ElNido

1804 – VIP island hopping

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Here is my last sketch from our holiday in El Nido. I really enjoyed drawing boats (locally those with outriggers are called Bangka) and beaches on our trip, so I decided to finish with a drawing on Corong-Corong beach. Many of these boats have been moored for a long time as tourism in El Nido has declined dramatically during the pandemic. In a few days we are about to go into another lock down, so we were really lucky to squeeze in our little holiday. Bye bye El Nido, see you again soon I hope.

Thu-29-July-2021

1801 – Causeway at Las Cabañas

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On the last full day of our holiday, we had planned another island hopping trip but unfortunately, because of the weather, the coastguard prohibited all trips. Instead we went to Las Cabañas beach again. Here is a view of the little natural causeway that connects the island to the mainland at low tide. You might tell by this that the weather was actually pretty good after all!

Wed-28-July-2021

1800 – Bite and burn free day

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Somehow we all got bitten by sand flies (not really sure which beach was the culprit) and caught the sun a bit (during our island hopping), so on the next day of our holiday we decided to just chill out at the resort (called the El Nido Coco Resort). This is the view from the porch of the cottage we stayed at – lots and lots of greenery.

Tue-27-July-2021

1799 – Sandbags at Vellago resort – 7 commandos beach

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Although we are home now, I still have several sketches to post from our holiday in El Nido. This one was done at a beach called 7 commandos which is supposedly named after seven soldiers who were stranded there during WWII. The beach is is actually connected to the mainland, so although we were still on our island hopping trip we had technically finished hopping at this point. Anyway, after our lunch we stopped here for a swim and a nice cold (overpriced) beer at the Vellago resort. Because the bar is so close to the sea they have piled up sandbags to protect them from the rough seas.

Mon-26-July-2021

1798 – Lunch at Shimizu island

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

On the fourth full day of our holiday in El Nido we arranged to go on “Island hopping tour A”. After visiting the fantastic big lagoon at Miniloc Island we stopped at Shimizu island for lunch. A full spread had been set out on tables further along the beach, for a large tour group and the staff kindly lent us a few chairs as our Bangka (a type of boat, usually with outriggers, like in the sketch) had only brought a table. What a wonderful view we had while we ate our lunch.

Mon-26-July-2021

1797 – Nanay at Corong-Corong beach

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

This was the third sketch I did on Sunday. After having lunch in town we came back to where we are staying and then went for a walk on Corong-Corong beach. This beach is a bit less touristy than the others we have been to – there are a lot more boats and there is a lot more trash washed up at the high tide mark. The boat in the foreground is called Nanay (which means mother). When I had finished this and the tide had gone out, we wandered among the pools and sea grass looking at starfish, sea cucumbers and crabs, while waiting for the sunset.

Sun-25-July-2021

1796 – View from Garlic and Mint

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

After we discovered we couldn’t swim at Nacpan beach we came back into town to have lunch and went to a little Vietnamese restaurant called “Garlic and Mint” to have delicious Banh Mi (a small crispy baguette sandwich). This is the view from the balcony we sat on – the surf board is a sign for the nearby Art Café. There are many places to eat listed in Google maps but many have closed down because of the pandemic…such a shame and a real hardship for people depending on tourism for an income.

Sun-25-July-2021

1795 – Nacpan beach

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Our third full day in El Nido took us to Nacpan beach which is supposed to be one of the best beaches in the world. It is truly beautiful but unfortunately (according to some guys from the tourism office) the coastguard had issued an order to not allow people to swim because of the rough weather. I did manage to go in for a little dip before this and could feel a really strong rip tide, so that was probably good advice. We finally had some patches of blue sky that day!

Sun-25-July-2021

1794 – Lio beach

Image | | Art-Chap-Enjoin

Day three of our little holiday took us to Lio Beach, which apparently is ‘owned’ by the Ayala Corporation. Although technically the beach is supposed to be public, at one point a guard would not let us walk up the beach because there were guests at the fancy hotel (called Seda Lio)…however when the tide had gone a long way out (the guard being at the high tide line under the trees) we walked up to the point through the surf anyway.

Sat-24-July-2021