El Nido.

El Nido, a rather large tourist destination located in the north end of the main island of Palawan, also the main port town to reach Coron island via boat.
el Nido offered many attractions and activities but for those of us who wanted a place to relax and enjoy the local catch it was a pleasant place to stay.
Knowing that El Nido was high on the list of places for people to visit in the area both Marlieke and I expected a place to withdraw cash from an ATM, of course this was exactly the issue we had with the only bank in town being a local bank where international bank cards were not accepted.
A whole day spent searching for various methods to withdraw cash using a credit card they all failed and our last resort was to use the money transfer service Western Union.
It was either this or taking the 12 hour round trip back to Puerto Princessa where ATMs were many.
So, with the 3G internet connection on Marlieke's iPhone tethered to my laptop (yes, they have 3G connection here but no ATM, really???) I unsheathed my credit card and opened an account with Western Union.
With high hopes of this fore-filling  my dreams to eat that evening, the transfer did not go through and I was left on a multitude of Skype calls to the company to confirm details getting passed on from one desk agent to another, then another and another only to be shrouded in disappointment as the process for whatever reason was unapproved.
To my dismay I told the agent that if she would find a western person (with my features) begging for money in the streets of Palawan, Philippines that she should kindly offer some small change or even a small bite to eat as it would be much appreciated.
I figured that the main issue with the money transfer was that the sender and receiver for this cash was both myself but we tried it with Marlieke's card and it worked - of course followed with a gigantic sign of relief.

Having figured out our financial situation we wanted to enjoy our time in El Nido so we organized a boat trip that took us (and others) around several islands and into two lagoons.
It was a pleasant hassle free trip that we enjoyed very much however it was more expensive for me as I managed to loose my snorkel gear at the bottom of the first lagoon (and site) we visited on the tour.
The included lunch to the tour was fantastic with a plethora of different seafoods served to us whist bathing in the sun on a small islands white beach that is only accessible by boat that was surrounded by steep cliffs one side and  bright turquoise clear waters the other. Idealistic, some would say but unfortunately we were also offered up some rain on the subsequent days we spent here.
The sunsets at this location were amazing as shown with the pictures below.
The accommodation we chose on the beachfront was a little rough around the edges but offered a great view with sounds of the waves crashing on the sand to put us to sleep, however irritatingly and promptly followed by other drunk tourists returning from the bar belligerently chatting outside our window.
Still, I always sleep with music blasting in my ears and this didn't bother me as much as it did Marlieke.

One of the best views of the surrounding area and ocean is from the viewpoint/restaurant on the northern road 20 minutes walk from town, it's am awesome place to watch the sunset and take advantage (like I did) of the all you can eat buffet menu with delights like stuffed squid and BBQ'ed snapper and at 260 pesos well worth the price.