TBK travels back in time to El Nido Cove, Palawan , Philippines

 

       El Nido Cove- from the beach- 15.4.22

I have made many journeys in my life around the world and I think this was one of the saddest.  Distance wise it was not too far, 7,000 steps to be precise. Memory wise it took me back a long way.  And for those who keep asking why I chose to retire to Palawan I think you will finally get the answer in this blog. I remember two days in my life very clearly.

                           Loading our bags in the Van in Puerto Princessa

The first was in August 2014 when Drew and I arrived in a trike from the El Nido bus terminal after a 7 hour  van ride from Puerto Princessa. It was a good job he was small and I was in love and he slept most of the way. Drew always made a great pillow to lie on, and he wedged me in the small van as we raced up and down the hills and around the bends to El Nido. It was the first and last time I made that journey by van. From 2015 we flew from Manila to Lio airport or I drove in my car. 

   One of Drews sunset shots from El Nido Cove back in 2014 when I drank G & T

We were given a warm welcome and shown to the Garden room ( the cheapest room at El Nido Cove) . We enjoyed just staying in the hotel ( in spite the attempts of the staff to get us to go into El Nido Town and join one of the tour boats) and watching the sun go down each day. Drew got on well with the staff and they all played volleyball in the evenings in the gardens, where the pool is now. You can read my first Blog from El Nido Cove here :

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2021/11/tbk-travels-to-philippines-part-eight.html

So it was very sad to return 8 years later to find the place looking like this

      The old restaurant where we sat under the big tree for all our meals in 2014

Back then they had a breakfast buffet outside ( they only had 15 rooms then) and I would get up early and have my breakfast and watch the fishermen catching fish in Bacuit bay in front of the hotel. Drew would come and join me later before going back to bed for a nap while I sunbathed on the lawn. 

          Drew getting his breakfast from the heaving buffet back in 2014

There were two problems with the big tree- it attracted insects and everyone got bitten as they ate . The hotel had to bring in the pest control people regularly to spray the tree. Then the fruits used to fall on the guests heads or in their food as they ate. Back then they only had electricity for a few hours a day and the menu was very limited. However the staff loved setting up tents on the grass for special occasions and there would be candles and music if love was in the air. Drew worked with the staff to create a very special last night dinner for us under an arch in the corner, with wine, Fruit salad, candles and my favourite dishes. Back then one of the waitresses, Marissa or Mars for short , offered massage in between lunch and dinner and they put a bed under the canopy where I would drift off to sleep as I had my massage after lunch. As I stood under the tree in 2022 a fruit fell from the tree and shattered my reminiscing. 

I so enjoyed my stay at El Nido Cove that I gave it 5 stars in my Trip Advisor review which was read  by 11,799 people. I had it framed with some of our pictures and will be taking the collage out of storage at the end of April and hanging it on my wall in my new house in Puerto Princessa. Later they moved the restaurant inside with the buffet near the kitchen, so the guests could eat without things falling on their head. By then they had refurbished the Garden rooms and added a pool ( which we watched being dug by hand ) and the Forrest rooms doubling their capacity. We stayed in the Forest rooms in 2015 . In a strange twist of fate the company that built the Forest rooms went on to build Angkla , a luxury resort hotel at Nacpan, where several of the staff from Cove ( Ran, Marnel, Jayson etc.) went to work after they closed El Nido Cove. This company also runs the El Nido Grill on Lio Beach where I had such an appalling meal when I returned to Lio this year. 

                    How the old reception / restaurant and lounge area looks today

   As I looked at the reception desk I saw in my mind the welcoming smiles of Kuya Ran, Arnel, Ritchelle, Dainsy, Thessa, and the girls from BNHS on OJT.

         The new Garden rooms where Drew and I stayed in 2015

                                              The Garden rooms in 2022

I think one of the things that annoyed me most about the demise of El Nido Cove is that as the owners developed the new resort at Lio , with first one small hotel then 4 more over the years, they spent less and less money on maintaining Cove. As I walked around the derelict building I saw the drawers in the loft room ( which we were upgraded to when they had to repair the roof on the garden rooms) which fell out in my feet once when I tried to get a tee shirt out.

      The broken chest of drawers in the Loft room that I stayed in with Kuya Vin

Also in the lounge area is the famous window that fell out of the frame when I opened it whilst sharing orange Juice and Lemonade when former Cove Manager , Marco, came to visit me while I was staying there!

    The once beautiful pool at Cove which we watched being excavated by hand

 How it is now in 2022- the pump went years ago and the staff were told to tell customers the pool was closed for Maintenance and it was never used again

It was so sad to see the once lovely pool in such a bad state and so spooky to see the beds made up in the rooms. I later found out that Ayala used the hotel for staff accommodation after it closed, and during COV 19 it was used as a Quarantine facility. I was able to wander freely around the rooms and kitchen etc. and it was only when I went over to the pool that someone came to ask what I was doing. When I asked if he was Ayala security he nodded, but kindly he let me continue my walk down memory lane . Chester is working on all the videos I have sent him from this trip- probably about 200 by now, and we have scheduled the El Nido Cove Vlog for July so check back then. 

          Jam Fernandez, TBK and Drew having dinner at Tandiken Cottages

My links with Cove go back further than my first visit in 2014. One of my OFW friends in Bahrain, who used to make Birthday cakes for me, was Jam Fernandez. He set up the charity HOPE to give back to the children of El Nido. I have been a supporter of HOPE for several years and the first child , Aimae, I sponsored through HOPE back in 2017 is now 12 years old . I was delighted when I was staying in Cove, and long afterwards , when Ran, Ritchelle and several more of the Cove team and their families donated to and supported the HOPE events. 

Robert, Geralyn , Arnel and Ran with Jhoanna , Elay, Making and Althea at Manlag Elementary school for the HOPE event in 2020 with Mama Jam , Jeremy and the head teacher

Mama Jam later sent me a picture of him as a boy with his family at the front of what is now El Nido Cove . They owned the land and sold it to Ayala many years ago. Jam is now working in Austria and was shocked to see my photos of COVE on Facebook. He will be back in 2023 for the next HOPE event. You can read more about HOPE here:

https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2020/05/back-for-2020-and-bigger-and-better.html

Another set of coincidences from the Cove legacy is that in 2021 I was invited to be Ninong ( God father) at the Wedding of Ran and Geralyn , who gave me my first Inaanak, Cyrus. Sadly I could not go as I could not get a visa due to Cov 19 but Jhoanna and Jullymar went to the wedding in my place. The other Ninong was Sir Marco, a great hero to everyone at Cove as the Manager for many years recruiting and coaching and mentoring so many great staff. He still remains friends with them all and often visits the Island. As if being Ninong to two former Cove employees was not honour enough I was recently invited to be Ninong to another former employee- Shelia Gabayan ( cousin of Mars and once a waitress who used to do my washing when I stayed at Cove. This time I am in Palawan and will be at the wedding in October!

  The last day at Cove- TBK with OJT student Jhoanna, Ritchelle and John

When I last stayed at Cove in 2018 I was introduced by Ritchelle to some charming young people from Barutaan National High School ( BNHS) who were completing their OJT ( on job training ) with Ayala. This involved work experience at Cove and later Huni at Lio. The students were so Matalino and Masipag ( smart and Industrious) under the watchful guidance of Ritchelle and Ran in Reception and Kuya Robert in Housekeeping. They joined me together with Ran, the pest control man and Ritchelle youngest son JP on a beach clean up after I commented on the amount of bottles and waste left on the beach by the locals.

Kit , TJ, Grecil, Jhoanna and Aimae with TBK- so excited to finally meet them all

I think most of my readers will now know that when Jhoanna graduated from BNHS and wanted to go to Palawan State University (PSU) in 2019 I sponsored her . Later in 2021 another of the BNHS students, and Jhoanna's friend,  Grecil started at PSU and I sponsored her and then her Cousin , Kit, who just turned 19 joined my scholar team in 2021. He is at WPU studying Criminology. On 26 April its Grecil's 21st and I am looking forward to being at her party in Nacpan. Sadly I had to miss Jhoanna's 21st and TJ's and Kit's 19th but on 27 we are going to recreate the birthday party I had planned for Dec 17, when Typhoon Odette ripped through Palawan. It is the first time all my Anaks will be together and I am them are so excited.

December 18 2021, the night after Typhoon Odette, Jhoanna and TJ celebrate their 21st Birthdays with a cake made my Chef Arnel at the Microtel in Puerto Princessa. Special thanks to Nelin and ate Alma from Microtel and Chef Arnel and his team for making their stay so special. 

As usual Chef Arnel is in charge of the Birthday Cakes and dinner, Alvin has kindly agreed to be our photographer ( he is studying Social Work at PSU) and we will all be staying at the Microtel as i do not move into my new home until 29 April! Also in that original batch of OJT from BNHS was my good friend Rodel, who they all called Catriona Black as he was so gay and dark skinned ( another Cuyunon like TJ). I supported Rodel, his sister Rhoda and Grecil during COV 19 when they all lost their jobs / had no income due to the lack of tourists in Palawan. I am really looking forward to seeing Rodel , Kit, his brother Chalsee, Elay and John later today when we are surprising Marz and her kids with a boat trip organised by her husband Ray! Thanks to Ray for organising the food and Ritchelle for arranging the van to collect everyone from Huni, Nacpan and Barutaan and take us to Sibaltan. You can read about our adventures in my next Blog and Vlog combo called " Bagets go Boating" - charizz!

         Our final breakfast at Cove with Althea, Elay and a very car sick Making and my favourite Pogi Cove receptionist in the background!

So what was the last day I remember so well? We had signed up to visit Manlag Elementary and High Schools with Hope and by chance, as Jhoanna's brother Making was car sick on the journey from Barutaan to Manlag I suggested we stopped for breakfast at Cove. The normally happy Ritchelle and John who were on duty looked very sad, and when I asked why they told me it was the last day of opening for Cove.  Ayala had decided the old lady was too expensive to repair and as they now had 5 hotels at Lio plus the resort hotels like Lagan and Minloc El Nido Cove had server her time. 

No more sunbathing at Cove with jugs or orange and lemonade and hourly calls from Drew

All that remains of Marco's office, the bar with the Wi-Fi booster he had installed!

In case you are wondering what happened to Drew... he contacted me the day i returned to Palawan ( I think he has a CCTV camera at Puerto airport!) to update me on his life. He is still with his Pinoy partner in Zamboanga and the daughter they adopted is now 7 years old. He was in El Nido when we spoke but returning to Puerto after Holy week to do his finals. He kept running out of ( my) money so had to keep dropping out of Uni, in spite of being on the Dean's list of the highest scoring students. When I first met him he was working in a hotel in Puerto and he organised my first Honda Bay and underground River trips and on my last visit my car hire. He also trained as a welder, and did his OJT in the shipyards at Batangas so he could become and OFW. By coincidence Chester and I ate at the restaurant Drew and I had dinner at MOA in the now infamous April fool photo

I decided to use the picture of me sunbathing at Cove as my final countdown to Palawan poster back in February 2021!

                         Drew in the same spot reading one of my books

                           Our final Farwell to cove dinner in 2017

I hope you have enjoyed my walk down memory lane. It was a long walk ion the beach and I got sunburnt and bitten my insects and very dehydrated. But it was worth it to see El Nido Cove one last time. 

             Drew and Drew at El Nido Cove when he was filming for his travel show

Angkla makes great publicity out of how many celebrities stay there but back in the day, before Angkla was even a twinkle in someone's eye - El Nido Cove was the place to be. 

RIP old lady and thanks to the El Nido Cove team for so  many happy memories

This is The British Kabayan , no longer a tourist , but a resident of Palawan , begging you to stay safe ( Ingat Palagi), keep your distance , wash your hands, sanitise and wear your masks.