Coron and Calamian Islands, Palawan - Stop #2 Scuba Diving Haven

Coron and Calamian Islands of Palawan, Philippines




We arrived in Coron in the late afternoon, just enough time to find a place to hang our hats and enjoy our first sunset on this island.  We were taken on a tricycle to a small hotel on the closest thing to a beach in town.  Wasn't much of a beach at all.  But beachin' isn't what Coron is about (although there are plenty on the neighbouring islands).






























We were feeling ambitious on day #2 and tackled our second mountain of the trip - Mount Tapyas. Harder than the last but still a fairly easy 724 steps to the top, where there are amazing views of all the surrounding mountains and bays.  








The heat was the hardest part of this mountain - so hot that not many trees grow up there.
















We found a small hut around the back of the peak to hang out for a while.












Here are only some of the views from the top:

 

 After conquering Mount Tapyas by early afternoon we decided to look around at a few 
tours/shops for our next adventure.  It was very soon to be obvious that a few days worth of diving would be the best bang for our buck; this would
include some island hopping, snorkelling and of course enjoy the world renowned Japanese shipwrecks from WWII.  We both decided to take our PADI open water course - getting us 6 different dive sites, 3 days worth of lunches, and several different island experiences.




Coron Island (different from Coron town which is on Busuanga island) is owned by indigenous people and anyone intending on visiting/exploring must have permission from the tribe elders (and pay a small fee, which was included in our course fee)






On the island we got to dive in one of the only 2 lakes of this kind (the other being in Hawaii) - Barracuda Lake.  It is a mildly salted lake with hot springs of fresh water flowing in from the bottom making it a perfect 

Steps into Barracuda Lake

Brackish mixture.  




This lake was amazingly private with mountainous sharp cliffs all the way around it.  Near the surface the water was 28°C and nearing the bottom there were sections of 37°C, a huge shock to your body swimming between the two.  You could swim with half of your body divided by the different tempertures.  Something we will surely never forget.

Ocean entry point to Barracuda Lake - Very sharp jagged rock

Barracuda Lake swim

CYC Island we mainly focused on our dive skills but found some very interesting marine life including a perfectly sandy camouflaged flounder which we are told are very delicious.


Twin Peaks Marine Park - An amazing reef home to a ton of marine life diversity.  (Unfortunately we could not get any shots of the life here as the gopro case had a slight mishap).


And of course the wrecks. 

All of which were Japanese ships that were sunk by the US Air Raid on September 24, 1944 in WWII.  We got to dive 2 of the 10 wrecks around Coron which was eerie and very exhilarating.  These have been here for over 70 years and have been claimed by the sea, now being home to some very interesting marine life.





Olympia Maru - Cargo Ship 122m long

Hole blown in the ship by treasure hunters (this is one theory)

East Tangat Gunboat - Submarine Chaser 40m long

Starfish on the mast

Skeleton Wreck -  25m long

We are now both Licensed Open Water Divers

 






and prepared to enjoy the ocean in many other parts of South East Asia and the world.





We should definitely mention that none of this would be possible without our amazing Dive instructor, Jeremiah Capule. We had a blast with Jay in our 3 days of diving and he was truly a great teacher. Very patient, great sense of humour, and had a wealth of knowledge to share throughout this journey. We won't forget him!   



Our favourite accommodation in Coron was Krystal Lodge, 







a very unique spot built out of bamboo on stilts out into the bay, far away from all of the motorbike and town noise.  It had a great view of the bay










and sunsets over the mountains.  

We met a group of people who arranged their own boat tour through a tuk tuk driver and invited us to tag along. 5 English folks, 1 French, 1 American, 2 Canadians and some Filippinos - which is a pretty awesome mix of people. We all stopped at a market before hopping on the boat and grabbed some food to cook our own lunch and a ton of beers. Our boat captain cooked us up a traditional Filippino lunch which was delicious. Then we spent the rest of the day island hopping, 



eating,       drinking,        beaching

and swimming at another hidden gem - Kayangan Lake (also brackish water) with excellent cliffs and caves.

Sea View from the top of the climb into Kayangan Lake

Entrance to Kayngan Lake

At the end of the day, we all went out for dinner together and partied at our hostel. it was an awesome day and a great party to end our stay in Coron!

Coron was an amazing experience, many friends made, lessons learned and good times had.  

But onto the next journey.  Boat ride headed for mainland Palawan, 

always good meals on these boats

next stop El Nido...

Boracay to Coron Travelling Days

From Boracay, Malay, Aklan 

To Coron, Busuanga, Palawan

     We had planned to attend the famous Filippino festival Ati-Atihan in Kalibo which is not far from Boracay but due to some misleading information we found out that it actually ended, not started on the 17^th.  Sadly we missed it by one day. We were disappointed by this, but we're realizing that things don't always go as planned when travelling. We decided that we would start our journey to Palawan next. 

 It is quite difficult to get from Island to Island in the Philippines if you are not familiar with the structure.  We looked at flights from Caticlan (near Boracay) to anywhere in Palawan but found them to be quite expensive (at least $200 each) and time consuming as you need to fly back to Manila or down to Cebu for a connecting flight.  This did not appeal to us.  


We decided to just wing it and attempt to create our own journey to Palawan, without paying for the expensive flight.  We seemed to be on the right track when we found a good route from Caticlan on a large Ferry to Roxas, Mindoros, which is a little bit closer to our destination.  

This cost us P420 (About $12 each) and was an easy 5hrs on a very luxurious bunk looking out the back of the vessel. 

     In Roxas, we received many stares by everyone we encountered, like we were from another planet (must be our good looks ;)...or our pasty white skin).  From Roxas, we had to take a 3.5 hour van ride to San Jose (also in Mindoros, which cost us about $4.55 each, or P150 altogether). We were loaded in the van like sardines in a can, with 16 people + baggage in an 8 person van, but we went through gorgeous winding roads with mountain views.  

     Arriving in San Jose, we reached a slight setback. No ferry was leaving that night, and we were told by our tricycle driver that it would not leave until 8am the next morning. We were forced to stay the night and asked him to take us to the closest hotel.  

We hibernated in our room for that night since there was really nothing to do or see in San Jose.  It is not a very common tourist destination (understandable).  The town was pretty run down, , mostly consisting of small huts and traffic, making it feel somewhat unsafe and unwelcoming but we found the people to be very friendly.  Similar to in Roxas we received many curious stares during our stay.



Concerned about the cleanliness of the room, the noisy tricycles outside our window, no wifi to research the next part of our trip, the constant slamming of doors in our hotel and the paper thin walls, it's safe to say that we were just looking forward to getting on the boat the next morning.  

Morning arrived, and we got up bright and early to get to the port. We had little sleep the night before and were just excited to get to paradise. *Plot Twist!* Once again, to our dismay, there was no ferry leaving until tomorrow morning... in fact the ferries only run twice a week. So, we have no choice again but to return to our wonnnnderful hotel. "Psyche, we ain't goin no where" we tell them. We dropped off our bags and looked around for a cleaner, nicer hotel. We found a room close by that was much nicer, so we go to check out of our hotel and they want to charge us for another nights stay since we gave up the key (which was only approximately 15 minutes, like, they didn't even have time to clean our room). Long story short...we were staying another night in the shit hole. On the bright side, at least we had a place to stay. 



In proper Jamanda (Jeff and Amanda) fashion, we decided to make the best of the situation. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

We whipped out our bottle of vodka and a deck of cards and decided to get our drink on.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

This was our entertainment while in San Jose.

Food wise - there were plenty of "snack shacks" and along the broken down streets, but nothing really substantial or dependable.  We were grateful for a restaurant across the street from our hotel. The people were really nice, 

and the food was really cheap. Chopsuey and a cheese burger cost only about $4.

    Ahhh, the next day we were finally seated on the 70 person boat headed to Coron and enjoyed the sun and Ocean views the whole way.

Flying fish jumping out of the way of the boat were a common site.

After 3 boats, several tricycle rides and a packed van we have finally arrived on the beaaaauuutiful Busuanga Island, Palawan.

  

Here is a breakdown of this portion of travel:

Boracay, Aklan to Caticlan, Aklan by Bangka (we found out what the small boats are called): 15min

Short wait for a ferry at Caticlan Jetty port: 30min

Caticlan, Aklan to Roxas, Mindoros by ferry: 5 hrs

Roxas, Mindoros to San Jose, Mindoros by overcrouded van: 3.5hrs

San Jose, Mindoros 2 night stay

San Jose, Mindoros to Coron, Palawan: 6hrs

Goodbye Boracay

Hello Coron and Calamian Islands - Palawan