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El Nido Private Island Hopping Boat Tour Epic Guide

 

El Nido Private Island Hopping Boat Tour Epic Guide

I recently spent a wild 10 days in El Nido, Palawan with my 2 kids and wife. We attempted to see and do everything this beautiful place had to offer in the time we were there and we were able to accomplish more than we could have imagined.

El Nido is a fishing village that is rapidly turning into a tourist mecca on the island of Palawan, Philippines. It is surrounded by hundreds of small islands to explore and this is the main attraction when you visit El Nido, the island hopping tours.

Right now the media is blowing this place up, with stunning photo’s of crystal clear blue waters, white sand beaches and spectacular limestone cliffs. We love Thailand and by the vlogs and pictures we saw online about El Nido, it looks even better. I had to go, and i’m glad I did. This place is picture perfect in many regards, although they are still working out the kinks of being bombarded by tourism rapidly. You can read more about the kinks in my other articles that I posted below including one that is about what I hate in El Nido.

Enough about that… One of the things we thought was absolutely unreal here was taking a private boat on an island hopping tour. I am going to tell you why and all of the little secrets we did to get an amazing price on the ultimate El Nido adventure.

El Nido Private Island Hopping tours, Philippines Travel Blog

El Nido Private Island Hopping tours, Philippines Travel Blog

How to get the best deal on a private boat in El Nido?

I am a frugal traveller,  not a backpacker but I do like to get a great deal. That is a part of the allure for an outsider to travel to the Philippines, it is cheap to do anything.

To find the best deal on a private tour you need to shop around El Nido town and price out the individual tour shops. When you get there, you need to be very specific about what you want so that you know that you are comparing apples to apples when they give you a price.

The tour that you want to go on is the island hopping Tour A, this is by far the best tour in El Nido and if you go with a group it will be jam packed.

Tell them specifically what you want, a private boat, served a good lunch including drinks and all of the island you want to go to that are on tour A. You can read our article about the tours and islands they go to below.

I ended up getting the best deal after talking to a tricycle driver. I got the full day tour for $8000 pesos including entry fees to the islands. They did charge a $100 pesos per person for harbour fees over and above the cost of the trip.

Private boat tour in EL Nido, Palawan

Private boat tour in EL Nido, Palawan

El Nido Scams to watch out for when you are booking your island hopping tour.

I hate getting burnt, and I did. That is why I am putting this section out there so that you don’t. Please read this carefully.

CHILDREN DO NOT PAY ENTRY FEES TO ISLANDS OR HARBOUR FEES below the age of 5. If they try to charge you for this, don’t deal with them. They are being dishonest and you can expect the rest of your trip to be dishonest.

Further to this, we had one guy that was coming with us that bailed out last minute and they told us that they had already paid for his entry onto the islands (between 50-100pesos per island and his harbour fees) This is also a lie, they do this when they get to the individual islands, so you should not be paying for this.

Private boat tour El Nido, Philippines

Private boat tour El Nido, Philippines

10 Things I loved about having a private boat

1. We were not rushed

Everything we did was on our time, if we did not care about one location we would leave and that gave us more time at other spots

2. We beat the crowd

If you look at any of our pictures, we were the first people in each location. This was amazing and it allowed us to get great shots and feel like we discovered a new amazing place.

3. The boat was all ours

I was not worried about anything going missing and we had tons of space to lounge out for the day.

7 Commandos Beach, El Nido Philippines

7 Commandos Beach, El Nido Philippines

4. Better food

The meal they served was fit for a king, it included crab, squid, mussels, fish, pork, chicken, salad, vegetables and more. All served on the beach. We couldn’t believe it.

5. Our own photographers

There were 3 guys on the boat with us and they would take pictures of us whenever we wanted. When we were snorkelling there was even a guy in the water filming us.

6. It is inexpensive

My total cost was $8000 pesos split between 5 people. So $1600 pesos for a trip I will remember for the rest of my life.

7. No Korean tourists

This is a funny one and I am not being mean here. The Korean tourists are in large groups together and it can be frustrating being around them because of awareness. For example, on one trip I was snorkelling and a Korean tourist rode a kayak right into my head, another time a lady opened her umbrella in my 2 yr old face. Of course I lost my cool. I would rather avoid this situation all together

8. Leave early

More time on the boat equals a better value for the dollar

9. Fly your drone

Because there were no random tourists on the boat they allowed me to fly my drone right off of the boat. I crashed it at small lagoon and that sucked. But if there is one place that would be amazing to fly a drone it is in EL Nido.

10.  Undisturbed underwater life

If you get to these spots before the crowd, you will get to see the sea life before they are chased away by large crowds. This is a much nicer experience.

Kayaking El Nido, Small lagoon

Kayaking El Nido, Small lagoon

Our Experience On Board a Private El Nido boat Tour

The company we ended up going with is run out of a small massage shop in front of Pukka bar in El Nido town. It is right across the street from ocean front. This concerned us a bit when we got there, but when we saw the boat we were pleasantly surprised as it was big enough for 20 people and we had it all to ourselves.

They took us down to the beach in Bacuit Bay and we walked past huge crowds of people directly to our boat. Everyone on the beach in the morning is there to go Island hopping and there are thousands of people out.

On board they asked us to put life jackets on because the harbour masters are very strict there, we complied and the boat took off. The ride out to the islands is breathtaking, with close up views of the limestone cliffs and secret beaches scattered all  around. It makes you feel like you are discovering these places for the first time.

We were driving by the first main island and the guide pointed out that it was helicopter island because it is in the shape of a helicopter. This is the best local are for diving and has an amazing beach.

Our first stop was at secret lagoon. They chose this because they wanted us to have the lagoon for ourselves. When we pulled up 40 yards from the beach, they told us to hop out into the water. At 815am…. our kids hated us for this. The walk/swim in was dangerous and rocky.

One great this is once we got into the lagoon it was empty, and I heard that when most people go here, there are loads of people.

Read the full review of the islands Here.

Snorkeling in El Nido, Philippines

Snorkeling in El Nido, Philippines

Small Lagoon

Our second stop was small lagoon. We kayaked into the lagoon, I took my son on the boat and he loved it. The water is still and clear so we all felt very safe going in. After spending a bunch of time on the kayak I decided to snorkel back. It was really neat because the water in the area is so still that there are many species of fish and coral that do not swim in the open ocean.

This is when a massive group of Koreans came into the lagoon when we were leaving. They were thrashing through the water in their kayaks very close. I couldn’t get passed them to get to an exit, and they would not let me by, so I had to find another exit. One boat hit me right in the head! I was pissed.

After getting on board I realized how much damage tourism can do to a unique ecosystem like this and we left the area.

Learn how to teach your kids how to swim like a pro here.

Simizu Island

Next stop was Simizu island for lunch. Upon arrival we saw a giant monitor lizard on a beach all to itself. This thing was huge, the size of a crocodile! The boat pulled up right to that beach and the lizard took off into the rocks. This is where they took out the epic lunch that we had. It is much better than what they give you on the group boats.

We ate until we were totally stuffed and the rest of the food was fed to the fish.

Read all about Simizu island here.

Alone in the small lagoon El Nido, Palawan

Alone in the small lagoon El Nido, Palawan

Snorkel Spot

Next was the snorkelling spot near big lagoon. I jumped in the water and swam for 2 hour straight here. The visibility was pretty good although it was plankton season and most of the reef here is dead because of tourism. It is beside a cliff, and that makes it a really pretty place to be and the water is a clear blue. I saw tangs, rabbitfish, clown fish, trigger fish, gobies and more here. There were a lot of boats in the area and I think they scared most of the fish off. This area is cool if you have never snorkelled before, but for someone that does it a lot it will be a disappointment. One thing I can say about the area is that there is no current here, and I felt safe taking my 5 year old in the water.

 

Learn How to snorkel like a pro here

7 Commandos Beach

Our last stop of the day was 7 commandos beach. This beach is small and beautiful. We spent a lot of time here just relaxing. They have beach huts set up with tables and my brother and I sat inside one to get out of the sun and drink a few beers. From the hut we could see my wife and kids playing on the beach and we joined them when we were done. There were people playing beach volleyball at the back of the beach behind the small store and a guy flying his drone around.

Finally we hopped back on the boat for our ride back to the mainland El Nido. The ride back in was kind of surreal. Did I just experience all of that in one day?

The boat docked and we hopped off. We order a tricycle to take us back to our hotel. The transportation back is not included.

Was the private island hopping tour in EL Nido worth it?

In my opinion, this is the best way to do the island hopping tour if you are with 5 people or more. It is a much better experience than being on the group boats. Island hopping with kids can already be difficult and being in a big group would make it so much worse. Where would you change a diaper if there are 20 people crammed beside you? It would be really frustrating. Take my advice and pay the extra cash. When you work it back to USD you will find that it is still really cheap.

If you have any more insight or questions about El Nido, please shoot us an email or comment. We want our El Nido Travel blogs to be the most comprehensive source of information about El Nido on the internet.

The Rampersaudsat Lio Beach El Nido

The Rampersauds at Lio Beach

The Rampersauds 
My name is Sean Rampersaud, my family and I are travelling the world writing and taking video of our experiences. My wife is Radika and my 2 kids are Rayden and Natasha. We want to help improve our readers lives in some way, and have a large private group of travellers we like to work with. You can join our group by leaving your email. Please comment below if you have any questions. If you found this informative please share it. We provide our community free travel tools that will make your lives way easier when you travel including free travel plans, and a custom itinerary builderJoin us today. If you are interested in how we make money while we travel email me or reply with you name and email at sean@adventugo.com.
 
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Hi! My name is Sean Rampersaud, I am a family travel writer and photographer with a focus on adventure travel. My kids are Rayden and Natasha and my beautiful wife is Radika.We have been travelling for the last 25 years and have some really cool ideas to share with you.Thanks for visiting our page, I hope we can help you to get the most out of your next big adventure.

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