There is little in El Nido that feels manufactured. Accommodation here is simple; transportation is animated, but basic. By land, a long, dust-saturated half-excuse for a road is the only way in or out (during the dry season, that is) and a ferry pulls through twice a week. Credit cards are good for scraping up crumbs and travelers checks for rolling cigarettes, so bring plenty of pesos.

The irony here is that many of the locals make a good living off tourists, but they don't seem to care if tourists come or not, although they do it in a friendly way, like most everything.

The town has tics but they act as a filter, keeping the crowds away. In El Nido, there is a 250-peso fine for wearing your swimsuit off the beach. It is a small, but noteworthy sign that the town does not want to be steamrolled by tourists, especially those wearing neon thongs or leave-nothing-to-the-imagination Speedos. The Filipinos want El Nido — and Palawan — to remain their home, not become a techno party playground for backpackers or a souvenir strip mall, like so many tropical paradises.

Palawan is called the "last frontier;" it is a footnote, somewhere to get lost - and Filipinos want to keep it that way.

Here are a few places to go in the Bacuit Archipelago. A boat can be arranged at the Blue Karrot bar for a small price; lunch is extra and the boatmen expect about a few pesos as a tip. Boats can also be arranged by bungalow operators:

Bone Cave: Locals say the Japanese held prisoners in this series of caverns. Whether they did doesn't matter, for you can see how this would make a fine hideaway. The caverns are accessible only through an opening about the size of a garbage can lid. Squeeze through and enter a cylindrical sand-bottomed anteroom about 20 meters high and 15 meters wide. An adjoining cavern to the left is where the namesake bones lay, reputedly an unlucky prisoner.

From this room, a few tunnels lead to an inner sanctum that is the most impressive but hard to access without ropes. At about 30 meters high, the cone-shaped inner cavern is punctured at the top and filled with soft light. Bats make frenzied sorties from adjoining caves to steep to reach and the walls are an iridescent light green.

Paglugaban Cove: On the surface, it's just another white, palm fringed deserted beach. Below the surface, the coral is astounding. Table coral, finger, fire and brain coral, immense fields of staghorn coral and huge Gorgonian fans swaying lazily. The variety and vibrancy of this coral garden — and its complementary fish — will keep you in the water till long after you look like a prune.

Miniloc Island: This is truly a place of inner beauty. There are two hidden lagoons, similar to those in Thailand's Phang Nga Bay. The southern lagoon is comprised of a main lagoon and a smaller one off to the right, near the entry/exit point. This smaller lagoon is shallow and offers the best snorkeling.

A two-meter break in a low cliff is the only way to enter the stillness of the lush, cliff-lined world of the northern lagoon. The point here is to swim in, find an outcropping along the shore and listen to nothing while looking at everything.

Seven Commandos Beach: That's right. Another damn deserted beach with a postcard view. Save this spot for last and watch the setting sun flame up the archipelago.

Diving: There are some excellent dive sites in the archipelago, with visibility that can reach 20 to 30 meters. To arrange a trip, talk to Willy at Bacuit Divers, the only reliable game in town. A two-tank dive is about $35, including lunch, but you'll have to wait until Willy can scrounge up enough divers (about four) to pay for the boat and get a little profit

Coron Bay: The attraction here is underwater. This is the site of one of the most successful U.S. air raids during W.W.II. In 1944, American reconnaissance planes noted that a group of "islands" in and around Coron Bay kept changing positions. Admiral "Bull" Halsey ordered an immediate air raid on what turned out to be a fleet of 24 heavily camouflaged Japanese warships and cargo ships. The entire fleet was sunk. More than 50 years later, only 15 of the ships have been discovered, several of which are at safe diving depths. A few are shallow enough even for snorkelers to enjoy

To get to Coron Bay, you must pack up and leave El Nido behind. Get the latest ferry schedule, which is best done by asking one of the expatriate locals. There is usually one ferry a week that goes north to Coron town on its way to Manila.