Coron - Palawan's Getaway Paradise

Coron, Palawan - Island Paradise!

Kayangan Lake - considered as one of Asia's cleanest lake.

Most of you might have heard about Coron recently. It's becoming more and more famous for its beaches, lakes and other tourist destinations. In this blog entry, I will be talking about my recent trip to Coron. This was not my first major travel in the Philippines but this trip made me push through in making my first blog.

How to get there:

Boarding - Cebu Pacific ATR flight.

My friends and I patiently waited for promo fares from Cebu Pacific. We got our Davao-Manila-Davao flights for P486.04/person and Manila-Busuanga-Manila for P707.80/person. You should plan your trips ahead and wait for Piso/Promo fares to save money. Just a tip, do not get a flight to Coron later than 3:20PM because your flight might get cancelled due to sunset limitation. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Day 1: Coron Proper.

Aerial view of Busuanga Island.

On our way to the municipality of Coron.

Jazmine's Place - We stayed here for 4 days and 3 nights.

Family room - (there are two more beds located at the separate side of the room).

Lobby of Jazmine's Place.

Lolo Nonoy's Food Station - Walking distance from Jazmine's Place.

Sumptuous food at reasonable prices!

We stayed at Jazmine's Place during our entire stay in Coron. Since we did not have an itinerary for Day 1, we just walked around the town while looking for a place to eat. I bought a pair of slippers for P150.00 after dinner because I forgot to bring one with me. Haha! After that, we went back to our hotel.


Day 2: Island Hopping!

Our boat for the island hopping!

Meet Oliver, a solo backpacker. He loves to travel just like us.

Siete Picados - This was our first stop and we had to go around this island by snorkelling. There were lots of coral reef and marine life anywhere we looked. I was already enjoying it so much that I wanted to upload my photos to Facebook ASAP! Unfortunately, signal in this area is very weak (SMART and GLOBE).

Siete Picados Island

Snorkeling around Siete Picados.

A Green Lapu-Lapu I think LOL.

Purple Corals, quite unusual for me.

Lots of small fishes. The corals look like chicken lollipops.

Soft Purple coral. Yikes!

Hard corals, do not touch this, it's sharp.

Try not to step on these, there might be some stone-fishes hiding somewhere.

This was how close we were with the corals since it was low tide.

I think these corals are dead. Climate change?

That knee almost touched the corals!

Jar like coral. Might be called sea-jar? LOL.

Kayangan Lake: Considered as one of Asia's cleanest lake. This was the highlight of our tour and is the most popular tourist spot in Coron.

Holla! Approaching Kayangan Lake.

Crystal clear water!

Overlooking Kayangan Lake after a steep 5 minute climb up the concrete stairs.

Kayangan Lake surrounded by rock formations and hills.

We had our lunch inside one of the Nipa Huts at Kayangan.

Don't you want to get stuck here in paradise?

Water is not salty, it's "matabang".

Holla!

It's more difficult to stay afloat here since the water is less salty. I suggest you wear your life-jacket.

Photo taken by our tour guide, Kuya Nonoy.

You must apply sunblock or else you'll get a sunburn.

I think the lake is 60ft deep.

Rock formation under Kayangan Lake.

I tried to reach the bottom but the pressure was immense.

Groupie before leaving Kayangan.

Barracuda Lake: Creepy lake I should say. It's deeper than Kayangan and it is thought to be the home of Barracudas. I was not able to see any though. It's so scary to look down since it is so deep!

Barracudas might be waiting for me down there.

It's so lonely here. All you can hear is the wind.

Exhausted, I decided to wear my life-jacket.

We were the only people swimming in this lake.

About to leave Barracuda Lake.

Twin Lagoon: You have to pass through a narrow tunnel to get into Twin Lagoon.

Outside Twin Lagoon.

Forming a line to pass through the tunnel easily.

Entrance to the lagoon.

Kayaking

The water here has varying temperatures. It gets warm then suddenly it gets cold and vice versa.

 Banol Beach: A very short stay, just to eat snacks. It was already 3pm and the sun was scorching hot. We did not swim anymore.

Made some new friends, Nass and Abdul! They are from England.

Skeleton wreck - A Japanese World War II era warship

Me on top of the ship's deck.

It really looks like a skeleton.

Lots of fishes here. You can actually feed them using cooked rice.

It feels so good to be this close to a shipwreck.

Fish feeding.

Just killing the time.

We departed from the Skeleton Wreck at around 4:30PM and got back to Coron town by 5:00PM. We freshened up for a while then we decided to go up Mt. Tapyas. No doubt, the climb was very tiring but the view at the top was so spectacular that we no longer minded how tired we were!

Mt. Tapyas - 210m and no less than 700 concrete steps.

Halfway through - I was not able to catch the sunset. The sun was setting much faster than I could walk.

The sun was already behind the mountains.

The view was just breathtaking!

This Cross was destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda, fortunately it was already repaired when we got here.

After taking selfies and groupies at Mt. Tapyas, we decided to go down. We were so hungry! We ate at Santino's Grill. We forgot to take photos, probably because of extreme hunger.

Day 3: Calauit Safari, Black Island, Coral Garden and Lusong Shipwreck.

Going to Calauit Safari requires 4 hours of travel by sea. We left Coron at 5:00AM. We ate our packed breakfast onboard. If you decide to go to Calauit, make sure you're early because you'd probably miss the Giraffes if you arrive late.

" Lumos!" Off to Calauit Island!

Welcome to Calauit Safari Park!

Surprisingly, this car still works!

This was my first time to see Zebras.

Giraffes on the average are 17ft tall.

Into the wild.

Gerald, one of the tallest Giraffe in the park.

Giraffes are very friendly!

Perfect shot by Kuya Nonoy!

African safari feels.

Time to feed some Giraffes.

Bea, she is so sweet!

A juvenile freshwater crocodile.

Black Island Cave: Not much to do here except eat lunch and visit the twin caves on this island.

Black Island - Rock formations are mostly black, hence the name.

Fine white sand. There is a shipwreck here but can only be accessed by scuba divers.

 It looks like it was taken from a postcard.

Inside one of the cave's chambers.

This area is pitch black. I only used the camera flash to provide illumination.

Silica walls of the cave.

Coral Garden: Just like Siete Picados, abundant marine life.

Lusong Shipwreck: Our last stop before heading back to Coron. A very shallow ship wreck. About 10 feet deep only. Lots of fishes.

Maquinit Hot-springs: A saltwater hot-spring

With Kuya Nonoy, our boatman, photographer and tour guide. Thank you Nice in Paradise Tours!

Day 4: Fly back to Manila - We were supposed to stay until day 4 but due to APEC, our flight has been cancelled and it was re-booked to an earlier flight. We were not able to visit Malcapuya Island. We left Coron by 7:55AM.

Final moments before leaving Coron.

My travel in Coron is unforgettable. It taught me a lot about how to appreciate life and nature. Life is always about travel and experience. Thank you Coron. Till we meet again.

 For those of you who are planning a trip to Coron for 4 days and 3 nights, please take a look at our itinerary below. For bookings, please click the link: http://www.niceinparadisetours.com/