WE RENTED AN ENTIRE ISLAND IN THE PHILIPPINES (hidden gem?)

All right. Our host Evelyn, just showed us around our house, and it is confirmed we're the only guest here. She told us we were the owners of the island for a night. Just look at the view from our bedroom. Right now.

We're Karen Nate. After traveling to a hundred countries and all seven continents, we are back in the Philippines for the second time. So far, it's been an incredible trip. We explored Asia's second largest cave system, camped on an island. How good is this? This is it. Watched the sunrise from a sandbar shaped like a dinosaur. And last night, we slept in a glass houseboat in a stunning blue lagoon.

As epic as this trip has been, we may have saved the best for last. As I was looking for places to stay in Coron, I came across a listing that look a little too good to be true. A private island that could be rented for less than $200 a night.

We honestly have no clue what to expect. We've had minimal communication with the host outside of arranging our transportation. And the pictures on the Internet weren't exactly great. The one that showed the island was a picture of a computer screen.

Thank you.

This could be one of those you get what you pay for situations, or it could be a hidden gem. Either way, we are about to find out because we have just jumped in a van. It's going to take us on a bumpy one hour ride across the island where we'll get to the port and we'll jump on a boat that will ultimately take us to the island.

We're making a quick stop at the local market to pick up what we need for the island. Super local.

There's a pig. A pig hanging right here. No.

Do you want some shrimp? She's letting us pick what we want to eat, but we're pretty clueless.

Shrimp looks good. Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

They asked if we wanted to stop at a local market on the way to pick some stuff up, and we said yes. But I was expecting like, a grocery store. Not this. This.

Awesome.

I just asked her what she liked. She said, this one.

She just held up the bags that we had purchased so far and she said, okay. Breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Maybe just one.

I get to choose. What do you think? Okay. I. I trust you. We're getting some boneless fish with garlic now.

One, two. We're now in the produce section. Smells a little better over here.

We're just handing money and getting random foods. I have no idea. This is such an interesting experience. Like, our host speaks a little bit of English and she pointed all these Ingredients, like, do you want. Do you?

And we have no idea what they have on the island or if we're the ones that are going to be cooking our meals. Like, do we need salt and pepper or, like, a lemon? I don't know how to cook. Soy sauce, vinegar. Okay, and this one, guys. Now we're buying some cooking oil. So I think this means that everything we're buying today is all we're going to have.

Thank you.

That was a close one. I just remembered to ask if she had any coffee, and she said no. What if we would have been on an island in the middle of nowhere with no coffee?

Ready enough.

I think we're ready. Is this it? Yeah.

I think we've bought enough to survive on this island for a month.

I think she's laughing at us.

I think everything we bought costs $40. Considering we filled up the back of a van, not too bad.

The road just literally ended at the water. Now we're boarding a bo.

All right, now this boat is going to take us 30 minutes to our home for the night.

So far, it's looking pretty good.

Nice.

We have arrived. Hi, puppies. Oh, my God, mate.

So far, it is looking like we've made a great decision. This place is incredible.

There are dogs here to greet us. The sand is just white and soft. The view. Where are we?

Oh, this way. All right.

Our boat driver just pointed over here. Is this our house? Yes, ma'.

Am.

This is your room. Oh, home sweet home. This is great. We have a kitchen.

Perfect. Oh, we have a urinal.

What's in here?

That's another room.

Sir, is anyone sleeping here or. This is ours. Yes, we only. Okay, nice.

You are the owner of this island.

All right. Our host, Evelyn, just showed us around our house, and it is confirmed we're the only guest here. We do have bunk beds in our room, but I think we can both fit on the bottom bunk. Just look at the view from our bedroom right now.

It seems too good to be true.

I mean, this is worth the risk.

And I think she's cooking us lunch right now.

Evelyn sent us some shrimp and rice. Thank you. The mangoes in the Philippines are so good. So there are two houses on this island, and from what we gathered, one of them is ours. And the other one is this one where the caretakers live. It's also the restaurant, and they just prepared us a beautiful meal with the food we got at the market today. Rice, the shrimps that we bought, and the mangoes. These look and smell delicious. This is ginger soaked in Soy sauce. It's amazing. I'm still mastering how to open up these things. I think I'm getting better. This is what all the locals do.

Hey, do you want a shrimp?

Hands down, the best shrimp we've had in the Philippines. And the best mango.

I wish.

I'm going to start all over and enjoy it all again.

Oh, the water is nice.

So we were wanting to do some snorkeling after lunch and they gave us these masks. And I'm really not one to complain. I try really hard to see the best and everything, but I don't think I can put this snorkel filled with black mold in my mouth. But the good news is we've already done a dirty a ton of epic snorkeling this week.

Okay.

Goodbye.

This is awesome. They do also have a kayak on.

This island, but we thought it would.

Be way more fun here. Take out the local boat, which they surprisingly allowed us to do.

A little more work than a kayak. Not quite as efficient, but a lot more fun.

The locals fly in these things. They're like, have we moved yet?

I think we're just going in circles.

This is how we're spending the rest.

Of the afternoon in this perfectly clear, blue, warm walk.

Well, that was a beautiful, relaxing afternoon. And we just learned that there's a viewpoint at the top of this island. So we were hiking up to the top to watch the sunset, which I'm.

Pretty sure is unnecessary. Something to do. You can see a lot better from the beach here.

We have trees. Not really a sunset viewpoint.

You do get to see the other side of the island, though, which is nice, but that's not where the sun's setting, so.

Alright, going back down.

It goes further, but the sun's about to set.

We're gonna miss it. We went the wrong way.

Beach is still better.

Dang it. Well, if nothing else, we got some exercise and we found the solar panels. Okay, for real. Back to the beach.

We didn't miss it.

It's just gotten better since the sun's gone down.

This is beautiful.

So I asked Evelyn if she would teach me how to cook Filipino food tonight as she was cooking our dinner, and she said yes. I'm gonna go in the kitchen and see where I can help.

I don't know how much helping I'll get to do. I think I'm doing more learning than helping. I think Evelyn has it covered.

So the day of filming, this is March 13th, and things are getting really interesting really quickly. Yesterday, the US Announced the travel ban on Europe. And we've just learned that now we pretty much have two days to get out of Corona or risk being stuck here for a month. So this whole delicious dinner that we're having is being slightly overshadowed by us frantically trying to to find a flight to get off of this island to one of the bigger international islands. Because right now, international tourists aren't being restricted from leaving the international hubs, but we could be restricted from getting to them all. Flights, buses, boats, everything is going to be shut down. Moving in and out of these cities in the next two days, it's looking like we're going to be okay, but things are changing really quickly. And right now it's looking like we're going to be leaving in the dark tomorrow morning.

We're going to try not to think about that. We're not going to let it get us down because we're on a private island in the Philippines. And this is amazing. The good news is, since we're leaving super early in the morning, our host cooked us both fish that we bought at end the market. One of them is their national dish. It translates to milk fish in English, but they had a much prettier word for it. And then the tuna, like fish that we bought. And of course, a huge plate of rice. No meal in the Philippines is complete without rice. And we will end it with fresh, juicy pineapple. This is the one that was boneless with garlic chunks on it.

Wow, that is incredible. It is perfectly fried. Before we had to book flights to leave, she was planning on cooking this for us in the morning. But I think I'm glad I'm eating it tonight with my Coke as opposed to in the morning with my coffee. This just feels right. All right, we're going to soak in every last moment here and probably eat way too much and hopefully get confirmation that we have flights out in the morning. Or maybe not. I think I could be stuck here for a month. Would not be the worst thing in the world.

Don't tell anybody.

This is a secret between me and you.

The animals here are the best. Yeah, the cat's a little friendlier than the dogs. I tried to love on the dogs and they didn't want my love.

Oh, there. He has a cake.

Sorry.

How much? 1:30, Mom. 130. Okay. What is that? Pain?

Thank you, little fishy. So I'm gonna pass on to plan B.

Oops.

I literally can't stand up.

Oh, gosh. Why is that so hard?

So I didn't realize what was poking me in the back as I was paddling around. But look at this. A homemade anchor. You've got the rock for weight. The piece of wood that's kind of the frame. And then a bent piece of rebar.

Carrie, your phone is so close to getting soaked.

It's cold, isn't it?

No, you can't go too far. You can't go too far. Hi.

Bubba. Bubba? Yeah.

He's so cute.

What?

What is it? Show me. Show me. What is it?

That's a big rod.

What's happening in here?

I think I blew a fuse. I came in here and like, turned all the switches on, try to get the lights on. I didn't know which one it was and everything went and turned off and now I can't get anything to turn back on.

I think it's on the camera because is on me.

Yeah.

Can you hear the crunch?

ASMR.