The Buhay Isla EcoTour for 3 nights was an unique island hopping experience from El Nido to Coron. We purchased the Buhay Isla EcoTour to visit some of the non touristy areas of the Philippines. It also seemed like a better option then flying. If given the choice, I would take a boat with scenic view over a plane any day. .The tour had it’s ups and down but was a worthwhile experience in my opinion. Let me take you through the pros and cons of the trip.
Pro #1: Visit Remote Islands and Secluded Beaches
You can take a day trip to the islands around El Nido and Coron to experience their beauty. But what I hated about the day trips is that you pull up to an island next to 10-20 other boats all there at the exact same time which detracts from the experience. You can’t fully appreciate what the islands have to offer when you are surrounded by other tourists. You won’t be able to find yourself a secluded, quiet spot on the beach to enjoy your vacation. It’s not fun to snorkel when you are worried about colliding with other passengers. I want to get lost in viewing the underwater world not scanning the area to make sure I don’t swim into anyone else.
So this is where the Buhay Isla EcoTour for 3 nights really shines. Not every stop along the way is remote but they do their best to visit islands where few other boats are. Some of the spots they pull into, you may be the only boat there at the time and getting to experience it with just the other 12 people on your boat. You can take a walk leisurely along the sandy white beaches enjoying the peace and quiet. You can snorkel without any distractions. Or take the beautiful Instagram photos that will make your friends and family jealous without anyone else in them. There is a peacefulness to visiting the islands all by yourselves. We unanimously agreed that this was the best of the trip.
Pro #2 Superior Customer Service
I was really impressed with the staff of Buhay Isla EcoTours. They were always ready to go above and beyond and to make the trip as pleasurable as they could for you. On a couple of stops, we decided that we wanted to float in life vests and drink beer in the water. They happily handed us down beers and get checking on us to see if they needed to take an empty can from us or hand down more beers. This really isn’t part of their job description but they happily did it.
I also loved how the staff always had smiles on their faces. The crew seemed to genuinely love their job and it really came across in their customer service and made the trip more enjoyable for all. Part of their job may include sitting at the front of the boat or out on the edges where they got pelted with water. But they laughed as the waves hit them and laughing at each other as they got soaked. They joined in playing drinking games with us at night teaching us their favorite called 7up. I constantly had the crew coming up to me asking , “you okay, you need anything”. On one of the islands, we played a game of basketball with the customers versus the crew. They seemed to be loving it or maybe they just enjoyed beating us so easily!
Pro # 3 Good Food
I have taken several group tours throughout my life and I have come to expect little of the included food with the trips. It is often bland, mass produced, and repetitive food. However I was very happily surprised with the food on the Buhay Isla EcoTour. We were lucky to have an amazing chef onboard.
Breakfast usually consisted of eggs, bacon or ham, pancakes, and fruit. All of which was deliciously made and I had to hold myself back from getting seconds. Lunch and dinner always included white rice or “Philippino Power” as they called it along with fresh mangoes, watermelon, and pineapple. They did vary the dishes that went with it though usually giving two seafood options of either fish, calamari, or shrimp and one other meat option of either chicken or pork. Yet they changed it up a bit each time with some days having grilled fish and other days fried. The chicken may be served as curry one day and in a creamy mushroom sauce the next.
They also provided two snacks a day. Usually the 10am snack was packaged cookies and the afternoon snack varied including fried bananas, rice pudding, and fried potatoes. They offered plenty of food throughout the day that you never had to worry about going hungry instead I worried about how much weight I might put on in 4 days. It was a good thing we were so active to burn it off.
Pro #4 Experiencing the small villages
One of the perks of the Buhay Isla Ecotour from El Nido to Coron was getting to visit small island villages with only 1,000 people on them. One of my favorite experiences, was our stop at a local village. We were immediately greeted by about 10 children who were all super excited to high five us. I have never met people so excited about a high five but as we walked around the island, children kept coming up to us with their hand raised and a huge smile on their face. When you don’t have much, you really truly appreciate the small things in life. I took out my phone to take a selfie with them and they lit up. They loved taking photos with me and getting to look at them.
As we continues to walk around the island, I saw the children playing with tin cans, tires, and bottle caps. Another little boy was making himself a basketball hoop by using a rock to hammer a plastic ring into a piece of wood. He smiled hugely when he finished the project and proudly held it up to show it off to us. Instead of seeing children throwing tantrums, it seemed the island was filled with smiley children that were happy to wave or high five us.
Pro #5 Amazing sunsets!
Every night, we were treated to an amazing sunset on the islands. It was a perfect way to end the day with a drink in our hand and enjoying the view. Buhay Isla Ecotour may not have been responsible for the sunsets but they did provide us with the perfect locations to view the sun go down!
Pro and Con: They asked us to snorkel to/from our boat to our campsite every night and every morning.
While we swam, they would kayak our day bags to the campsite along with the food. Each time, I found myself either dreading getting wet again or dreading getting wet first thing in the morning. However once I actually started swimming, I always enjoyed it. They were often pretty corals and fish to look at during the swim. The cool water was refreshing and it isn’t often in my life that I get to have such enjoyable calm swims in the ocean. You are only with them for 4 days, so make the most of it and enjoy the evening and early morning swims.
Con #1 – Minimum Comforts!
Be prepared to get back to the basics on your Buhay Isla Ecotour. You will be camping with minimal comforts. You will have a tent with a thin mattress and sheet to sleep on. My friend Becca and I seemed to struggle with sharing the small sheet. Tip: To keep your tent comfortable just close the mosquito part of your tent so you get a breeze coming through to keep it cool.
The bathroom facilities at all the camps leave a lot to be desired. You will truly experience the Philippino way of life. Their toilets are meant to be squat toilets and they are actually toilet bowls very low to the ground. Everyone on the trip seemed to be in the consensus that they were just at a weird height and using squat toilets for 4 days makes you very excited for a normal western toilet when you finish the Buhay Isla Ecotour. I also experienced these toilets whenever I used restrooms in bars or other public areas in the Philippines so get used to it. The shower was room temperature water in a giant plastic container that you would scoop out using a bucket and pour over yourself. They referred to the this “bucket shower” as a Philippino shower. I guess we could just consider ourselves lucky to get to shower at all.
Con #2: Huge waves that will drench you.
Out of our 4 days of sailing, two of them had huge waves which sent water flying all the way up to the second level where we were sitting. You would get drenched at some point during the journey no matter what seat you chose. Now this isn’t Buhay Isla’s fault and any boat we saw was encountering the same fate. I happened to travel in January which is when they notoriously have the biggest waves so you may get luckier if you choose to travel in another month. Come prepared to get wet and buy some dry bags to protect your stuff. A few people had their day bags get soaked on the first day of the trip. We all quickly learned the lesson from there.
There’s my full view of my 3 night Buhay Isla Ecotour. Did I miss anything? Would you consider taking an Ecotour on your trip to the Philippines?
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