Coron: The Gateway to Wonders of Palawan

View from top of the mouth of Kayangan Lake

Day 1-Town of Coron

       Coron is a municipality located northeast of the province of Palawan. Coron comprises eastern half of Busuanga Island, Coron Island and other 50 minor islets. Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Skyjet offer flights from several cities to Busuanga Airport. The town is about thirty minutes travel by land from Busuanga Airport. You can also opt a ferry from Manila or Batangas Port to Coron.  We flew Cebu Pacific on our visit last October.

       

local woman attending to her sun-dried anchovies (c) Wen Liu

   Coron was originally inhabited by Tagbanua, Calmiananen and Cuyonon tribes. This island group boasts serene beaches and lagoons, hot spring, awesome diving sites, and the probably the cleanest lakes you'll ever see in your life.

   The town is quite small and it's easy to get around. Our flights were early Saturday morning and ahead of its schedules. Tourist usually a van to get to Coron town proper cost at Php 150 each person. We arrived quite early at our hostel. For our first day, we stayed at Luis Bay Traveller's Lodge. A fan room for overnight stay costs Php 600. After checking-in at our inn, we walked around and looked for food. We ended up at La Morena Cafe. The food was good and the ambiance of the place is nice but it's can be a bit pricey for budget travelers. 

my friend posing in the middle of nowhere (c) Wen Liu

       After our lunch, we decided motorbikes to get to our first stop, the Maguinit Hotspring. And at pass 12nn, we already got our scooters instead of bikes because all motorbikes have been rented out that day. At around 1 pm we were already at the hot spring. Since it was still so early, we decided to ride spontaneously going further east. We went up to where we can and reached a very quiet hill with a picturesque view of the bay. The road is rocky and we had a hard time going back. All our three scooters fell several times and some of us got serious bruises. Still, the ride that day was very much fun! The ride was about 4 hours and about 21 miles from the town center. And because of our bruises, we skipped Maquinit Hotspring and went back to the town to look for a clinic or hospital but I ended up giving the aid to my friend who was heavily bruised. Tired, we returned our scooters and also secured an "ultimate tour" for the next day and graced ourselves a nice dinner and cold beer at KT's Sinugba sa Balay. We shared and split the bill and each paid about Php 140.

Day 2-Kayangan & Barracuda Lake, Big & Small Lagoon, Skeleton Wreck & Shipwreck and CYC Beach Tour plus Mt. Tapyas Hike

       The night before, I and my roommate agreed to hike Mt. Tapyas to see the sunrise. So on this day, we woke up quite early. We started our hike on cemented steps of Mt. Tapyas around 5.45am and it took us about 30 minutes to reach the view deck. The view was very panoramic. It has a beautiful view of the sunrise and downtown Coron down and of course, the sea. 

view from the top of Mt. Tapyas, Coron

          We didn't stay at the top for that long as we need to head back to our inn to check out and transfer to a better inn. We ate breakfast in a small eatery at the foot of Mt. Tapyas. We had "longsilog"(sausage, fried rice, and egg) and "dangsilong"(dried fish, fried rice, and egg) that comes with coffee for Php 85 each. After eating we head back to our inn to meet our other friends and transfer to another inn called Macky's Hidden Inn. We stayed here for the rest of our days in Coron and it's well recommended for both value and comfort. It was around 7:45 am when we arrived at Macky's. Our friends who didn't join the hike hadn't eaten breakfast yet so they ordered from the hostel which is Php 100 each with a varied selection. Our travel agent supposedly will fetch us at 8m but at 8:30 am, the breakfast hadn't come yet so I was freaking out already (I don't want our boat mates to get pissed at us :-). Finally, around 8:45 am, we are ready to go. At 9 am, we were already in the boat. Our boat left the town around 9:30 am though.

Kayangan Lake is surrounded by high limestone cliffs

       Our first stop was Kayangan Lake. Kayangan is one of the eight lakes in Coron Island of which only two are open to the public, Barracuda Lake being the other one. To reach the lake, one needs to climb up the steep cliff that borders it from the sea. It was easy because there are wooden steps and makeshift railings. When you reach the top of the cliff, you can rest and enjoy the great view of Busuanga and other islands. Then you have to go down again to finally reach the lake. There's wooden decking for tourist around the lake. The lake is one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life. The water is emerald and you can witness its life through the school of fishes that swims on its clear water. It was unbelievable! So for about 20 minutes, we had fun swimming.

the clean waters of Kayangan Lake

       After our great time in Kayangan, we went to Barracuda Lake, which looks like a smaller version of Kayangan with clear waters. There were some scuba divers and we saw them fade into the darkness of that deep waters of Barracuda Lake. Me, I just enjoyed the view and swam while my friends had a nice jump in a rock formation around. We completely lost track of time! The only thing we know was it was lunchtime!

       We had our generous lunch while enjoying the amazing white sand of Smith Beach! Lunch comes with the Php 1400 per person we paid for the "Coron Island Ultimate Tour." When we were finally full, we head to our next destination, the Twin Lagoon. It's basically a connected small and big lagoon on Coron Island. And just like the first three destinations, it's amazing! It's a marvelous site to see! One can just float and enjoy the sizeable rock of the cliffs the surrounds the lagoon or well, swim again! The boat ride was just enjoyable with the humble booze we had and the conversations with our Western boat-mates. It was continuous astonishment up to our last destination for that day, the CYC

selfie before lunch at Smith Beach

Beach where we splurge with fine sand, picture taking and swimming before the head back to the town. We reached the port at around 5 pm. We head back to our inn and prepared for dinner with our boat-mates at 8 pm that night at Kawayanan Grill. We had bounty meal and cocktails! We split the bills and each paid around Php 135 for the meal and Php 100 for the drinks! Me, I had a margarita while waiting for others which were Php 150. After more chitchat and billiards, we bid our goodbyes to our new friends and went back to the inn and sleep.

Day 3-Malcapuya, Banana, and Waling-Waling Island

       On our tour at Baraccuda Lake, one of my friends saw the girl that he likes. Apparently, they were planning to go together in one of the tours. And they thought of joining our groups together. So for our third day at Coron, we decided to take a private boat for Php 7000. We are nine altogether so and including our lunch which the boar crew agreed to prepare for us, each paid around Php 950. Our first destination on this day is the beach of Malcapuya Island. The island is actually part of the Culion municipality but it is a more popular destination when going to Coron. It's a long stretch of fine white sand beach with perfect aquamarine waters that cascades into the perfect picturesque seascape. It was November and the water is so calm. My hangover from last night's drink didn't take less of the amazement I got when I saw the beach. We arrived around 10 am and there's only few tourist at the beach so we had a better view of the seascape. After we plunged ourselves swimming at Malcapuya beach, we paid the Php 250 beach entrance and went to our destination, Banana Island.

Malcapuya Island’s beach

lunch at Banana Island

       We had lunch first when we arrived at Banana Island. After satisfying our stomachs in the dishes our boat crew prepared, we started exploring the island, most especially, the beach.

Banana Island is also a fine white sand beach, not as fine as Malcapuya but a the same great vista and clear waters plus the astonishing sight under the sea. It's famous as giant clam sanctuary. I personally saw several giant clams displaying their vibrant flesh right in front of my eyes. Here, I also encounter a snapper successfully bitten me on my left thigh twice, he must have liked me so much! After about and a half in Banana Island, we paid the Php 200 entrance fee and left for our final destination on this day, Waling-Waling Island.

Banana Island’s beach

       We were supposed to go in Bulog Dos Island which comes in most tours available at local travel agencies. But since we have our own boat, we decided to go instead in the island next to Bulog Dos which is Waling-Waling. It's smaller and has a stunning sandbar perfect for capturing. It also has the same fine white sand and clear waters but the island's cliff can be easily reached through stone steps going to what seemed to be a private resort on top. I went to the top while my friends decided to take a nap at the cabañas near the beach and swim. From the top, I saw the exquisite 180-degree view of the beach and the sand and the sky-endless charm and beauty! After explorer the top of the island's cliff, I had my time alone and float on Waling-Waling's calm waters.

view of Bulog Dos Island from the top of Waling-Waling Island

Waling-Waling Island has pristine water and sandbar (c) Wen Liu

       After staying for quite some time on the island, our tour guide collected the island's entrance fee which is Php 200 and left to go back to the town of Coron. We're back in Coron around 4:30 pm.

The girls left and we also went back to our inn. At around 6 pm we walked around downtown to look for dinner. We saw a Korean restaurant. The food was not bad for its location and each paid around Php 250 to 350. (I paid Php 250 for my bibimbap). Then, when we finished our dinner, we went to travel agency to finalize our destination for the next day then went back to the inn for the night.

Day 4-Lusong Gunpowder Shipwreck, Lusong Coral Garden, and Pass Island Tour plus Firefly Watching

        I was a bit down as we embark to our last tour as a group on our fourth day in Coron. I really wanted to go to Calauit Safari but no one was interested to join me since because the tour costs way much more than the tour we all chose for this day which is the Lusong Gunpowder Shipwreck Tour. Calauit Safari Tour was Php 2,300 compared to Lusong Shipwreck Tour which was priced at Php 1,100. Both tours have the Luzong Shipwreck, coral garden, and an island tour (Black Island for Calauit Safari Tour), the difference is just the former is a land and sea transport tour and the latter all sea transport tour.

white sand beach of Pass Island

       On this day, our first destination was Pass Island. But before we went to our first destination, we passed by in a shipwreck to snorkel for about a 20 minutes. It's a small heart-shaped island with alluring fine white sand beach and mangroves. It also showcases colorful underwater life that includes some giant clams, corals, and school of fishes just a few meters away from the shore. It's a great destination for swimming and snorkeling. Pass Island is located on the southwestern side of Busuanga Island and it took so much of our time going here. 

mangroves at Pass Island

       We left the town at around 9 am and we arrived on the island almost lunchtime so we already ate lunch here before we enjoy the marvels of this island. After spending almost two hours on the island, we left to go to our next destination-the Luzong Coral Garden! It is located in the western waters Luzong Island. This part of the tour is so marvelous and very colorful that it changed my mood completely! The corals were so rich and vibrant! They were so much alive! It vast stretch fed my sight with so much color. It was totally amazing! After an hour our boat went to the eastern side of the island for the last part of the tour, Luzong Gunpowder Shipwreck. 

Luzong Gunpowder Shipwreck (c) Samuel Chang

      Luzong Gunpowder Shipwreck is one of the ten World War II Japanese shipwreck diving spots of Coron. It is also one of the most popular shipwrecks among the tourist because of the tilted orientation of the ship on the seabed and also it is located in relatively shallow parts of the waters making it very visible when snorkeling. It was too shallow that when I set my feet on the ship's edge, the water becomes chest level high. This side of Luzong is also very rich in marine life. Corals have covered the ship and schools of colorful fish will go swimming with you. I had so much fun playing on the ship and the fishes. I was a great way to end the tour! After our great time on this dive site, we headed back to the town. We got to the town around 5 pm.

Luzong Gunpowder Shipwreck has become breeding ground for corals

       The day before when we were finalizing the tour for this day, the tour agency offered firefly watching. We had so much fun on this day's tour that we decided it might be a great way to end the day with firefly watching. Almost all of us went to the firefly watching. Firefly watching was priced at Php 900 and includes the use of kayak and dinner. Firefly watching site is located on a privately owned property with mangrove forest. It's about 20 minutes drive from the town. I was so happy with the shipwreck tour that I did not pay attention to the weather that day. It was drizzling and windy. And because of the weather, firefly watching turned-out to be very disappointing. It was like kayaking in the middle of nowhere, the tour guide was not that engaging, the fireflies and planktons were not as bright as we expected it to be. Also, the kayaking was only about 30 minutes. After the tour, we went to a restaurant, Sinugba sa Balay again. The meal included in the tour is okay but we all thought the tour was very much overpriced. Thus, I personally will not recommend it. The next day was my last day in Coron. I spent most of my time at the airport because of the delayed flights. Some of my friends extended their stay and some went to El Nido and Puerto Princesa.

giant clam’s shell in Waling-Waling Island

       Coron is one of the gems of the Philippines. From lakes to lagoons and beaches to its underwater wonders, Coron will definitely charm you and leave you wanting more. We truly enjoy our vacation here. Indeed, Coron is truly the gateway to the wonders of Palawan.

Our Tour's Vlog

     One of my friends, Samuel Chang have made video blog of our tour. You can see more of Coron, Palawan in action on the video below. You can subscribe to Samuel's Youtube channel by following this link: Samuel Chang Youtube Channel

 Coron Vlog by-Day 1 and 2 

Coron Vlog-Day 3

Thank you for visiting my blog and hope you got inspired to just go and travel!