Bearcat Travel & Yacht Charters was founded in 2016 on a straightforward conviction: that the Philippines is best experienced properly — by people who know it deeply, travel it responsibly, and understand that the places worth visiting are worth protecting. Operating from Manila and El Nido, Palawan, with a carefully vetted fleet and a catalogue of more than 35 experiences across land and sea, Bearcat has spent a decade building something the Philippine travel industry rarely sees: a company that treats responsible tourism and exceptional travel as the same thing. In June 2026, that conviction found a permanent home on the ground in Palawan.
Photo: Bearcat Travel/Website
The Bearcat Travel Lounge at Lio Tourism Estate in El Nido, Palawan formally marked its soft launch on June 21 — an afternoon built around the company’s philosophy rather than its new address. Steps from Lio Beach and the waters of Bacuit Bay, where guests swim, surf, and snorkel before walking in to plan their next move, the Lounge is Bearcat’s permanent base at the heart of El Nido’s most significant tourism corridor.
“We wanted the first conversation in this space to be about what we believe, not about what we built,” said Windi Tapawan, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Bearcat Travel & Yacht Charters.
A DECADE OF DELIVERING THE PHILIPPINES PROPERLY
Bearcat was founded in 2016 by Windi Tapawan and Greg Bloom, lead author of Lonely Planet Philippines. Working with its own vessels and a carefully vetted partner fleet — anchored by M/Y Isla, a motoryacht owned by Filipinas Yacht Inc., co-founded by Bloom, Tapawan, Apa Ongpin, and Owen Stull — Bearcat delivers more than 35 products spanning private island-hopping, multi-day expeditions to Coron and the Cuyo Islands, dive and kite safaris, MICE programs, destination weddings, and family adventures.
Photo: Bearcat Travel/Website
On land, Bearcat runs low-impact inland tours to waterfalls, archaeological caves, and heritage sites across El Nido — including the Dewil Mangrove Kayak Tour, a guided half-day paddle through one of the Philippines’ most biodiverse protected coastal ecosystems.
“We built this company around a very specific idea of what the Philippines could offer a traveler who wanted something more,” says Bloom. “Everything we’ve added since has been in service of that idea.”
TRAVEL THAT GIVES MORE THAN IT TAKES
Bearcat’s environmental commitments show up before guests board, not in the footnotes of a brochure. No anchor drops in coral zones. No single-use plastics across any vessel or venue. Reef-safe sunscreen, mandatory and complimentary on every charter. The company works with the Centre for Sustainability Philippines on environmental education in El Nido, and is in discussions with LAMAVE — the Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute Philippines — and the Sulubaai Environmental Foundation to formally incorporate their research and reef restoration practices into Bearcat’s operations. Bearcat is also actively seeking partnerships with other marine-focused conservation organizations working in Philippine waters.
“Our responsibility is to ensure these places remain just as extraordinary for the generations that come after. That only works if the destinations survive it,” said Greg Bloom, Co-Founder & Destination Director, Bearcat Travel & Yacht Charters.
“What we are building,” Tapawan added, “is tourism that sustains the ecosystem it is built on — people and place.”
