Coron = Love

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Coron has been on my dream list for the loooongest time! This trip was filled with drama, laughter, almost missing flights, a camera curse (killing 2 cameras - yes killing!) and soooo much firsts! I’ve babbled on extensively and shared the stories on my personal multiply account and won’t bore you guys here. Haha


I really don't do very well with tours because I feel rushed but for Coron we thought it would be a better option. We weren’t able to take the dream Busuanga Safari Tour Package (safari + hot springs + snorkeling + beach hopping) due to certain circumstances. When we were picking a package, we all chose our non-negotiable places. Mine was the Calauit Safari!!


We opted to get the Calauit Safari Package instead for P6750/person. We wanted to take a package that was unique; so that in the future when we go back to Coron and take the other packages we won’t repeat any of our past destinations. The package covered our transfers, accommodations (we chose Mt. Tapyas Hotel), breakfast, lunch, entrance fees and tour guides.

Coron Day 1
The moment the tour started, we were giddy! We were just on the day to our first stop and we were beaming, pointing out awesome scenes from right to left.
Our first stop was Banol Beach. This is one of my fave spots on the tour; it was so steady and pretty. The clarity and color of the water was brilliant. We had our lunch here, snorkeled and lounged.

We went to the famed Twin Lagoons after. I couldn't take that much photos with my SLR camera since we were water based so my underwater camera had to do. We weren't able to fully enjoy the trip because it was a tour. Our "tour guide" was hurrying us up and was kinda rude about it. "Baka gusto nyong magpunta na doon, sayang ang oras." Sabe??? Anyhot, that didn't ruin our trip. Oh, she wasn't much of a guide either. She was more of a boat operator. She never gave us background information about the places we went to.
We hit Barracude and Kayagan Lakes too. I only remember going to one lake after though. Haha Dory moment!
We went snorkeling at Siete Picados and enjoyed it immensely. So many fishies!!! =) I wish we had more bread though. It was fun having the fish eat from you hand. Last stop was the Maquinit Hot Springs. We didn't have any photos here. Haha I was ssoo tired that I was feeling sleepy because of the relaxing powers of the Hot Springs. I was walking out of the Hot Spring and fell. That's how relaxed I was already. Chalk it up to the stress and lack of sleep of the previous days. Haha
We heard about Coron Bistro and opted to go there for dinner. The food was ah-mazing! My food shots are crappy (I hate using the flash, I suck at it haha). We passed by a sari-sari store to stock up on supplies for the next day and headed to the hotel. We had a 4AM call time so we called it a night early.

Coron Day 2
We were picked up at 4 AM and boarded the boat in the dark. We were told that the Calauit Island Sanctuary was quite far. One awesome thing about waking up early is seeing the sunrise which I don't see often. Ang gaaandaaaa!!! (It’s Beautiful!!!!) Then I slept. Hahaha
Minus points for the tour operator….When we got there, they couldn't accommodate us right away because there were still some groups ahead of us. They should have scheduled or reserved something....Because of that hiccup, we were asked to walk to the site instead of taking the jeep. In fair, it was okay. It gave me the chance to shoot more despite the sweltering heat.
I was excited to see all the animals and to learn about the history of the place. It was refreshing to see the animals just roaming around instead of being caged. The island still experiences a lot of problems and is deteriorating (as mentioned by our guide) but I'm glad that they're trying their best to fix it. The island is such a gem to have and should really be preserved well.
After the safari, we went to Black Island. This was my other favorite island! The order of things was perfect; sweat a lot at the safari then cool off at Black Island. We had lunch here with other tour groups that were handled by the same company. The tour guide from the other group was much more awesome. He took us to the cave that was on the island and was giving so much background. We weren't able to stay that long on this beautiful island though.
We went to Calumboyan Island & Coral Garden next. It was more for snorkeling than swimming because the shore had lots of rocks. The waves were strong which made snorkeling difficult. The underwater life wasn't that fabulous; Siete Picadaos was better.

Our last stop was at Lusong Gunboat shipwreck. I was all swimmed out and just stayed on the boat lounging with my friend.

We loved Coron Bistro so much that we ate dinner there again! =) It was a short night and we dozed off at around 12.

Last Day!
Flights out of Busuanga are in the morning so there's not much you can do on your departing day.
We chose to wake up early to visit Mt. Tapyas. Our "hotel" was named after it and it's one of the places I really wanted to check out before leaving the island. We woke up later than planned so we were racing against the sun to catch the sunrise on top! haha It was worth it. =)

Hurried back to the hotel to pack, passed by a pasalubong center and back to the airport.

I know I should have taken more photos...but I was enjoying my vacation so much I wanted to relax. Yes, I left my heart in Coron. =p

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Calamian Islands Travel and Tours
http://www.coron-travel.com/home.html


Book your Coron accomodations here.

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