coron, palawan :)

I've long wanted to go to Coron, hearing stories of how clean and beautiful it is in there. I have witnessed this beauty myself, and enjoyed every wonderful sec I was there. It's been almost two weeks and I'm still not over Coron. Must be love <3

Day 1: I was not able to sleep well the night before because I was so excited and a little scared. Day before, they were practicing the delivery of eulogy during my wake in case I don't make it back because of the Tsunami alert in some parts of the Philippines (thank God, not in Coron!). How sweet are my officemates! ;p

Your lola still went anyway.

Flight was delayed for 2 friggin' hours! My first flight ever in my life, delayed! I thought I'll be telling my grandchildren about my first airplane ride like this, "It was so perfect, so beautiful up there . . ." But no, this is how my story will be, "Ay pucha mga apo, late ang erplane, 2 oras mehn! " Air Phil tried to make it up with a 1-pc chickenjoy for all the nabuburaot passengers. Sana sinamahan niyo na rin ng fries! Hahaha

I was with my friends in this trip, thank God. Nag-utuan na lang kame ng 2 oras sa airport, what else are we to do? ;p

And then, my first plane ride. :)

(with my friend Kepyas, also a first-timer)

Touchdown Coron!!! Woot woot! 30-min van ride from Busuanga airport to our hotel. We instantly love the place. Sunz en Coron is a newly-built resort owned by very friendly Koreans. http://www.sunzencoron.ph

We began exploring Coron. First on our itinerary - Mt. Tapyas. It was a 700+ steps climb up the hill. We almost missed the sunset, I would have hated Air Phil even more if we did. hehe.

After the aruy-sa-legs climb, we headed over to Maquinit Hot Spring. The soothing effect of the warm water was worth the buwis-buhay tricycle ride.

The swim made us so hungry. Took another buwis-buhay ride back to town and had dinner at Kawayanan Grill where we celebrated Allen's birthday. She was born on December. Long story short, free dessert and free lechon from the table next to us ;p

We headed back to Sunz and gave the pool a try, like we were not tired enough from the long day we had. :)

Day 2: Island hopping! The adventure at sea began, you can not imagine how excited this tahong was!

First stop was at Siete Pecados. I've never seen so many kinds of fishes. Before Coron, all fishes look like Tilapia to me. But there, I recognized the existence of other pretty fishes in this world. Good thing Ate Maan insisted on buying bread in the town. Throw a pinch and they all come crowding you.

Hopped to Kayangan Lake! It was ultimately the gang's favorite. Spectacular. Magnificent. Awesome. Wonderful. Delicious.(?) Nutritious. (?) Just couldn't find the right words to describe this pangpostcard na kagandahan that greeted us. ;p I hope these photos I captured did it even just a little bit of justice.

Then came lunchtime. Lunch was one of the highlights of our trip. We have expected packed meals from the package that we availed. What fascinated me about Coron boats is that they have a place to cook at the back of their boats where they prepare food while we are exploring an island or even while we sail. Lunch on Day 2 consisted of inihaw na talong, ensalada, grilled fish, and the very mighty alimasag! We ate for so long, while exchanging stories, at a hut in a small island called Vivian’s Resort. We ate so much. As in, kaing karpintero na nagsisideline din bilang mga bouncers. I think I had four (or more) servings of rice and a few (?) alimasags. They were begging me to eat them, what could I do? ;p We kept on thanking Ate Lovie for the feast she prepared for us and requested some of our favourites for lunch the next day.

We left Vivian’s Resort after swimming some more and trying the raft. Off we sailed to another awesome spot of Coron which is the Twin Lagoon. Ate Lovie said if the waters weren’t too high, we can swim right under a huge formation of rock to get to the other side of the lagoon. Solved na kame sa isang side pa lang. Again, there was a raft where we sat and took in the beauty of where we were.

Time to leave and hop to Skeleton Wreck. It is an island where some meters from the shore, underneath was a part of a sunken ship. According to a kid who we asked why it’s there, on that spot was where the ship trying to get away from the Japanese, got caught. Looking at it through my snorkelling gear makes me uncomfortable so instead of inspecting it some more, I just swam after the mesmerizing and proud parrot fish. It did look like a parrot, kalurks!

Last on our list for the day was Coron Youth Club beach or simply CYC. We searched for pretty rocks we can bring home as souvenirs, played with the gentle waves, talked, talked and laughed. We might have ruined the ambience a little for some foreigners lying on their backs on the sand while reading a book. Sorry, kids ya know. ;p

We sailed back to town, thanked Ate Lovie for the day and went back to Sunz. After cleaning up, we went to town for our dinner. We felt like we did not have lunch! We decided to dine at Bistro Coron. The food there is worth every cent you pay. Very very tasty. We were not even halfway from eating our food, we were already talking about going back the next day.

Day 3: Beach Bumming.

Almost all of us walked funny when we woke up, complained of aching legs and balakangs from previous days.

The sun was not so aggressive that day, we felt it’s gonna rain. It did a little which nearly dampened Mutya’s spirits.

I could not wait to try the waters already when we anchored at Malcapuya Island, got so buraot from the hour and a half boat ride. It felt like we were on one of the beach resorts in Batangas. And then again, it was lunch time!!! Ate Lovie, maybe thinking she was to feed 5 hungry men, instead of 5 timid ladies, cooked more rice and prepared more ulam, than the previous day. We had seaweed, ensalada, shrimp, inihaw na talong, inihaw na pusit, grilled fish and of course king alimasag ulet! Wuhooo! Fiesta part 2. Everything on the table was pleading that I try them all, I did more than trying of course. Our lunch was made even more delicious by the bagoong we bought the other day from the town market, which Ate Lovie remedied. We exchanged funny stories of our childhood, learned who was sutil like Lavina and who was like Princess Sarah (ehem!). Again, I don’t know how long it took us to eat. Basta after eating, I felt like a sumo wrestler. Lunch was awesome. In fact, it was legen - . . . wait for it, legendary!

We then set the sails towards Banana Island. Once upon a time daw, it was teeming with bananas, hence the name. It was another favourite! So peaceful and relaxing. I’d love to stay overnight in that island next time. Yes, I am going back to this place. :)

Then, there was Bulog Island, which was too cute! I instantly liked it. We enjoyed just lying down on the shallow waters, savouring the last few moments of our sea adventure at Coron.

And then, it was time to go back. :(

Dinner that night was at Bistro Coron. We were once again hungry men. :D

Day 4: is the day we go back to the city, sun-kissed and with beautiful stories about Coron, Palawan, to tell. :)

This trip was made even more awesome by my baklitang kumares, Michy, Pukeps, Allen and Michy’s cousin, Ate Maan. We also have Jai Valencia, Ate Rishel, Ate Lovie & family, to thank.

And of course, thank you Lord for making us witness how amazingly beautiful our country really is. :)

Coron, Palawan

Mar 12-15, 2011