After an adventurous week in Cebu we made our way on an early morning flight to Coron, part of the the Philippine’s Palawan region. It was our intention to keep Coron a bit more relaxed and stay in one place for awhile. Our plans were similar to Cebu, two full days dedicated to scuba diving, and one excursion with the remainder of our time to be spent pool side at our resort.
Coron Town Proper
Admittedly, we had a bit of a splurge in terms of accommodation, but not overly expensive, and we used some points. The town itself is more developed and busier than Moalboal or Oslob. The streets are filled with shops all selling essentially the same thing. There are plenty of diving, dining, and excursion options, but prices are a bit higher than Cebu as Coron is more isolated.
Transportation
The Coron airport is about 30-40 minutes away from the town proper. As a result of this most hotels and hostels will offer a shuttle service for around 150 pesos ($10 CAD) each way. Once you get into town tri-cycles are the most convenient and budget friendly option charging just 20-50 pesos for rides within the city limits.
Accommodations
We ended up staying at two different places the first being Pearl Vista and the other being the Sunlight Guest Hotel. Both were great options that included buffet breakfast, clean accommodations, and a swimming pool. Sunlight has the nicer surroundings of the two as it is constructed right beside the shoreline. Pearl Vista does not have an ocean view, and both are on opposite sides of the main part of the city. Pearl Vista can be snagged starting around $60 CAD, whereas Sunlight is about double that.
There are plenty of other options ranging from around $10 CAD per night all the way to a few hundred if you’re looking for luxury.
Restaurants
We were fortunate enough to share a couple of meals out, one with some old friends from Belgium, and the other with a couple we met from South Africa that is now living in Kazakhstan. One of our favourite restaurants was the Kawayanan Grill Station, particularly for their Crocodile sisig (meaning sizzling). We also went to Winnie’s, and La Sirenetta, which lies at the end of a long dock reaching out into the ocean.
Outside of the restaurant and resort scene there really isn’t much else to do in Coron town proper itself. There is a short hike that overlooks the water, and the shops become repetitive after an hour or two. There also isn’t really a beach off of the main island. Those looking for a beach experience need to arrange an island-hopping tour similar to ours that goes to some of the smaller islands ($25 CAD per person).
Scuba Diving & Snorkelling
Once again, the scuba diving was the highlight of the island. Coron is famous for its shipwrecks so we decided to take our advanced PADI course and swim in and around the wrecks. The wrecks are Japanese ships from world war two that were sunk by the American’s when they came to recapture the Philippines a couple of years after Pearl Harbour and the Japanese invasion of the Philippines (see our Philippines history blog if you’re interested in learning more). There is over 8+ wrecks to explore, and the dive masters can take you directly into them as long as you have your certification. Inching into them with a flash light in one hand and a Go Pro added a completely different element to any open water dives that I have done. Squeezing through the rusted windows and handle rails is a real test of a diver’s skillset and buoyance.
We dove with Reggae Dive Center and found them to be very accommodating. Unfortunately, like most of the companies in Coron, they only accept cash or have a high pay pal transaction fee. Other than that, we had a great experience with the company. They provided an onboard lunch, and post dive beers for the return trip to town, and a Jeepney to/from the dive center in the morning and evening. They were also very accommodating when Lorelaine was having some sinus issues during one of the dives.
One thing to be aware of is that the dive sites are located about 30 – 40 minutes from town, which means that even if you only wish to do one dive, you’re likely to be out on the water the entire day. Most will opt to do the max of 3 with short breaks in between.
The Ultimate Tour
On our last day in Coron we decided to take some time and explore the islands with a tour company. There are plenty of options all offering the same services and the same destinations. In Coron, they have different tour levels based on A, B, C, and Ultimate with only slight variations in the offerings. At each location you are met with all the tour companies, and none stood out as being better value than the others. Hotel pick up and lunch time feast was provided, along with a bit of a snack.
If you have the money, they do offer private boats to the destinations giving you a bit more flexibility. We had been told by some friends in Manila that their driver was able to time it so they were there in between the tour groups, which would definitely be a better experience.
Nevertheless, there aren’t many easily accessible beautiful places out there that you can experience on a budget without being surrounded by others. We made the most of our time, and tried to block out the noise as best we could. It was still quite an enjoyable day. We made friends with a Spanish student who was travelling the Philippines after some time studying in Sydney, and some others on the boat were very kind as well.
Here’s the main stops we had:
Twin Lagoon
The first stop on our tour was the twin lagoon. It gave us an instant feeling of being back in Oslob stuffed beside hoards of other tourists interested in seeing the beauty of the region. Two of the destinations require life jackets, this being one and Kayangan Lake being the other. Some people sort of just floated on top of them and the tour operators didn’t seem to mind. Looking up above the water you can see beautiful jagged rock formations that surround the lagoon. It has a bit of an eerie appearance. As your gaze focuses back down onto the water all you can see are orange dots by the hundreds bobbing their way between the boats and the lagoons.
Kayangan Lake
There is a short hike and a lookout at this spot, but it leads to a very beautiful and clear lake. The water is very fresh and clean here, and they leave a lot of room for people to swim out. We swam as far as the rope line restricted us and it allowed us a bit of space to ourselves.
CYC Beach
A nice little beach area where locals paddle out to sell you beer and snacks from their boats. This was the best destination of the day for snorkelling as there was a lush coral reef right off of where the boats anchor. There are plenty of fish in the area, and also more black sea urchins than I’ve ever seen in one place. Something to be cautious of as you don’t want to rub up against these miniature water porcupines.
Siete Pecados Marine Park
The last stop of our tour was Siete Pecados, a protected area not too far from the coastline of the main island. It was about 4:00PM when we reached this location, and after being in the sun all day everybody on the boat was getting pretty tired. We took a quick ten minute kayak around one of the islands before passing it off to others (its advertised as “kayak’s included”, but they only bring one kayak for 20+ people so time is quite limited).
Overall, the area offers a breathtaking landscape, and for a price of about $25-$30 CAD per person it’s a worthwhile day trip. Coron itself is also a great starting point for further island hopping in Palawan. Many people we spoke with we’re taking the ferry to or from El Nido where you can also access Puerto Princesca, the main city that has a one of a kind underground river system that is high on our list for next time.