The Dream Experience with Big Dream Boatman, Philippines
Coron to El Nido by Boat
Travelling in the Philippines, you quickly find out that boats play a huge role in society. After all, when you’re on an archipelago of nearly 7,650 islands, getting a ferry (or more typically a bangka), is the only way of getting to and from most places. Getting from Coron to El Nido, or the reverse is no exception.
Boats like the typical bangka are usually single-hulled boat, with double-outriggers, which are made of bamboo.
When researching how we were going to get from Coron (about 500km south of Manila) to El Nido, the trendy town in the north of Palawan Island, it was a choice between either a 40-minute flight or a fast ferry taking about 3 ½ hours. You could argue that in practice they’d take about the same time, given the time to transfer to the airports and waiting time. I’d also heard that if the weather was rough, the boat voyage could be miserable.
The Slow Boat Route
There is a third way, which we came across by chance: get a slow boat, spending between 3 or 4 days travelling, but sleeping in camp sites along the way.
Today there are a number of companies that organise this, but the best one’s include:
We chose Big Dream Boatman (BDBM) based on the reviews. And oh, what an adventure we had!
The 4D3N Tour
There a many different options depending on how much time you have, your budget and whether you are already on Palawan Island trying to go north, or want to get there from Coron Town (which is actually on Busuanga Island).
Caution: Booze Cruise Alert!
Be warned as some of these trips attract a more boisterous booze-cruise crowd. Also, the weather can cause disruptions, cancellations or different itineraries too. Two days prior to our journey, there had been a red alert for torrential rain and high winds, which caused a lot of damage in Port Barton.
All boat trips between Coron and El Nido were cancelled by the Philippines Coast Guard. We only got confirmation at 7am on the morning of our departure from Coron Town that the trip would go ahead.
Good communication from BDBM and glad the Coast Guard were putting safety first! 👏
Big Dream Boatman
While not the original company doing these tours, BDBM have a well-deserved reputation for safety and putting on an incredible adventure. Organising our 3-week Philippines adventure necessitated being in Coron 2 days prior to departure to be sure of not missing the 9am departure from Coron Port. As these expeditions are extremely popular, we had booked the boat almost 5 months in advance too.
The boat had 20 guests and 10 crew on the “Brown” team. Currently, BDBM have 8 boats, starting on different days shuttling between Coron and El Nido.
They are expanding their operations and plan on increasing this to 20 boats by 2026. If other companies also plan the same growth, this unique adventure will soon become not quite as special.
What Does the Tour Involve?
All the tours follow a similar pattern:
- Early breakfast
- 8am departure for a short journey to a remote island
- Snorkelling, Kayaking, SUP/paddle boarding stop for an hour or so
- Another short motor before stopping for lunch onboard
- Swim / Snorkel / sunbathe opportunities
- More motoring to another beach
- Maybe a beach volleyball or sit in the shade having cocktails
- Final motoring to your basecamp for the night
- Swim or kayak ashore
- Get assigned to a bamboo hut (mattress / bedding / mosquito net / fan and limited power supply
Safety First!
What was outstanding was the care each team member had for the guests. They all had their assigned roles (chef and boat crew obviously), but others were guides for snorkelling, entertainment or drinks.
For example, they knew where all the guests were and when you came back on board from a snorkel, a glass of water was handed to you. My wife was handicapped following an injury, and they always were patient and careful helping her off the boat.
Highlights of the Coron to El Nido Boat Trip
The expedition has so many highlights – as well as being THE STANDOUT experience of the whole holiday. But sleeping with nature on a deserted island, snorkelling in marine parks, stunning beaches and the thrill of gliding through magical seas, rank high on the list.
What also made it special was spending 4 days getting to know the fellow passengers. A mix of Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, German, Norwegian, and some Brits turned into a proxy family. We were the grandparents and the youngest were 19. What a special mix of people. ❤️
Hats off to the crew and chef Raymond for preparing hearty food AND getting it ashore for breakfast and dinner (by kayak!). No one went hungry and they even catered for those with special dietary needs. The booze was unlimited (although we ran out of San Miguel Pilsen 😂), but nobody got drunk or behaved badly.
Boat Trip Lowlights
This is not a luxury trip and probably not glamping either: it’s somewhere in between.
If you want your creature comforts, hate mozzies or sandflies, need air-conditioning and a hot shower, then stay ashore and choose something else! The beds were adequate (although one was so small, I shifted to head-to-toe position with my wife to make more room!). The power supply was more than sufficient to charge drone and phone and we weren’t troubled by insects at all.
The ONLY slight challenge was one night hearing karaoke from another island, (where we actually ended up staying the next night). It was great fun all joining in the karaoke up until dinner at 8pm – but then it went ON AND ON for hours.
It was such a shame as it was our last night and the dynamic of the group was SO good that we would have had more fun telling stories and just enjoying each other’s company. This seemed more like a crew night off to me and I’d rather the music had been kept to just up to dinner and not drowning out the entire island.
There are several islands where other BDBM tours share the same beach and we also saw the Sea Quest tour (3D2N) on one island – I’m glad we weren’t with them.
I’m guessing bumping into other tours is going to be more of a problem in the future, especially if the BDBM planned expansion goes ahead.
What makes this experience unique is the feeling that you are staying on a deserted island – if every island becomes a karaoke party, then it will be ruined for everyone.
Island Boat Trip Adventures
We stopped at half-a-dozen islands along the way, but if you looked at a map, we actually spent two days pretty much in the same area. I’m guessing it depends on the weather, as I know some routes take you all the way to El Nido port, past the amazing Nacpan Beach, whereas we ended up in San Fernando Port, going past Darocotan Island, which is an hour’s journey to get you to El Nido town.
The beaches were amazing with some reasonable snorkelling opportunities too. Some of the tides were surprisingly strong and the guides carefully started the trips to make the most of gliding with the currents.
When you spot a Charging Point 🤣
Sunsets to Dream About
Like to read more?
Check out this 14-Day Itinerary of the Philippines we designed.