Patoyo

Exploring the island with GPS


patoyo

Shot of the entire island as I was exploring all the paths I could find. The kitesurfing resort is at the end of the red trail on the far right. The town of San Miguel is visible on the island of Linapacan to the left.

Hash House Harriers are welcome to join me for a jog around the island or other sports activity at our growing resort, such as volleyball, basketball, badminton, kite/windsurfing or a bamboo gymnastics workout. You can check out a big interhash I organised a while ago in Bohemian Paradise in the Czech Republic.

You can click the two pics below to connect to the GPS maps of each. The bottom trail is a straight walk back from the start of snorkeling on the left part of the island. You can see how far up the beach goes and the entire stretch is fantastic snorkeling, as you can get a glimpse of in the video on the eco-resort page. That walk took 55 minutes and required climbing two ridges.

Patoyo-explore

Patoyo-snorkeling

It was a lovely island to live on and explore, and I enjoyed bonding with some of the locals, but for several reasons I eventually had to move to another island. However, I like the name Patoyo over the second island, so I decided to keep it. In Tagalog Patoyo means “dry island”, but much later when I was searching on the internet for the word Patoyo to see how much of it is due to my presence (quite a lot, actually), I stumbled on What Meanings, which explains the meaning of words. I was surprised to learn that it seemed to fairly closely reflect my own character!

I also found out that there is a village called Patoyo in Mexico, in the province of Chihuahua. Tried to find a hotel or something there and just for fun set up some sort of sister partnership, but I guess it’s just too small of a rinky dinky little town, like the new island I moved to later.

patoyo-mexico

>>> check out more trekking

Update to mom – planning construction of first hut

kitesurfing-windsurfing-kiteboarding-palawan-philippines-construction-plans-120620152853_smallGood news, yesterday got notification that a big blob of cash will be coming in about 15 days, which is about perfect around the time when the owner of this property will be in Manila. He collects dried shrimp and cashews from locals and ships them in his big boat to Manila every once in a while. That means that I can do some important and less-expensive-than-here purchases in that big city and load them up in his boat for on the way back. This is also around the time when I need to extend my visa, but in Manila I can apparently get a six month extension, which would be better so I do not have to leave the island every two months, especially since I will be having regular volunteers and hopefully paying guests from now on. Already had two couples and another couple is coming this weekend. Many are in the pipeline, and I even have a few who want to stay at least a few months – one Italian girl (an artist and furniture designer) wants to stay at least 3-4 months.

One Ozzie guy wants to come for about three weeks at the end of July, and said he can bring me a used kitesurfing board for $310 (they are usually at least a thousand), so soon I will finally have a proper lure to bring in the paying guests with (speaking of lure, he also wants to bring a speargun for catching octopus – so more fun toys for the guests). And enough cash to start building my own hut. This one will act as the bar, kitchen, and my quarters in the attic. Just spent an hour designing it: 10m long, 4m wide on one side and 6m wide on the other (need to avoid the danger zone of potentially falling coconuts).

I also just finished designing the gymnastics bamboo workout gym, complete with low parallel bars for pushups and practicing handstands, high bar for chinups and leg pullups etc., and high parallel bar for other. Think this will be another great selling point for people to come here. Especially need my own shack because it sucks having to retire to the crammed little tent when it starts raining and nicer to have a dry communal space for people to escape to. Not to mention a standing kitchen and much greater comfort overall. With this I’m sure many will be satisfied with a tent, as long as there are some boards to rent. Convinced the owner to get a kayak for his hotel, so he agreed to get an extra one for me. This will give people plenty of interesting things to do while here, so it can be some time before I will start to build huts for the guests.

kitesurfing-windsurfing-kiteboarding-palawan-philippines-construction-plans-120620152852

Cleaned up a lot of the beach of seaweed and rocks and corals, so slowly taking its planned paradise shape. Everything is falling nicely into place!

 

Next page in story Next: Second shopping spree – main hut on its way
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Lou PrataliLou Pratali
11:04 25 Jul 23
This is a must to do!!Super ultimate tour is the best with Kayangan and barracuda lake, twin lagoons (my favorite), coral garden (blue fabulous coral) were the best. It’s really worth it to pay for private tour (3500 to 4000 PHP). You will also have to pay for entrance fees (150 to 200PHP by location) and eventually shopping at the market - must do (count 300 for 2 for fish, pork, fruits and vegetables, water).
Gérard BENOITGérard BENOIT
16:11 07 Feb 23
I was looking for a personalized excursion to the beautiful Gulf of Bacuit.Seeing the comments, I contacted Mel.Very responsive, very efficient and perfect organization.The flight attendants were very friendly and very helpful.And I'm not even talking about the meal on board...a marvel.In all fairness, this excursion will remain an excellent memory and I cannot recommend Mel and his team highly enough.A big thank-you.
Alyse TarbottonAlyse Tarbotton
23:48 30 Aug 22
This tour went well above all our expectations! I couldn't recommend this enough! The boat crew, captain and tour guide were nothing but amazing, everyone was so kind, helpful and friendly. The crew knew the best spots to visit that weren't overcrowded with tourists, 3 times we were lucky enough to have whole islands to ourselves! It was my partner's birthday while away and everything went above and beyond, bonfire, cake, birthday card, singing and celebrating with us.If you love camping this is definitely a tout you should do, it has been the highlight of our trip!!
Danish KayaniDanish Kayani
10:24 31 Oct 19
Coron is the best place i have ever seen.. picturesque. Beautiful. Peaceful
We booked a 4 days/3 nights private boat trip from Coron to Sibaltan. The organization went very well from the beginning, the owner answered to all my questions, and we were able to choose which islands to visit and where to sleep. The first night we slept in a bungalow in Banana Island, the second we camped in Araw beach and the last we slept in a seafront bungalow builded on a tree in Pical on Iloc Island.The islands in that area are the most beautiful islands I have ever seen, with clear water, lots of coral reef and fishes to see, white sand and almost deserted. The crew was very friendly and polite and they organize every single meal and for camping they give you a tent which was just perfect! This was our highlight in our 2 weeks in the Philippines and I wish I had booked a longer trip. A private trip gives you the freedom to decide where and when to go.
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We are a family operation managing private custom boat tours in the beautiful Palawan area, and are happy to help travelers with their plans through the country, having traveled a lot of it ourselves and planning to visit it all.

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