Saturday, June 25, 2016

CORON ISLAND HOPPING (Ultimate Island Hopping)

TRAVEL DATE: JULY 2014
PLACE: CORON, PALAWAN

Despite having “no goodnight sleep” I was able to wake up at 5:30am and prepare myself to hike the Mt. Tapyas. My trek started at 6:15am



I thought I couldn’t make it, because my feet is already trembling and the rain is about to pour out, but I keep on telling myself that I can do it. 20 more step to reach the top, the rain poured out and I shiver but was able to take some shots.

I had no umbrella with me and so I just allowed myself to be soaked in rain, and praying that God will protect me from sickness like fever.

After my Mt. Tapyas, I scouted for Breakfast and drink a paracetamol tablet. My feet is still sore and I cannot walk straight because of pain.

The Restaurant that I spotted was just one block away from the Lodge paid P110.00 for Cornsilog. It took them 40 minutes before they serve my food because they cooked wrong order and because I am in rush, I just asked them the available food that they could serve me.

The moment I went back to the lodge, Mamita informed me that the tour guide will pick me up for the island hopping, so I rush to my room and picked my things few minutes they are already calling me hahahaha.

Because I have a limited stay in Coron I choose the Ultimate tour for P1,500.00 that includes everything plus 100.00 snorkel mask.

We are only three persons in the boat and I asked them if they will resume the tour they said yes and I commend them for that because in EL Nido, if the boat did not reach the minimum 6 person they will just cancel the island hopping considering they don’t pay any entrances of each island.

When my two companion came (married couple), I came to know that the girl is my school mate and the guy is from bicol. We talk a lot about our Alma matter and to our surprise, we both know some people, see it’s a small world right, I am not alone anymore. Elsbeth and I become close buddy hopping that day.

Ultimate island Consist of the following:

1. CYC ISLAND – According to our guide this island was been donated to the Coron Youth Community, the only island that has no entrance fee, we did photo opts here swim, but to my dismay I didn’t enjoy the underwater maybe because it is cloudy, after 30 minutes we headed to…

Add caption

2. Skeleton Island – P100.00 Entrance Fee, but our guide says that this is their marine sanctuary, but then again, I don’t find the corals alive, blame it to the cloudy weather, I felt some chill so I decided to go back to the boat.

The pictures that I've taken on these place was blurred because of rain shower and the water is too shallow.

3. Shipwreck  - I really wanted to see the shipwreck but again, due to the strong wave I wasn’t able to see it. Too bad, but at least these fishes came as if welcoming us to their sanctuary, we didn’t last there and we ask our guide to go to our next destination

**No clear pictures here too because of strong wave, we were also had a bad situation wherein we cant swim and so we asked the boatman to proceed on our next destination

4. Smith Island – P100.00 Entrance Fee - This is where we had our lunch but this time the sun shows up and it keep us warm a little, the boatman keeps on saying that God listened to my prayers for good weather  J



5. Twin Lagoon – P100.00 entrance fee - This is a mix of fresh and salt water, warm and cold, as much as we wanted to take the entrance and swim the tide didn’t allowed us, so we choose to climb on these manmade ladder. We just relax our body in this lagoon, seems like we owned the place. We had a jump here but sadly Joel our guide has no good shot using the gopro.



6. Kayangan Lake – P200.00 entrance fee I’m living in the post card! I didn’t know that you need to climb for 150 steps to get it here, I was already complaining because my legs are sores and I don’t know if I can make it to the top, but thank God I did.





Kayangan Lake

After the photo opts in kayangan lake, we went down to the lagoon, another 150 steps down, here I rested and met some foreign tourist, everyone has a smile in their faces and keeps on saying “this is beautiful” and I answered them “of course, this is Philippines, the Paradise island” and they all laugh.

Elsbeth and her Hubby choose to swim at the lagoon while I’m taking my nap, I really felt so tired that day, I know I need it if I wanted to go back alive in our boat because we still need another 150 steps to climb up again and additional 150 steps back down to our boat.

After few minutes more tourists came and I know I cannot rest anymore so I decided to join them and entered the “Cathedral”, the water in this lagoon is also mix with fresh and salt water. Maybe the effect of a little nap made my mood change, I just snorkel in the lagoon and enjoy the underwater living creatures, but sadly I only saw few colorful fishes its more on stones.

I made many stop when we started to climb up and down back to our boat, and right now, I don’t know what will happened to my legs because I can feel the cramps.

Back to the boat, all of us felt so famished good thing I have my water and few pieces of biscuits to feed our hungry stomach, each one share a bite of my “strawberry oreo”.

7.  Siete Picados – My excitement subsided when we reach our last stop, maybe because of the weather, it started to rain again, and I can feel headache and my legs are also in pain, and I really feel so sleepy, but I still force myself to dive and see why our guide boast this island to be the snorkeling spot, I wanted to stay more minutes to this island and witness the underwater world when I saw a sea snakes, I got scared and immediately fall back, I don’t want to continue anymore, I lasted for 10 minutes and decided to go back to our boat.

All in All the island tour was okey, maybe I just have a high expectation from what I read or maybe because of my mood and the weather that’s why I cannot appreciate this island hopping. For me El Nido and Coron are same in some ways but has its own uniqueness, El Nido is still my bet for island hopping. But I promised myself that I will be back here next year Holy week to see it beauty again and Visit the Malcapuya and Banana Island.

Back to the lodge, I immediately took a bath, wash my clothes and rest for about 30 minutes, after taking some coffee; I scouted some restaurant through tripadvisor. Thanks for the Help of Ms. Jacqueline, (she also stays at Momita’s Lodge) she share her ideas about the Quennies, thanks for the fast wifi that time I was able to locate the place.

I had my dinner at Queenies, their servings are huge, I love the shakes and the seafood curry (but I still love the seafood curry in Squidos El Nido).

After dinner I went back to Momitas’ Lodge and pack my things for early check out next day.


That night I prayed and give thanks to God for the protection and strength that He gave me to survive all the activities though my legs are really in pain, I asked the Lord to give me a peaceful sleep and He granted my request.
Coron Airport
Actual Expenses


next post Boracay....

Rainy Trip to Coron 2014



TRAVEL DATE: JULY 2014


PLACE: CORON PALAWAN
The most photograph island in Coron: Kayangan

It was October when my eyes catch the seat sale at Philippine Airlines, without thinking too much I booked my roundtrip ticket for Coron and Boracay, yes you read it right, Coron and Boracay, it was fun at first when I booked this flight without analyzing about the seasons.

When my friend learned about it she just said “Are you okey, you sure you can do it, how will you file a leave? what about the weather? And your budget?” I answered her with a smile and shrugged.

In my mind these questions was really serious, but I just stay positive about it, besides I still have 9 months to prepare and I don’t want to worry on the things that hasn’t come in my way.

Before this trip came, I decided to visit the Sagada, Baguio and Calaguas so I really spend on these out of town trips and my budget for Coron and Boracay is getting thinner.

Filing vacation is difficult for me too, so what I did is I filed it 2 months before my departure and fix everything to avoid rush and prayed that God would give me a good weather and NO Cancel Flight because June – October is a rainy season and July and August is the most crucial weather in this tropical country.

When the 2014 came, I began to scout some cheapest accommodation yet near to the community and I spotted the momita’s lodge and with the great reviews from tripadvisor and blogs, I choose her and contacted her 3 months before my flight and good thing the P700.00 A/C (green room) room is still available.

Originally, my flight is 3:40pm but for some reasons the airlines change it into 2:20pm and that means cramming on my part to get to the airport, and I need to check in before the 45 minutes closing time, so to avoid delayed I decided not to report for work that day and headed to the airport because my place was too far and traffic jam is everywhere due to bad weather that day.

I check inn early and too bad I didn’t check inn my baggage and while waiting for our flight the airline announces that there was a delayed because of low visibility in Busuanga Airport, so my 2:20pm flight became 4:00pm, I cannot blame this to the airlines, it was the safety that is at stake, 4 announcement of delayed flight worried me and started to say a little prayer, then God heard and answer me, the 5th announcement is boarding time.. yahoo!!!

The flight was smooth and I just enjoyed watching clouds

One of the many reasons why i really like flying!!

One of my aerial shot 
It was still cloudy upon our touchdown, but I still thank God for the safe arrival in Busuanga Airport.
Busuanga Airport
My name was been called and I forgot to take picture of my name written in a small white board (feeling tourist hahaha ) when I came out.
Road from Busuanga Airport to Coron town
Coron Town

Past 5:00pm arrived at Momita’s Lodge, I just put my bags inside my room and asked for coffee and head to Coron gallery to purchase some pasalubong, Mamita was so helpful, she recommended me this place and I found the staff very accommodating, it doesn’t matter if you purchase one shirt, they will gladly still assist you.

Momita’s lodge is located in the center of the community in Coron, you can walk from her place to Mt Tapyas and Port is just near to her place.

I wanted to visit Mt. Tapyas on my first day but because I arrived late, Ruth warned me that it would be dangerous for me to go there because there is no street light, so I decided to wake up early morning next day to visit the place besides it was just a walking distance.
My 250.00 dinner at Momitas Lodge

My 700.00 a/c Room 
My first night didn’t go well not because of the room or the noise of the cars and tricycle that passes by but because of the Loud noise that is coming from Centro Coron, it was a restaurant that has a “Live Band” I don’t know exactly what time did the band started but I know what time it ended and the last music they’ve played. It was 3:00am and the last song is “LET’S GET LOUD”, yeah right, they really get loud. For me, the city government should give attention to this kind of noise; people are already resting at that hour.

Actual Expenses