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850 reasons to visit El Nido, Palawan
Assemblage of Christmas Tree Worms (Spirobranchus spp.) (Lopez Reef, Taytay) All photos by Lee Goldman courtesy of El Nido Resorts
El Nido Resorts in Northern Palawan is famous for several reasons: it has won awards for community development and its environmental custodianship. It was recently listed as one of Asia's top eco resorts by Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia's 2012 Green issue. Its tall limestone formations made a cameo at the end of the movie “The Bourne Legacy.” And its four eco resorts of Miniloc, Lagen, Pangulisan, and Apulit are located at the cusp of one of the hottest of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
With the recent economic boom, word got around about the incredible bounty of marine life around ENR, particularly the high coral fish diversity index—as many as 850 species, numbers matched by very few other locations in the world.
That's 850 reasons to try snorkeling at El Nido.
Coral Triangle rarities
The Philippines is just one part of the Coral Triangle, the global center of marine biodiversity. Though countries and islands such as Raja Ampat, Komodo, the Solomon Islands and Palau-Micronesia also boast of staggering numbers of species, their habitats tend to be spread out.
“In other areas in the Coral Triangle, you have to travel so far by sea just to experience another kind of habitat and see other kinds of marine life. In Solomon Islands, you have to take an eight-hour boat ride just to go from one habitat to the next,” said biologist Lee Goldman, who also conducts Palawan's ecotours.
It seems as though one will not find the same set of sea creatures twice within El Nido’s reef flats, lagoons, marine lakes, channels, coral thickets, sea grass beds, sand flat channels. Indeed, one cannot find many of the fascinating sea creatures elsewhere in the world.
Nabat Island along Taytay Bay, also one of the world’s best snorkeling sites, has the most table corals, according to Goldman. “They look like 100 colored papers thrown all over,” he said, although the healthiest coral communities are found in Bacuit Bay.
Another rarity is Hookfin Cardinal fish, which can only be found in El Nido.
Environmental duties
With the recent economic boom, word got around about the incredible bounty of marine life around ENR, particularly the high coral fish diversity index—as many as 850 species, numbers matched by very few other locations in the world.
That's 850 reasons to try snorkeling at El Nido.
Coral Triangle rarities
Slender Roboastra (Roboastra gracilis) (Secret Beach, El Nido)
“In other areas in the Coral Triangle, you have to travel so far by sea just to experience another kind of habitat and see other kinds of marine life. In Solomon Islands, you have to take an eight-hour boat ride just to go from one habitat to the next,” said biologist Lee Goldman, who also conducts Palawan's ecotours.
It seems as though one will not find the same set of sea creatures twice within El Nido’s reef flats, lagoons, marine lakes, channels, coral thickets, sea grass beds, sand flat channels. Indeed, one cannot find many of the fascinating sea creatures elsewhere in the world.
Nabat Island along Taytay Bay, also one of the world’s best snorkeling sites, has the most table corals, according to Goldman. “They look like 100 colored papers thrown all over,” he said, although the healthiest coral communities are found in Bacuit Bay.
Another rarity is Hookfin Cardinal fish, which can only be found in El Nido.
Environmental duties
False Clown Anemone Fish (Amphiprion ocellaris), El Nido (Pinisil Cave)
The ENR Dive Crew and Environment Department is doing the best it can to preserve the pristine ecosystem, from replanting endangered giant clams along other reefs to get them away from poachers to maintaining mooring buoys in 21 sites around Bacuit Bay that direct ships away from areas abundant in coral reefs.
The resort also takes pride in being the second in the world to install artificial reefs in Tres Marias, a dive site damaged by coral bleaching, illegal fishing, and weathering.
In addition to El Nido’s over 800 marine species, it also offers 400 kinds of corals and 500 marine vertebrae within an area of 200 square kilometers. Moreover, a panorama of marine life is accessible within a few meters of water, a condition perfect for snorkeling.
It is no wonder that earlier this year The Wall Street Journal Magazine, CNN and The New York Times have also cited El Nido’s unmatched natural beauty. — Vida Cruz/BM, GMA News
The resort also takes pride in being the second in the world to install artificial reefs in Tres Marias, a dive site damaged by coral bleaching, illegal fishing, and weathering.
In addition to El Nido’s over 800 marine species, it also offers 400 kinds of corals and 500 marine vertebrae within an area of 200 square kilometers. Moreover, a panorama of marine life is accessible within a few meters of water, a condition perfect for snorkeling.
It is no wonder that earlier this year The Wall Street Journal Magazine, CNN and The New York Times have also cited El Nido’s unmatched natural beauty. — Vida Cruz/BM, GMA News
