Out of this world: Lagen Island, El Nido still casts its spell

BY DAVID DALTON.

IT DOESN’T TAKE LONG FOR PALAWAN to cast its spell. On our first evening, after an early flight from Manila, we are asleep by nine. The next day, we wake before dawn, not to the tyrannical beeping of email alerts and WhatsApp notifications, but to the quavering trill of birdsong and the susurration of waves. On the verandah, in the pearly half-light, we sit and watch an olive-backed sunbird feed on the nectar of a potted bougainvillea.

We are at Lagen Island in Bacuit Bay, about an hour by boat from the little airport at El Nido which is served by AirSWIFT flights from Manila and the only airline that flies directly to El Nido, Palawan. I was last here 20 years ago and it has changed little.

Lagen Island Resort has 18 water cottages on stilts built above the water

Lagen Island resort, its pretty white cottages set on stilts in a lagoon of celeste blue, is a world of its own. From all those years ago I remembered a place that was professionally tropical, where guests can relax without the unctuous attention. Everything works as it should, but in a no-fuss Filipino way that adds to the charm. It’s the peace I remembered most. At dawn Lagen is so preternaturally still, bathed in honeyed light, that we could be preserved in agar.

Lagen's tranquil waters

By David Dalton

What noise there is comes from the gentle putput of the occasional boat engine and the belligerent cawing of an arboreal black bird that we never manage to identify. The wildlife alone is worth the trip. Shoals of grouper gather in the shade of our cottage while a reef egret watches keenly, stalking the shore on its osseous, knotty legs. On the way to breakfast on our second day I find myself staring down a large macaque. He (or she) regards me with indifference and after a few minutes saunters off into the mangroves. I look for him every morning at the same time, but he never returns.

Lagen Island is one of three resorts — the others are Miniloc and Pangulasian — owned and operated by Metro Manila-based El Nido Resorts around the Bacuit archipelago, a small chain of about 45 islands and islets in northwest Palawan. A fourth resort, Apulit, is off the east coast of mainland Palawan, but also reached through AirSWIFT flights to El Nido.

Make no mistake, these are high-end destinations. Paradise does not always come cheap, but what you pay for, you get. At the airport we are welcomed with cold drinks and native snacks like bibingka, a deliciously sticky coconut rice cake. Our baggage is spirited onto a boat and we head south, past El Nido town — the area’s main tourist base — and the distant outlines of islands with names that seem to come from another world: Pinagbuyutan, Entalula and Inambuyod. There are more drinks when we arrive, and lunch is already being served in the restaurant, which overlooks a large swimming pool.

Lagen's clubhouse restaurant facing the sea

Lagen packages include three buffet meals a day. For a resort on an island in the middle of nowhere, hours from the closest shops, the kitchen staff do a sterling job. The chef grills fish the length of baseball bats and carves up the firm, coppery flesh. There are soups, stews, curries and noodles. It’s been way too long since I last visited the Philippines, but every local dish I see instantaneously brings back a memory: the tomotey tang of kaldereta and the garlicky bite of mami soup.

We quickly learn that an early breakfast has benefits. The warm ensaymada are delicious, but are first to go.

And so within a day of our arrival we are on natural, biological, Earth time. We wake with the birds, photograph the sunrise, swim in the pool, drink coffee overlooking the lagoon, then head to the restaurant for breakfast.

Lagen Island's water cottage

After breakfast we swim some more, or sit on our balcony reading. At this point I feel smug enough to announce that I have done everything I want to do for the day. When I check the time, it is not yet ten o’clock.

Days are long, but in the most satisfying, salubrious, way. Too long at Lagen and you could die of an overdose of good health. For the first time in years I find myself sleeping through the night and waking to the thought that first light is breaking and for a few hours I will probably have the pool to myself.

Lagen encourages a certain amount of languorousness, but there are plenty of activities, including kayaking, scuba diving and island-hopping tours.

Kayak, snorkel, scuba dive, swim or explore Bacuit Bay's virgin islands

We deliberately schedule a private early island hopping tour and arrive at Small Lagoon at seven o’clock when it is still deserted. From our outrigger we kayak through a concealed hole in the limestone scarp and into a natural auditorium of dazzlingly blue water. Later, at Snake Island, we swim from a powdery sandbar and drink fresh coconut bought from local villagers, before heading to Lagen’s sister resort, Miniloc, for lunch. Here, at the end of a pier, we snorkel among immense jackfish. They show little fear, buzzing us curiously from below as we scull around in their midst.

Snake island, one of the stops on Lagen's island hopping tour

Photo by David Dalton

A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE.

Many of the activities at Lagen are understandably water-based, but don’t miss the opportunity to follow the marked path from Lagen through the dense forest behind the resort and to a second beach, south of the resort itself. The walk is less than 2 km, but is steep in places and in the heat can be challenging. Take water and wear sensible shoes (tip: don’t try it in sandals or flip-flops). The resort arranges daily walks with a guide.

It’s easy to forget, lying by the pool, or swimming in Lagen’s lagoon, that the island’s interior is jungle. The walk will take you past immense acacia and silk cotton trees, up a steep hill and then down through a gulley and out at the beach, where you can have a picnic and swim. If you don’t fancy the walk back, staff will fetch you by boat.

If you’re lucky you’ll catch a glimpse of some of the area’s endemic wildlife. Macaques scuttle in the treetops and there are hornbill, peacock-pheasant and smaller species such as babblers and sunbirds. If you’re interested n birdlife staff can arrange birdwatching tours. There are also mangrove tours by kayak.

Lagen has a gym, a spa, a library, billiards, volleyball.

A stay at Lagen Resort costs about Php27,000 a night. Visit www.elnidoresorts.com. To book flights, visit www.air-swift.com.