El Nido Tour C: hidden beaches and Matinloc Shrine

The wildest of the classic tours, reaching secret coves through holes in the cliffs, an abandoned island shrine, and the best snorkelling in the bay.

Area

El Nido & Bacuit Bay

Start from

El Nido town

Distance

about 35 km of boat travel round trip

Time needed

1 day

Best season

Roughly February – May for calm seas

Difficulty

Moderate

Transport

Shared or private bangka

Tickets & rules

Eco-tourism development fee; small entrance fee at Matinloc Shrine

Why go

Tour C heads to the outer islands of Bacuit Bay, where the cliffs are higher and the open sea rolls in from the west. That exposure makes it the most frequently cancelled tour, but on a calm day it is the most dramatic. Hidden Beach sits behind a wall of rock; you swim in through a narrow passage and find a pocket of white sand ringed by towers so tall you have to lean back to see the sky.

Secret Beach, on Matinloc Island, is entered through a small gap in the cliff that you swim or wade through when the swell allows. Inside is a perfectly enclosed beach and lagoon. Of everywhere I went in Palawan, it was the place that felt most like a childhood drawing of a pirate cove, impossible and private.

Then there is Helicopter Island, named for its shape seen from a distance, with a long beach and some of the healthiest reef near El Nido, and Matinloc Shrine, a small abandoned chapel with a viewpoint over limestone pinnacles. Tour C is a long, salty, physical day, and one I would repeat before any other.

The story

Matinloc Shrine was built in the 1980s as a place of devotion to the Virgin Mary, and for a while it drew pilgrims and visitors by boat. Over the years it fell out of use and today it stands half-abandoned, its paint flaking and its rooms empty, which gives it a strangely melancholic beauty against the brilliant sea.

The legend you hear on board is that the shrine was built after a vision or a miracle at sea, but the details vary with every boatman, and I couldn’t find a reliable written source. The view, at least, needs no legend: a short scramble up sharp rock opens onto a panorama of Matinloc’s jagged ridges and the open West Philippine Sea beyond.

Helicopter Island, also known as Dilumacad, is a good example of how locals name places by what they look like from a moving boat. From the right angle, its long low tail and raised rocky head do resemble a helicopter. From almost any other angle it looks like an island, which is what my companions kept pointing out.

Getting there

Book in El Nido the day before and ask whether Tour C is running; the coast guard decides each morning based on wind and swell. If it is cancelled, agencies usually move you to another tour or refund you.

The route is longer and more exposed, so expect some spray and an occasional rough crossing between islands.

A suggested plan

1. 9:00Leave El Nido and head west to Helicopter Island for a first snorkel.
2. 10:30Hidden Beach: swim in through the rock gap.
3. 12:00Lunch on Talisay Beach or a nearby cove.
4. 13:30Matinloc Shrine and the short climb to the viewpoint.
5. 15:00Secret Beach if conditions allow, then back toward town.

Where to stay

Corong-Corong or El Nido town make the earliest departures easy. If you’re a strong swimmer and love snorkelling, keep one flexible day in your plan so you can catch Tour C on a calm morning.

Good to know

• Bring reef shoes and a mask that fits; you’ll swim through narrow passages.
• A waterproof camera case is worth it here more than on any other tour.
• Ask the crew to time Secret Beach with the tide.