Palawan (El Nido & Coron)
Routinely voted the most beautiful island in the world by various magazines that vote on these things, Palawan is the long thin western island of the Philippines, with limestone karst seascapes that rival Halong Bay. El Nido in the north is the base for the Bacuit Bay island-hopping circuit (Tours A through D, lettered for simplicity); Coron, further north, is famous for Japanese WWII shipwreck dives in the bay between the islands. The hidden lagoons, the secret beaches reached only at low tide, the bioluminescent plankton: all real, all worth the boat ride.