Island Hopping in the Philippines – Days 3 & 4 – Port Barton

by Alan Cole · Thursday, January 1st, 2026

After a long drive to Port Barton the previous day, we were glad of a decent night’s sleep in a comfortable room at Holiday Suites and were looking forward to spending some time in the water. We’d also be staying for a second night, which meant we could unpack a little and not immediately be on the move again.

I was up early and decided to go for a quick swim from the beach, despite various warnings about jellyfish. The water was warm and inviting, but unfortunately also very murky, so I only swam out and around a boat a couple of times — just enough to say I’d been for a swim before relaxing in the stillness besides the pool before others got up.

Starfish, Turtles and Kayaks

After breakfast at the hotel, we wandered along the beach and boarded a traditional bangka boat — the double-outrigger boats commonly used throughout the Philippines. Our first stop was a small sandbank known as ‘Starfish Sandbank’. We waded around in the shallow, warm water looking for starfish and soon started spotting them everywhere.

If we’re honest, this turned out to be a bit of a pointless stop. The guides and boat crew didn’t know what type of starfish they were (we later looked them up — with a name like chocolate chip starfish, you’d think they might have known), and it also turned out that we’d see them all over the place throughout the trip anyway.

We soon climbed back aboard and headed to another island for our first proper snorkel. We were told to wear — or at least carry — life jackets, but within a few seconds the guide said I could leave mine floating so that I could dive down properly. I assume they just needed to check that we could swim, and it didn’t take them long to realise that I could.

The reef was nice, with colourful corals, plenty of fish, and even a few turtles. It felt great to be in warm, clear water again — this was exactly what we’d come for. We had plenty of time to enjoy the snorkelling and jump off the boat. I did take some GoPro footage whilst snorkelling, but haven’t had a chance to go through it yet. I’ll try to make a little montage film one day, but for now, you’ll have to imagine coral reefs and tropical fish. Our guide Rey had a drone so he got some photos and videos of the group and our surroundings throughout the trip. Any drone shots were taken by Rey, including the one below of us jumping off the boat.

Next, we headed to another island, which I think was called Albaguen. Here we hopped into two-person sit-on-top kayaks that were conveniently waiting for us on the beach. Throughout the trip, the organisation was amazing, Everything was waiting ready for us, there was minimal faffing and we even had a group where everyone was always on time – almost unheard of these days!

We paddled around a small islet just offshore. Anna and I are actually OK at kayaking, so it wasn’t much of a challenge, though as usual some people seemed to struggle to go in a straight line.

Thunderstorms and Swims

After paddling around for a while, we returned to the white sandy beach and took shelter in a small reed-roofed hut where the boat crew had prepared a generous lunch. The food looked good, but after all the travelling I wasn’t particularly hungry, so I didn’t eat much — probably a good thing given the afternoon ahead.

While we were eating, a huge thunderstorm rolled through, bringing torrential rain and some enormous claps of thunder for about an hour. The boat ride afterwards, heading back to White Beach on the mainland, was a chilly one thanks to the rain and grey skies. Who would have thought we’d end up shivering in the Philippines? The crew had plenty of dry towels to hand around to keep us warm, and Rey even got an emergency foil blanket out just in case!

The weather soon improved, and once at White Beach everything felt inviting again. The plan here was to stroll along the beach, with some people kayaking the 3 km back to Port Barton. I’d overheard Rey, our guide, once mention that on a previous tour an ultra-swimmer had decided to swim the whole distance, which he’d described with some disbelief. That sounded like a good idea to me, so I decided to give it a go too. I hadn’t been swimming properly for about a year, but 3 km shouldn’t be an issue.

I checked with the guides, who reluctantly agreed. Two of the lads in our group — both strong swimmers — decided to join me, though they planned to wear snorkelling fins. I wanted to do it as a proper swim, so I went barefoot. I did hand a spare pair of fins to a guide in a kayak, just in case I ended up needing them.

Anna walked along the beach while the three of us set off, supported by a kayak. Despite not wearing fins, I was quite a bit faster at the start and soon found myself swimming alone along the coast, weaving through forests of seaweed. At times it was hard going thanks to the seaweed, but the water was calm and warm, and I settled into an easy rhythm, stopping occasionally to check where the others were.

One of the swimmers soon decided it was too much and climbed onto the kayak. The other — Keith, I think — was much stronger and, with fins, gradually began to close the gap. A few people from the group who’d opted to kayak passed by and headed towards the boat waiting just offshore from Port Barton.

Apparently the coastguard wouldn’t have been too impressed if they’d let us swim all the way in, so we stopped at the boat, having already had a good, satisfying swim — and probably the only real exercise of the week for me. Considering I hadn’t swum for a while, it felt like a decent effort.

Dinner that evening followed a stroll along the beach in the dark, and we managed mocktails by the pool and a dip in the pool at one point too. Anna and I had pasta at a beachside restaurant called Margherita before heading off to bed.

Jungles and Waterfalls

The next day in Port Barton started with a ‘hike’ to a nearby waterfall. Most of it followed roads, so Anna opted to take a tuk-tuk for that section, meeting us at the trailhead. From there we followed a narrow jungle track, crossing a couple of small rivers before reaching a pleasant waterfall.

We all took a dip and sat beneath the falling water. I also climbed a little way up the rock face and jumped into the pool below. Afterwards, we headed back down the trail and into waiting tuk-tuks for a bumpy ride along dirt tracks to Pamuayan Beach. After crossing a bamboo bridge, we spent some time relaxing on the white sand and in the shallow, clear water.

On to El Nido

From there it was back to the hotel, lunch next door, and then time to load our bags into minibuses for the four-hour drive north to El Nido and the Nacpan Beach Resort. I didn’t feel like eating much again, though I did enjoy a fresh coconut.

The drive itself was fine, with a few stops along the way — including an emergency toilet stop for George. The scenery was good, the roads mostly decent, and there was plenty to look at. Driving through the busy streets of El Nido town, I was relieved we’d be staying about half an hour away, somewhere a little quieter. We arrived at Nacpan Beach Resort just before nightfall, after navigating some particularly bumpy mud tracks, and even spotted a large monitor lizard disappearing into a roadside pond.

I was glad I hadn’t made light of George’s earlier toilet stop, as I wasn’t feeling too well myself that evening and didn’t eat much at dinner, which was served in the hotel’s beachside restaurant. The rooms were spacious and comfortable, although our air-conditioning wasn’t working quite as well as it should have, resulting in a somewhat sticky night’s sleep.

Port Barton turned out to be a nice stop — a place that felt unhurried and relaxed, where the days were shaped by the sea, the weather, and whatever energy we happened to have. From warm-water snorkelling and unexpected thunderstorms to a spontaneous long swim along the coast, it struck a nice balance between activity and simply being there. As we headed north to El Nido, tired but content, it felt like the trip was settling into its rhythm — and that the best was still to come.