Hi Steemit Friends here is my second post i think you all must love this.
As often happens in the world of travel, you meet people with the best and most recent recommendations for the next stop! I really enjoyed having an unplanned trip earlier this year and it worked out well - I met a (now) friend at Tiger Muay Thai who told me about the Tao experience in Palawan, Philippines. Fairly soon I was booked on to a boat trip amongst deserted islands!
The Tao Experience gave me a real opportunity to see the beauty of Palawan without the acne of tourists!
The day before the journey we met for a briefing and were introduced to our jolly crew! They informed us what to bring and how to pack our things - it's very minimal what you need on the boat. Our bigger luggage was kept in a locked cabin for the duration whilst we carried our sarongs and sun cream in a dry bag.
The next morning myself and my friends-to-be hopped on the Tao Experience for a
Sun sand sea
five day trip to Coron. All I'd say is don't get a fast ferry, don't get a plane... take your time and take Tao. (It goes both ways between El Nido and Coron).
The next five days were spent chilling on deck, drinking ginger tea, fishing (attempting to), snorkeling, swimming, jumping off the front of the boat and generally enjoying the scenery! Bright azul waters, deserted islands and sandy beaches. We saw some turtles swimming and the coral reefs were great in some places.
Each night we would stop and tie up to a buoy - Then we would either swim or take the small rowing boat to shore. Home was bamboo huts with a curtain - the crew rowed over our mattress and mosquito net and we were set.
Going to sleep by the ocean and waking up by the ocean - the most wonderful thing.
The chefs were fantastic and could cook bananas in a thousand different ways! Everything was locally sourced and authentic. Fresh coconuts and mango included. One morning on board we had fresh sashimi after one of the crew had caught a tuna
One of many
ten minutes earlier. Now that's fresh!
The pictures will tell you more of the story, but the best part about Tao is that they are also big advocates of sustainable tourism and they train up and employ locals to run the trips, up-skilling them and promoting them as time goes on. They help reinvest in the local communities, and offer them training so that they are able to earn for themselves. For example, one evening we were offered a massage on the beach. This was included in our trip price - and gave the community on that remote island a source of income.
Tao have camps set up on about thirty tiny islands so every trip is different & of course the people on each trip make it unique as well! We had about twenty on our boat & I think the maximum is about twenty four.