Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in El Nido, we use the following websites to find information relevant to El Nido and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for El Nido
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for El Nido:
- 37.134902, -120.492138
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on El Nido
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Merced County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Merced County
- Since El Nido is near Madera County and also Fresno County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Madera County
- eBird sighting report for Fresno County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named El Nido ...
We found three communities that share the name El Nido.
There are two communities within California that are also named El Nido.
Beyond California, there is another community also named El Nido in the United States.
- Communities Located In California ...
- Los Angeles County
- San Diego County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near El Nido ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Ash ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Castle Gardens
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Gardens have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Gardens
- Castle Gardens is located in Merced County
- Chowchilla
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chowchilla
- Chowchilla is located in Madera County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 18,153 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Chowchilla <4>
- Cuba ‑ Historic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north) - Dairyland
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Lincoln ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Plains ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast) - Plainsburg
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Plainsburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plainsburg
- Plainsburg is located in Merced County
How Far From El Nido to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as El Nido to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in El Nido and extending to:
- Merced, which is the Seat of Merced County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from El Nido to Merced, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 113 miles [181.9 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,344 miles [3,772.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,419 miles [11,939.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,187 miles [13,175.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,218 miles [10,006.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for El Nido. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Merced County: www.co.merced.ca.us/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- El Nido) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in El Nido. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.1349, Longitude: -120.4921 |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that El Nido could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <6> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from El Nido to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 338.512 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.083 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.988 degrees. |