late afternoon swim in NACPAN-CALITANG Twin Beach

I was already nervous the tour company we paid for the night before at the airport has forgotten of us.I kept calling the number of the lady who booked us but she didn't answer.Call time was supposed to be 8am but the van didn't arrive until 9:30.I guess they waited for a few am flights to fill the 12-seater van so it was past 9am when they fetched us at Hotel Centro.Out of the 12 passengers,only the 3 of us (me,my wife and friend Rupert) who were locals.For a moment I thought we were in another country.

I kept calculating our time of arrival in El Nido if the 6-hour travel time they are saying in blogs is correct. 3:30pm was my ETA.Amazingly,the driver navigated the route for only 5 hours.Bilis!I hurriedly contacted Ate Neriza of Northern Hope Travel Tours --0939 902 2216 --who the famous Chyng Reyes highly recommended.I asked her to contact a tricycle for us as I am not sure of the standard rate to Nacpan Beach.She offered one at 800 pesos (which she said is normally 1000php) so I readily accepted.At least I didn't have to stress myself haggling.Ayokong ma-spoil ang El Nido moments namin.

NACPAN-CALITANG Twin Beach from the hill

late afternoon swim in NACPAN-CALITANG Twin Beach

Of course Nacpan was in my to-be-places but I was not so eager to see it.Should we arrived an hour later I could have slashed it out of the list without hard feelings.Buti nalang napa-aga ng dating.Nagsisi sana ako.

Nacpan Beach is around 17kms North of El Nido town.Translate that and it means almost an hour tricycle ride with 70% rough road.Get ready for some action and a lot of dust.Libreng pulbos.My wife and our friend Rupert were covering their faces most of the time while I was making jokes like "If Senyora Santibanez here,she would have lamented --Facundo,maalikabok,ipasemento lahat ng kalsada pati mga puno!" --lols.

FIRST IMPRESSION
Other than around five foreigners sunbathing, the long stretch of sand was basically deserted when we got there.My wife immediately removed her sandals to feel the sand.She's starting to behave like a true-blood travel blogger lately (except that she doesn't write).But her comments are helpful.I have a point of comparison to my oftentimes over-critical judgement.She was not impressed with the sand."Not that white,not that smooth" she said.I was not impressed either.But I knew that was not it.I pointed to them the hill where we should go."Time to see the place from another angle" ----i remarked.They were excited to follow.Actually,mas nauna pa sila.hahaha

Noticed a small village at the southern end of Nacpan beach.The houses are made of huts and a lot of bangka (boats) were docked at the beachfront which obviously indicates that the village thrives on fishing.I thought it is an obvious sign that the place is not really intended for tourists.But the locals go on with their daily lives without disrupting people who pass by.

the village in Nacpan beach

SOLO PICS muna ang mga Turista :)

kunwari nawawala :)

CLIMBING THE HILL
It is important to note that one unique characteristic of the beach is that it connects at a narrow strip to another beach ---Calintang Beach.That's the reason why they call it "twin beach", the Nacpan-Calintang Twin beaches.

You can appreciate the place more when you climb the hill at the end of the twin beaches.
 (Hope it doesn't sound like twin bitches when you read it loudly. hahaha).

Anyhow, climb we did!

THREE-DIMENSIONAL VIEW

At the top of the hill,you get a 360 degree angle view of the area.And it is beautiful,especially during sundown.I call it "Three-dimensional View" of the area.

1.Of the famous islands of El Nido on one side,
2.The view of the entire length of the strip with the infinite sea on the other and of course
3.of Nacpan-Calintang beach and the rugged mainland on another side.

1.

2.

3.

PICTURE ULI ang mga ARTISTA

este, TURISTA :)

There is another elevated spot which we had to climb and the cliff view with the sea below and the islands in the horizon is simply a beauty to see.

We saw two locals paddling a kayak with some goods in it.Sosyal na ang mga locals dito,kayak na ang gamit pang transport ng kalakal! Lols

SWIMMING in NACPAN Beach

We then moved to the other side of the strip.The rugged part facing southeast which I thought is a good spot to swim.It is a rocky beach with no white sand but the rocks are smooth and the water is clear.

Noticed that a portion of this side is eroded and so the yellowish limestone are exposed.Turned more yellowish when the sun was about to set in the horizon.Plus,we were on our own so it felt like swimming in an isolated Greek island in the Mediterranean.

I pointed the islands to my wife and said "that's where we will be going tomorrow".I got her very excited.

TO the OTHER SIDE

Our friend Rupert on the other hand decided to explore the other side.He went through the bushes and ended back to the tip of Nacpan beach.He went back to us and invited us to go with him.The other side is the complete opposite.This is where the sand is.Yellow,powdery sand.Nacpan beach is beautiful after all.So if you are to go to Nacpan,walk to the southern tip,coz that's where the fine sand is (at least during summer).

The sand on this part of the beach is finer and more refined.The water was perfect coz it was warm and clear.It doesn't go deep even if you go a few meters away from the coastline.We had a swim here til sundown.The dark clouds in the east signaled that we should wrap up and heed back to El Nido town.

Nacpan beach might not impress you on first sight but explore its other side and you will realize that the place is really special.Climb the hill on its Southern tip and see it merge with Calintang beach.From there,appreciate the islands of El Nido and the sleepy village dotting Calintang beach.

It's worth the sidetrip when you are in El Nido.Don't miss it.

While at the tricycle, my wife kept saying "1st day pala sulit na".And we were not on the main event yet.Island hopping coming up after the weekend!!!

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