Malapacao Island is an island in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines. Its size is 10,6 acres (4,3 ha) and its maximum length/width is around 1,1kmX580m. It is located in Bacuit Bay where many islands are scattered around with resorts and few populated places, and that bay also offers some protection. The island is less than a kilometer away from shore.
Malapacao Island has very unique shape. It is a raised island with strong rocky cliffs and its summits are grown in vegetation. The island itself has some infrastructure, (it was a resort before, and perhaps it is still, but its current website is no longer active) blended very well with nature for peace and tranquility. Some conservation efforts have taken in place to preserve its nature and beauty.
The island features a few white sandy beaches, the longest beach being 220 meters long. There are turtles on the island laying eggs, and some birds and even bats can be seen flying around at sunset at island summits. There are good coral reefs around the island making it good for water-based activities as well. There are various plants and fruits on the island including many coconut palms of course, adding to the tropical vibe.
Now, you will get information quotes directly from the island’s nonexistent website (it has been archived for years perhaps, but still provides some useful information, especially about turtles, conservation and coconuts on the island):
FRIDAYS ISLAND HOME, an exotic, dream vacation like no other.
Enjoy a Private Pristine
Coconut Fringed white-sand beach;
Coral reef & calm sea;
Stunning views;
Jungle hikes & climbs.
Simple Healthy whole-food,
(Rice, fish, eggs, fruits, veggies, greens & herbs)
From an organic garden or grown locally.
Loose weight, be healthy, get a tan and do nothing or just swim, kayak & snorkel all day. Or have a massage.
Friday also loves her turtle conservation project especially swimming with turtles.Friday’s tiny Private Island is one of 22 island paradise gems studding Bacuit Bay in the El Nido Marine Reserve, Palawan Philippines.
This is also where she lives:
Not far from Hong Kong on a Latitude and Longitude of < 11° 5′ 57.87″ N 119° 24′ 30.64″E>. If you go into Google Earth with these co-ordinates GE allows you to zoom right onto Fridays island paradise.Her home is nestled between two giant sculptured cliff faces with a lush jungle backdrop and beautifully cultivated gardens. Of all these beautiful islands, most visitors say Friday’s island is the most stunning of all the islands as it welcomes you with magical up-stretched arms.
Bacuit Bay has 22 exotic and interesting islands, many with great corals for a snorkeling trip very near to Friday’s island home, great to explore and to marvel at their beauty.
Palawan, long ago called last frontier paradise of the country, is the furthest western island of all the 7001 islands that comprise the archipelago of the Philippines. El Nido town is 80 minutes by plane from Manila and a 5 hour van journey from Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan.
Friday’s island paradise is 35 minutes by boat accross Bacuit Bay from Corong Corong or 15 minutes by boat from a small village called Manlag. Bacuit Bay sits in the middle of the famous South China Sea.
The turtle-breeding season has begun again and my island team are delighted to help protect the eggs.
Our tiny hatchery had been without occupants since late May, so it’s good to have new residents again.We’ve had three green turtle visits during a 14-day period, with 301 eggs so far, offering a promising season. Our first big mama came to visit during the night of December 17 and I spotted her first tracks at the western end of my beach. I could see that she’d changed her mind, returning to the sea, not finding the area suitable. Fortunately she came back up at the opposite end near some mucuna vines, and created her nest right under our ancient Butung tree.
This end of the beach has rocks closer to the shore and isn’t ideal for nests. Spring tides between December and February can pound fragile eggs to pieces. Only one narrow place exists here between rocks and this huge tree and it was in this small space that this mama laid her eggs.
However no matter where turtles lay their eggs on my beach, the likelihood of them escaping the scent of a monitor lizard is rare. Veronica and Macring set off with three nito grass plates and began digging in the wrong place, as they hadn’t read the turtles movements from her tracks. Once I explained the tracks to them, they had no difficulty finding the eggs five meters away, as there were no decoy nests. With three plates full, Edgar joined us with another plate and we transferred all 107 eggs into our hatchery.
As this time of year is cooler, I predict this hatch to be between February 24th and 28th. With females laying approximately 100 eggs in each clutch every 10 to 28 days and up to seven times in one year, this mother will probably visit us a few more times during this season. Exactly ten days later on December 27th, we had our second visit. She could have been the same turtle that lay earlier, or another mama of similar size.
Coconuts, The Tree Of Life
Cocout trees renowned to be the ‘Trees Of Life’ are abundant on Friday’s island and coconut plays a big role in her daily food and drink.
From these majestic trees she harvests the nuts at various stages of their growth.
The young green nuts, like the bunch in the pic above, are more round in shape and called boko.
At this age (approx. 5 months old) the water inside, also called buko juice is fresh and not so sweet. Buko juice (coconut water) nourishes the kidneys and is alkaline forming for the body. Friday will drink 2 or 3 of these each day.
The flesh from a boko nut (often called meat) is soft and gluetenous and most treasured by the local people.
Boko meat is great to mix with fruits or veggie salads and this is how Friday eats it added to her main meals. It is easy to digest have less oil content in the younger meat too.
Many of Fridays foreign vsitors often prefer the older harder coconut flesh (again called meat) as this is what they are familiar with.
fridays island coconuts
Each day Friday makes 4-5 ounces of virgin coconut oil for her daly needs. First she must grate the meat of 2-3 old coconuts, then squeeze the cream from this meat.Left in her tiny 12 volt cooler (fridge) this cream hardens making it easy to separate to hardened butter-like cream on the top with the watery liquid below.
This cream is then left in the sun for 2-4 days to seaparate futher into oil, curds and whey below that. The virgin oil is used predominantly for Fridays sauerkraut, dressings, dips and fruit leathers. Friday also makes her own coconut cheese from fermenting the cooconut cream for a few days.Aside from the meat of the nuts of the coconut, another favorite of Fridays is coconut ubud great for snacks and in her ubud salads.
Malapacao Island was on sale or joint venture for years, now its status is unknown. It was offered directly at their own website as well. Now you will get a few videos of the island and a gallery with over 80 pictures
Here is Malapacao Island Gallery (83 pictures, click on a picture and wait for a little until the gallery loads, then scroll left/right, and press Esc to exit, optionally you can press F11 for a bigger gallery)
