
Seven Commandos Beach – Overnight Beach Camping in El Nido
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I found graham crackers in El Nido. Graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate. I hadn’t expected to find graham crackers: I was in an ATM-free town that didn’t even have power half of the day. But, there they were, tucked into a display case in a little corner shop. I mean, I don’t know about you, but, when I think camping, I think s’mores. So, even if our camping trip wasn’t in some middle of the American woods but, instead, was an overnight beach camping trip on Seven Commandos Beach, on an island, in the Philippines, s’mores still seemed like a necessity.
Seven Commandos Beach is part of the El Nido Island Hopping Tour A, along with Secret Lagoon, Small and Big Lagoon, and Shimizu Island. All of the tour companies in Palawan offer the same destinations in set tour packages: A, B, C. I had already visited the beach, briefly, a couple of days before our excursion, on that tour. But, some new friends at my hostel were going to travel there, overnight, to camp and invited me along. It was such a beautiful beach — white sand, clear aqua water, towering coconut palms — that obviously I wanted to return. Plus it had been years since I’d been camping and I’d never camped on a beach before. Plus, I kind of liked one of the guys who was going.
Everyone wanted marshmallows to bring to roast over the fire, but I was the one who insisted on the rest of the fixins for s’mores. Of course, later, on the island, as we roasted multicolored marshmallows on an open fire, no one else seemed to care. I guess s’mores are an American thing and everyone else was English, French, Dutch.
We spent our night on Seven Commandos drinking San Miguels, cooking and eating over the fire, roasting those marshmallows. We snorkeled in the daylight. We played volleyball in the sand. We went for a swim in the dark, looking for signs of bio luminescent plankton lighting up the ocean.
And I shared a tent, for the night, with that adorable English boy. The one I had kind of liked. Te one I’d somehow hooked up with the night before.
Which was just one more thing that I didn’t expect…
Find accommodation in El Nido, Palawan, The Philippines, and book a room today.
Find accommodation in El Nido, Palawan, The Philippines, and book a room today.