El Nido: Sharing/Joiner Island Hopping Tour A with Buffet Lunch

What Payong-Payong adds

The four-stop Tour A is the Secret Lagoon, Shimizu Island, Seven Commandos Beach and the Big Lagoon. Beacfront adds Payong-Payong Beach, which its description calls a small, secluded beach with soft sand, vegetation and rock formations around it, a quiet stop after the busier lagoons. A February 2026 reviewer summed it up in three words: 'Payong-payong was pretty'.

What it costs you is pace. With five stops in an 8-hour day and an hour printed at each, the boat legs and the loading at the town beach fit into the remaining three hours, so this is a full day with an early return unlikely. The order printed is Seven Commandos first, then the Big Lagoon, Shimizu for lunch, the Secret Lagoon and Payong-Payong last, though the description itself narrates the Secret Lagoon as the final stop, and crews swap the order around the lagoon cap.

How the four routes divide the bay, and why Payong-Payong sits on Tour A's side of it, is covered on the which-tour page.

The buffet, the fruit and the water

The included column reads: buffet lunch, water, fruits, life vest or jacket, licensed tourist boat, licensed boat captain, licensed guide and crew. That is a longer list than the Corazon Tour A's four lines, and fruit and water are named rather than assumed. The listing prints no menu.

Since the 2023 cooking ban, described on the itinerary page, shared boats bring food prepared onshore in trays, and the reviews on this listing agree on the result: 'the food was very good', 'delicious buffet meal', 'even the food was delicious'. One May 2026 reviewer adds that the group was 'a little tight when eating', which is the trade-off of a full joiner boat eating together on one beach. The water line means drinking water on board; plastic bags are banned on this listing, plastic bottles on the tours in general, so bring a refillable and a waterproof bag, both of which the operator's own what-to-bring list asks for.

Alcohol is on the not-allowed list. The rest of the packing list is short: a change of clothes, camera, biodegradable sunscreen, beachwear, waterproof shoes and cash. Cash is the one that decides the day.

What 141 reviews say for $22

The rating is 4.3, with the guides scored 4.5, transportation 4.4 and value for money 4.4 in the breakdown the listing prints. Read against the two other shared Tour A boats, that is a tenth of a point lower overall on a far smaller sample than the Corazon boat's 1,981 reviews. The review summary names the same reservation as its neighbours: some travellers say clearer information on extra fees, especially for kayaks and lagoon entry, would help.

Guides are the recurring praise. A February 2026 reviewer names Justin, 'really funny and super lively'; a June 2026 reviewer calls the live guides 'very nice and helpful'; a March 2026 reviewer credits the crew for being funny while noting a lot of boats at the stops. A United Kingdom reviewer in March 2026 had been warned that El Nido tours are crowded and found it 'wasn't bad at all', and enjoyed the pace.

Value for money at 4.4 is where the $22 shows: reviewers who expected a bare-bones boat found a full buffet. Whether the saving against the Corazon boat is worth the extra hour of day and the smaller review base is the choice this page exists to make plain.

The excluded column, priced

Product 757808 lists five exclusions: the environmental fee of 400, the lagoon entrance fee of 200, both marked 'government tax', hotel pickup and drop-off, tips, and 'anything that is not mentioned in the inclusions'. The kayak is nowhere in either column, which is the gap reviewers keep pointing at, and the last catch-all line is where it legally sits. Because the operator prints its fees without a currency sign or a conversion, the table restates each line in pesos with a dollar equivalent, adds the kayak from what other Tour A listings and this listing's own reviewers report, and closes with the cash one adult needs on top of the $22 seat.

Every figure is as the listing and its reviews stand in Q3 2026; the total is this page's arithmetic.

Why reviewers call the kayak compulsory

A June 2026 reviewer put the problem in one sentence: kayak rental for the Big Lagoon 'is not included and appears as optional; however, once we got there, we realized that we didn't really have a choice since we paid an admission fee for the lagoon and there is no other way to access it than by kayak'. That is the whole mechanism. Motorised boats may not enter the Big Lagoon, the ₱200 fee is collected at the mouth, and the kayak is the only way from the bangka to the water inside.

Optional on paper, compulsory in practice, and once you accept that, the reviews turn positive about it: a March 2026 reviewer says 'rent the kayak at the Big Lagoon; it's totally worth it', and an April 2026 reviewer calls the kayak option 'the most beautiful' part of the day. The listing prices no kayak; other Tour A listings print ₱300 to 350 for a two-seater, and the Alexzus boat adds ₱500 for a three-seater. Bring the pesos and split a kayak with whoever you came with.

The eco-tourism fee works differently: ₱400 per non-resident adult, paid once, valid 10 days across every tour and site in El Nido, so a receipt from an earlier day is honoured. Children, students and seniors pay less; the categories are on the cost page, and what a family day costs on each route is on the kids page. The eco fee's rate and ten-day validity are set out on the municipality's fee explainer.

An hour at the lagoon, and what fits in it

The itinerary gives the Big Lagoon one hour, the same as every other stop. That hour begins when the boat anchors at the mouth, so it includes paying the fee, waiting for a free kayak when several boats arrive together, and paddling back out. A March 2026 reviewer counted 'a lot of boats and, accordingly, a lot of people at the stops', which is the crowd the hour has to absorb.

The lagoon runs on a daily entry cap; when the day's slots are gone boats go elsewhere, and this listing, unlike the Corazon one, prints no line saying what replaces it. Ask the office the evening before whether the boat has a lagoon slot. Two things make the hour go further.

Report on time so the boat is cleared early by the Coast Guard, since the first boats out of the town beach reach the lagoon before the queue forms; and decide before you arrive who is paddling with whom, because the kayak handover at the mouth is where minutes go. The Secret Lagoon, an hour later on the printed plan, needs no kayak, only a swim to a hole in the rock and footwear for the stony floor. The listing names nothing under 'not suitable for', so there is no stated bar on mobility or pregnancy here, though the wade to the boat and the climb into the Secret Lagoon are the same as on every Tour A. The A versus C question, when weather makes the choice for you, is settled on the A versus C page.

The Beacfront joiner is the boat for a traveller who wants the most stops for the least money and does not mind a full eight hours. The buffet is better than the price suggests, Payong-Payong is a real fifth stop rather than a drive-by, and the guides collect the same praise as the dearer boats. Carry about ₱775 (about $12) in cash for the fees and a shared kayak, treat the lagoon hour as tight, and ask the office about the day's lagoon slot.

If the $3 saving against the Corazon boat matters less to you than a written line about what happens when the lagoon is full, that boat is the safer paper; if a fifth beach and a fuller buffet matter more, this one is. Every other boat and route in Bacuit Bay is compared on the El Nido island hopping tour homepage.