El Nido | Imorigue Island, Malapari Islet Hopping and Mangrove Sidetrip

Snorkeling at Imorigue Island So you have done all the tours in El Nido Palawan from Tours A, B, C, D and E. The west side of El Nido, the B...

Snorkeling at Imorigue Island

So you have done all the tours in El Nido Palawan from Tours A, B, C, D and E. The west side of El Nido, the Bacuit Bay in particular does have dramatic limestone karst islands and captivating beaches, but El Nido doesn’t end there. The other side, the El Nido east coast holds more islands to explore and stunning white sand beaches to bum around. Sibaltan is the jump off point for these island adventures. I have written about some of the islands of Linapacan, now discover the limestone island of Imorigue Island. From afar it looks daunting but the locals swear on how rich the marine life surrounding its waters are.

Imorigue Island seen from the side angle

Imorigue Island

We were on a small outrigger boat good only for about 6–8 people. I joined a foreign couple, judging from their language, they were from France which I have been used to hearing by now knowing a lot of French business men in El Nido. I was hoping I didn’t ruin their supposedly “Private Tour” with me tagging along but they don’t seem to mind. The waves were their usual self, not too rough and manageable and the sun was way up promising a good day. We were approaching Imorigue Island, and I got amused on how its shape changes as we got closer. From the shore, it looks like a small towering island, almost pyramid-like but when we were already beside it, I marvelled at its length. It’s like one of the many islands in Bacuit Bay that got lost somewhere and ended up on this side. There were also limestone walls where balinsasayaw (swiftlet) harvesters stay.

We passed by another islet towards the other end of the island. Under the island shade we stopped on our first snorkel spot. The water was deep blue and everyone was excited to jump in. The current was moderate and it was easy to swim in. The water clarity is not as good as the one in Binulbulan Island when we island-hopped Linapacan. But the corals here were quite expansive and impressive. I did not see the big fishes there but the tropical fishes were plenty. I had a good enough time to snorkel before we moved to our next stop.

The island view from the side with an islet

Some small fishes near this coral

Pristine set of corals

Our guide diving near the reef wall

Cabbage like corals fill the wall

A closer look at the coral

Malapari Islet and Dewil River mangrove on the next pages…

The Malapari Islet already under Taytay Jurisdiction

Malapari Islet

Taking a break from snorkeling, we headed to this islet they call Malapari Islet. I was told by our guide that it’s already part of Taytay. It has a small beach on both side but there were too many sea urchins that we didn’t care to swim anymore. There’s a low hill for a 360 view and leafless trees where some birds were perched before our arrival disturbed them. Surprisingly strong 3G cellular signal as well.

Cave stop on the island for our lunch

Cave Lunch

We traced back our route at Imorigue Island and this time we visited a cave somewhere in the middle of this long limestone island. This was such a nice idea. I watched as our boatman and guide bring a table inside a cave and prepare our lunch. The cave has a big enough chamber, shallow without any unpleasant smell. I bid my companions “Bon Apetit!” to get started and they were amused with the little French I know, likewise they tried to converse with me with little English they know. They guy has better English skills and I learned that they are travelling in the Philippines for two weeks only and is close to the end of their trip. Their favorite was the Rice Terraces in Batad. The French guy shamelessly took the last mango admitting they never had mangoes as sweet as this in France.

Beach at Malapari Islet

Our boat docked at Malapari Islet with Imorigue Island at the background

Hill with a leafless tree

Our guide prepares our lunch

Our lunch of chicken, salad and mangoes

Dewil River Mangroves on the next page…

Entering the Dewil River

Dewil River Mangroves

We had another round of snorkeling at Imorigue Island and this time by a reef wall. The water was much deeper this time but I was astounded by the wall of cabbage-like corals. I could see that as it goes deeper I could make out shapes of bigger fishes below but I could not go down that deep. Probably 40-60 feet deep.

It was getting deeper in the afternoon already. Before we headed back, we had a side trip at the mangroves of New Ibajay, the town just south of Sibaltan. From the sea, we entered the winding Dewil River. Dense mangroves were in the river fringes. Our guide tells us this is where they send guest for firefly watching again. We went deeper as long as the boat can manage but shortly went back as the tide was getting low. We reached Tapik Beach Resort by 4:00pm. My foreign companions seemed to enjoy the day as well, as they asking tips from me on the tours on the western side they would do the next day.

Like my previous observations in Linapacan, East El Nido has a more relaxed personal island hopping experience. Not too many boats to compete with and the snorkeling is way better on this side of El Nido. For East El Nido Island Hopping please check with Tapik Beach Resort for their scheduled daily tours.

Age old mangroves

Taller mangroves deep into the river

Heading back to sea