If you happen to hate the sea and the sun, go to Coron and think about it. I went to Coron, Palawan, one of the most fascinating places here in the Philippines
with my boyfriend Paul, his sister Cristina, Bobby and Charlotte.
Coron is located in Luzon and is among the Busuanga Islands. It is a place for sea and nature lovers.
If you happen to hate the sea and the sun, go to Coron and think about it.
On our first day in Coron, (after 15 hours of travel by boat), we went to Wreck Island,
Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, Twin Peak and Seven Islands. Our boatmen, Gil and his son Bong toured us to the
different islands. Wreck Island is the best place for non-swimmers
like me. It has a lot of shallow parts with live corals. Too bad I wasn't able to see the shipwrecks.
I preferred to enjoy looking at the exotic Barracuda Lake. I did not attempt to plunge into its
cold and deep water. Townsfolk said that the lake was called Barracuda lake because of
two giant barracudas living there. Of course now they're gone. Before reaching the lake,
we climbed some giant rocks. Well. no pain, no gain. The climb's worth it. I've never seen such
lake so tranquil and mysterious.
Also, we went to a hot spring. The water flows down from the mountain leading to a man-made stone swimming pool. Most of my companions didn't enjoy it because it was already too hot to dash into the water. Ironically, I enjoyed the spring. It had some sort of a healing effect on me and I felt more refreshed.After I got tired of swimming, we had some freshly-picked "bukos" or coconuts for snacks.
On our second day we went to Concepcion, another town in Palawan by boat. We decided to rent the same boat men for the rest of our stay. They were real boat men because they themselves know how to take care of the sea- they never placed the anchor on corals and they picked the garbage they saw at the beaches. And actually, going to Concepcion by boat is not so expensive compared to going there by land. It also saved us from the pollution and headache due to uncemented roads. We planned to spend the rest of our vacation island hopping. We were fortunate to find accommodation in an isolated and enchanting island called the Kaniki Resort. It is a resort in the middle of nowhere with no electric supply from the town proper. The owners had their own generators for us. From Kaniki, we went to an island with no name (or maybe i just forgot). It was also a very beautiful island and the water was not so deep. We had our lunch there and spent the whole day there. It was already past six when we went back to the resort and the sun set captivated our hearts. At the same time, I saw a giant turtle swimming in the ocean and some flying fish. My companions also claimed that they saw some dolphins.
On our third day we went to calauit. This is the most talked about island in Manila because it is the safari of the Philippines. Yet to our dismay, we were not able to tour the island. Why? Upon setting foot into the island, the people at the gate have warned us that we Filipinos would pay 100 pesos for the entrance but our American friend would have to to pay 300 pesos. It was also the same with the fee for the safari jeep. Since we have an American friend, our fee was 1,000 pesos instead of 300. Moreso when we tried to talk to the manager, he did not entertain us properly rather he insisted on his bull shit policy. So, we were only able to have a look at the animals around that area. We saw wild deers, zebras and giraffes. Frustrated, we headed to the Black Island. It was called Black Island because of the black giant rocks all over the island. We had lunch there. We were not able to swim because of the big, white and pink jelly fishes floating in the sea shore. They said that those were not poisonous and won't sting but I preferred to just walk around and explore the island. There were a lot of thing to see there. There were caves. One was a really wide one with small creeks inside. The cave was so big. it could accommodate more than a hundred people.
The fourth day was a Friday and it was our last day in Kaniki Island. We went to an island called the Treasure Island. The island was not a good place for swimming because it had a lot of rocks and the water was too deep for me. In the afternoon,we went back to Coron. Going back to Coron took us almost five hours. We had dinner at our new friend Jing and her husband Gunther's island. After three days of spam and fish, we had a feast. We were served juicy chicken barbecues and other delicious dishes. The couple owns the discovery divers which is one of the most popular dive shop in Palawan.
On our fifth day, we went to the CYC island. This was a popular island because
there were a lot of people having their own picnics. We swam a little bit then
went to another island for lunch. After that, we went to a place called the Seven Islands.
Well, the boat actually stopped in the middle of the sea for us to see the corals. The problem was,
I could not swim and I was afraid of the very deep water. My boyfriend had to put some 
empty mineral water bottles in my back, tucked inside my vest so that I could float.
Geared with a snorkel, I stayed at the edge of the boat as I dipped my head into the cold
water. The view was so amazing, I could see live corals of various colors and millions of
tiny colorful fishes flirting with the water.
Our friendly boatmen invited us to catch shrimps and crabs. If you think catching this delicious and succulent sea foods is easy, you are absolutely wrong. Armed with light from a Coleman lamp and nets with sticks for handles (like the net for catching butterflies), we walked around the shore waiting for the tiny eyes of the shrimps to pop out. We were not lucky for we were only able to catch a few shrimps. We have to put back the small ones so they could still grow bigger. We got a lot of giant crabs. Our dinner was satisfying. Our boat men taught us to cook the crabs and shrimps. First, we fried some garlic and then placed all the shrimps and crabs in the big casserole. After that, we poured some Sprite and added a little bit of salt and bits of ginger. When they turned red, we knew that dinner was getting nearer.
We spent our last day shopping for souveineir shirts and other stuffs. We went back to Manila via Asian Spirit. Coron, Palawan is a must-see place. For a week, I had a break from the traffic and pollution in the city... plus, I had a nice tan that lasted for a month.
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