HEALTHY coral reefs serve as home to a fascinating diversity of marine life. Having been declared a protected area since the ‘80s, Northern Palawan’s Bacuit Bay and its reefs teeming with coral, other marine habitats and over 800 fish species in addition to sea turtles and dugong offer among the most absorbing water experiences.
Bacuit Bay is also home to three of the four island-paradise destinations that carry the El Nido Resorts (ENR) brand and where snorkeling is a must-do, even for beginners. These are Miniloc, Pangulasian and Lagen. The fourth island resort, Apulit, is in the neighboring municipality of Taytay where marine life also abounds.
Located short boat rides away from the Palawan mainland and the intense activity of its municipalities, the island resorts maintain for its guests house reefs that serve as serene windows to the underwater world. Fully aware that some of its guests may be new to snorkeling, the most convenient way to witness marine life, the resorts provide guests the required gear and highly supportive guides.
Here are five things El Nido Resorts’ guest are encouraged to try:
1. Encounter Miniloc’s fish ‘university’
You’ll see not just a school of fish—but a “university” composed of hundreds to even thousands of bigeye scad. As marine expert Lee Goldman writes: “The well-synchronized movement of schooling fish as they swim and react in near perfect unison is something to behold…there is no pre-swim game plan. Yet the fish rarely act confused.”
The fish have been genetically programmed to move in schools and mask their individuality to prevent predators from isolating individuals and attacking them. They also school to feed. By attacking in unison, they overwhelm other fish, protecting precious resources like algae patches. Not even the most heroic of fish, after all, will resist an attacking mob.
2. Swimming with the jacks
Giant trevally, a.k.a jacks or talakitok, that grow up to 1.5 meters feed on scad. Thus, these reef predators also regularly visit Miniloc to dine on its large scad population. Miniloc’s jacks are mostly breeders, explains Mariglo Laririt, ENR environmental director. They have apparently recognized this island’s reef as a safe haven for them and their young.
3. Witness a turtle release
Sea turtle hatchings are celebrated in all El Nido Resorts. When ENR environmental officers and staff chance upon the golf ball-sized eggs of these sea creatures in Bacuit Bay’s many beaches, they carefully gather them and rebury them in a spot in any of the island resorts where they can be watched over and shielded from monitor lizards, birds and illegal poachers.
When the eggs begin to hatch, guests from the ENR Bacuit Bay island resorts are invited to witness the fragile hatchlings make their way from the beach to the sea, usually at dusk. Very few of the nest population (one out of every 100 eggs laid) survive into adulthood. Thus, guests send them off with high hopes, cheers and prayers. The females that will survive will reach sexual maturity in 15-20 years and will travel hundreds of kilometers to go back to the beach where they were hatched. This augurs well for the island-paradise destinations of El Nido Resorts, where there will always be room for them.
4. Get up close and personal with a shark
Black-tip reef sharks and blue-spotted ribbontail rays are among Pangulasian’s most important visitors. Because the premier island resort’s house reef is part of a channel leading to the open sea, these incredibly graceful creatures have become regular habitues, along with blackspotted pufferfish and angel fish.
5. Try snorkeling, even if you don’t swim
With more than 800 fish species, Bacuit Bay is a highly prized snorkeling paradise. Unlike other destinations within the Coral Triangle, the region, including the Philippines with the highest levels of marine biodiversity, Bacuit offers a variety of fish habitats within a confined space. No need to travel for hours to go from one habitat to another.
Clownfish, damselfish, wrasses, butterflyfish and much, much more abound within a few feet from any of the El Nido Resorts. Better yet, the guides of Miniloc, Pangulasian, Lagen and Apulit are trained to teach even newbies how to don a scuba mask and to breathe in a relaxed manner with a snorkel. Non-swimmers are handed floaters that are steered through the waters by the guides themselves.
Moreover, the guides’ passion for the richness of their surroundings easily rubs off on their guests who go home convinced they have indeed been to a very special place.