Coron, Palawan

  "Summer isn't over yet!!"

06272012

Day 1

I was assigned to complete our itinerary, since I opt to do "do it yourself" itinerary, as per my Unit Manager/Trip advisors advise, Meg! Thank God for her, I was able to save more because few weeks before the trip, I was sending out email inquiries to some travel agencies. And as I calculated then, approximately, we will spend more than like 28k including air fare, fees and accommodation. Then Meg gave me an option that if I’m going to do "do it myself" instead, it will only cost me not more than 17k. Isn’t that great! Of course I have to be careful with our itinerary because neither me nor jaybee haven’t been to CORON so I want to thank Google for being my best friend as well and UM Meg for giving me some tips! We only have 3days so not even a minute should be wasted. 10:05 arrival @ the tiny airport of Busuanga (Francisco B. Reyes Airport), I saw our tour guide waiting and holding a whiteboard with JAYBEE LAUREL's name. I assigned him to make the calls for lodge accommodation and boat reservation for the tour. The drive to Coron town proper took around 45 minutes and cost Php 150 per person. We enjoyed the scenic view of the land and observed lots of cows grazing in the area. As soon as we arrived at CORON VILLAGE LODGE, then we immediately freshen up and took everything we need for the CORON LOOP TOUR because we asked Kuya Jong the Boatman, to pick us up from the lodge to Coron Port Area at 11:30am. So we only have like 30mins to prepare. It was 5mins Trike from Coron Town Proper to Port. Kuya Jong Introduce us to Kuya Ariel our captain and Kuya Ping our nice and very informative boatman who gave us tidbits about each place we visited. But before we get in to the boat, we went to market first near to the port area to rent snorkel for our, of course! Snorkeling activities!


Were so excited! The sun is shining perfectly; the ocean is very calm, meaning everything was perfect!! We brought some foods with us. Jaybee made Tuna Spread and a loaf of Gardenia Bread and some snacks and drinks.

First stop, About 10 minutes boat ride from the port area. Siete Pecados Marine Sanctuary (Php 100 entrance each) – a group of seven islets and home to a diverse and rich coral garden underneath the clear blue and green waters. There appeared to be plenty of life on an extensive coral reef in very good condition. We snorkeled of course. Just be careful! The area was so shallow, the seabed is riddled with sea urchin, and they are plentiful so when you go there, you have to be very very careful not to walk on the seabed barefoot. We could actually step on the corals (but didn't, of course).

Our second destination for the day was Kayangan Lake (entrance Php 200 each). It was voted as the cleanest lake in the Philippines. (Actually, I just found out as well. :P) The water is brackish (water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater). I read that the lake is 70% fresh water and 30% sea water .We hiked up and down a hill with stones as steps before we reached the beauty of the lake. I was literally in awe at how beautiful the place was. I was slowly but surely falling in love with Coron as the minutes passed by and Kayangan Lake made me fall in love fast. It was like a scene in a movie. We took our obligatory pictures on a rocky outcrop with a majestic view as our background. It was well-preserved, truly scenic, and very picturesque. haaayyy.....

The lake was surrounded by steep limestone cliffs and lush greenery. The underwater rock formations have jagged edges too so we were all reminded to be extra careful if we didn't want to hurt ourselves! The trek was doubly hard, the stone steps were slippery and the trail was a bit tricky and dangerous in some spots. The mixture of salt and fresh water was very relieving to the body and well worth the effort to get there. We spend like an hour and a half here. In fact if we want to, we will spend more time. Because it’s so beautiful and I couldn’t say anything but WOW!!! But of course we would also want to experience other spots in Coron loop.

And oh, apart from ample sunscreen protection, make it a point to bring mosquito repellent (lotion or spray) to ward off mosquitoes. There were lots of mosquitoes hovering around as we trek so it was good that we all had protection. 

All the effort exerted in the hike to reach the lake was all worth it. I could not wait to go back.

Our next stop was one of the strangest places I had been to, the Twin Lagoons (entrance Php 100 per person). I wasn't used to the water being icy cold on the surface and warm below but due to the constant motion, the cold water would still swirl around my legs, making me shiver. Here, we needed to dive (or carefully swim along the surface lest you hit your head on a rock overhead) under a rock formation to visit the second lagoon (hence Twin Lagoon), where boats couldn't reach.

We then visited Banol Beach (entance Php 100), Banol Beach is just one of the many white sand beaches you can find on the island. It is a small, cozy beach with a few huts being rented out by the locals. The waves were not strong; the waters blue and green depending on the depth and the beach is just around 500 meters. The beach was beautiful, very peaceful, serene and unassuming. The fine sand invited me to take off my chi-chis and just enjoy the warmth and feel it gave the soles of my foot. The backdrop of the short stretch of sand was amazing limestone rocky mountains. The formations were something only nature can do. It was breathtaking. Whew!

It was nearly 6pm when we headed back to the town. We decided to try Sea Dive Resort and Restaurant later that evening for dinner. I was nearly exhausted by the time we headed to the restaurant. We had their (really delicious!) steamed crabs with veggies on the side!:P, and Blue fin tuna Escabeche. 

After dinner, we headed straight back to CORON VILLAGE LODGE to rest. We need to wake up early the next day and prepare for the ISLAND HOPPING! ^_^