After a couple of days of island hopping exploring the many white sandy beaches and hidden lagoons of the Bacuit archipelago, another adventure awaited us the next day. The previous night’s rain worried me a bit, as I expected the jagged trail to Taraw Cliff to be extra slippery. Despite being my second time in El Nido, it would be my first time to scale Taraw Cliff. Making the short but arduous scramble to the top extra special was the company of my girlfriend, Monnette.
A Morning Rock Scramble to Taraw Cliff
An Early Morning Decision
We woke up just before sunrise, still hearing the faint drops of rain. "Are we going? Are we still going?" we both asked ourselves as we fueled up with fruits and coffee. It wasn’t a debate, as we both agreed to pursue our plan of seeing the town of El Nido from the acclaimed viewpoint of Taraw Cliff.
The Ascent Begins
We met our guide—the amiable Reckniel, a twenty-two-year-old student who moonlights as a tour guide on the side—at the town of El Nido. He pointed out the tip to us that is visible from the boat coming in from the mouth of the bay. During my first visit to El Nido, I remembered wondering about climbing it each time I saw it as our boat approached the town after a day of island hopping.
After making our way through the back houses of a small community, we reached the jump-off point. Immediately, we had to use both our hands and feet to start our ascent. There was no relaxed hiking; it was a mad scramble from the get-go. I worried about Monnette, knowing she had no prior rock-climbing experience, but as I saw her gain elevation with such ease—like Spiderwoman—I could only remind her to take her time and not hurry.
One careless move can cause a slippage that will catapult you to the mercy of the sharp tips of the limestone. I could already imagine a dreaded scene if one actually suffers an accident while climbing Taraw Cliff. A huge ghastly wound would be the best outcome; otherwise, the worst-case scenario would be broken bones and even death.
The Scramble to the Summit
The more we advanced vertically, the more concerned I became. I saw the smile on Monnette’s face disappearing into a look of unrest. "My hands hurt," she told me. It was from the amount of holding onto the sharp edges of the cliff, and even my left knee was scraped, opening a small wound.
Our guide, Reckniel, would assure us that if we took it slowly but surely, we would be fine. We did just that, and as soon as we started to see the apex of the peak, smiles returned to our faces—well, mainly to Monnette’s.
Echoes of jubilant screams of "Yahoo!" filled the air as we high-fived each other after almost forty minutes of laborious free-rock scrambling. The picturesque view of El Nido town and Bacuit Bay opened up to us. Sitting on protruding spikes of the limestone peak, we sat like we were in the front row watching a spellbinding musical show. The curtain dropped, revealing a splendid scene of crystalline waters and the faraway movements of boats appearing like choreographed dances.
A View Worth the Climb
The weather came to cooperate with us as well. As if sensing our difficulties during the ascent, it paved the way for us to fully embrace and enjoy the quiet moment we had atop Taraw Cliff.
After the initial burst of excitement, we were rendered speechless by the view laid out in front of us. Even Reckniel, who has been here dozens of times, was still left astonished by the scenery from Taraw Cliff. "I will never get tired of this view," Reckniel told us in Tagalog.
I held Monnette’s hands, and without speaking to each other, the glimmer in our eyes told us that we couldn’t be bothered to be someplace else in that moment.
Check out the rest of my El Nido, Palawan posts here.
