the beach. Our tuk tuk driver had a pimped out ride; it was brightly colored with a loud stereo system and customized horn sounds.

tuk tuk

from the road, it’s a short walk down a dirt path to reach the beach

las cabanas beach

the signature tree everyone has to walk around as it spans from the beach to the water

pig transport

As we relaxed on Las Cabanas Beach, after nearly a full week of “beach vacation”, we realized we were recharged and ready to move on to our next destination…Luzon.

we did a lot of reading on the beaches of el nido

R & R time

our last day on the beach