Palawan - Day 1

Our Sunday morning flight for Palawan left at 7:30 am out of Manila. We had family plans for Saturday evening, so we decided to leave Subic astoundingly early on Sunday, at 4:15 am. We met our friends, Brad & Heather, who were vacationing with us, so we could all drive to Manila together. Thankfully, we safely arrived with plenty of time to spare!

Amberly & Sam in the Manila terminal at 6:30 am

Heather & Brad on our tiny plane
(It's always a comforting feeling to have a pilot friend with you when you fly tiny, toy airplanes like the one we were in!)

Our welcoming committee at El Nido airport
(These ladies sang us a beautiful song in their native language while we all exited the plane. Such a nice welcome to our stay in paradise!)

Sam & Amberly on the boat, heading to the resort finally!

Our beautiful room!

The view from our private patio.
(We stayed in a water cottage, so our room was built on stilts in the water. It was pretty cool to sit out on our patio & watch the tropical fish swim by right under our noses. Such a great experience!)

The El Nido resort offers a wide range of activities to partake in during your stay in Palawan. The resort staff is great about offering you several different choices to fit your timeframe & your lifestyle. We wanted to do as much as we possibly could, so we hit the ground running...

Soon after we arrived at the resort & had a quick bite to eat, we decided to hike a trail that would lead us to the opposite side of the island & dump us out at a private beach. The trail proved to be steep & beautiful!

Sam tested out our new waterproof camera by diving right into the ocean.

Brad & Heather on a private beach with the limestone cliff backdrop

After our hike, we took advantage of an island hopping & cave exploration tour. We visited 3 different picturesque islands at El Nido & explored a couple of cool caves.

Heather & Amberly at Snake Island

Snake Island view

Sam & Amberly at top of Snake Island
(See how the island "snakes" out in the water. Thus the name...)

Stunning Paradise View

After visiting these islands, we went back to the resort for dinner. Sam & I were quite surprised to have a delicious chocolate cake delivered to our dinner table, with the words "Happy Anniversary" written across the top. The waitress then took our photo & left this sitting on our bed while we were finishing up our evening at the restaurant:

A momento of our 1st night in Palawan, celebrating 11 years of marriage! So thoughtful!

From our first moment at the resort, we knew we picked the perfect destination to celebrate our anniversary! (See all the great photos here.)

We had even more fun adventures on our second day there...