FAS OUTING @ CORON, PALAWAN
…whew! It has just been three days since our vacation / team-building at Coron, Palawan and I still can’t get over the breathtaking beauty of the place…I know, I know I have said it already when we last went for a vacation in Puerto Princesa, Palawan but boy…oh boy…the beauty of Coron is far, far different! I could not actually start to compare both places because they both have an innate beauty that is uniquely their own. The office started entertaining plans when the summer season of March came in …and since the unit FAS had already used up all the nearby places to visit – from Batangas, Tagaytay, Quezon, Pangasinan, Bicol, Ilocos Norte (Pagudpud) and many others – they decided to cross the vast oceans this time and travel someplace which has not yet been travelled by any other unit before – the paradise of Coron, Palawan.
Our only problem was that we would not be able anymore to avail of any promo by Cebu pac since we have about a month or two more to go before summer ends and at this late date, we can’t anymore get a discount like the ones we got when we went to Puerto Princesa last February…oh well, so I guess I’m the only one who can join the FAS outing this time since we just recently had a family trip to Palawan (that severely depleted our expenses). We just promised the kids that we’d bring them to Coron some other time… when budget and time constraints allow. So on March 11, 2 days after they made the booking for their own personnel, I got a booking for myself which cost me about PhP2500.00…a bit steep than our usual plane fare rates, but oh so very well worth it…
The group excitedly left early on the 22nd of April for our 9:30 am flight… the flight left as scheduled and no one was late! Our problem was that our destination was rainy and a bit cloudy so our small plane could not see the landing site…oh dear, and so the pilot made about five or more circles around Palawan just to while away some time and hopefully to allow the sun some time to peek through the dark clouds…in fact, we were a bit fearful since the cabin crew said we only had enough gas to return to Manila and in a few more minutes if the plane still can’t land, we’d be forced to turn back to Manila. Oh no… but thankfully I guess God heard all our prayers and so we finally made a touchdown at Busuanga airport.
Upon arrival, I immediately called up the contact person for our van transfer and we travelled over mostly rough roads (I think for about an hour) before reaching our rented cottages for the night at Coron Village Lodge. It was around lunchtime already when we arrived and so we headed out after checking in to our respective rooms and took trikes to the town proper…we chose a relatively large carinderia and had lunch there. Then, while waiting the others went off na to the market to buy some food stuffs for our dinner tonight. We returned to the resort and got busy preparing the food for our dinner while the others just rested in their respective rooms.
We ate an early dinner and off we went to Matictic Hot Springs to dip our tired and weary bodies in their steaming hot pools…and indeed it was sizzling! At first, we had a difficult time lowering ourselves in the water and so we started out with just dipping our feet first. Then, slowly, as we got accustomed to the heat, we waded in to our waist and finally until our chests were in the water. It feels good but we can only stand to stay in the water for a short time because it was just too hot! The boys literally felt that their balls were being hard-boiled already! hehehe
It was already dark when we left…all wet and we boarded the jeeps that we rented for the trip. We returned to Coron Village Lodge, showered and dressed…but the others felt hungry again and so they had round 2 of dinner before calling it in for the night. The others drank a few beers just to tide them over in sleep. But many of us rested early because we have an early call time tomorrow for the highlight of our trip – the island hopping tour.
The next day, we were all up and ready early to go to the pier. We proceeded to the Discovery Divers office and after ensuring that our boats were ready (we rented two)…off we went for island hopping! Our first stop – Siete Pecados – a marine sanctuary where some scenes of Dyesebel were shot, or so our ‘bankero’ said.
After a short swim with the fishes at Siete Pecados, too bad we didn’t meet up with Dyesebel eh? …off we went to be awed by the breathtaking beauty of Kayangan Lake… but before we got there we passed by pretty limestone formations and very calm waters along the way.
Kayangan Lake is the most photographed area of Coron and it is usually this place that is taken to represent Coron in may travel magazines and blogs. But to get there we had to climb up some steep flight of stairs (actually just steps carved out of the mountains where flat stones are placed with wooden railings) and then down again to reach the lake. It was tiring but the view from atop is just worth it…I guess I wouldn’t have the experience any other way…it was just so apt to see a perfect view of calm and clear waters after such a long and arduous climb. We were excited to immediately jump into the water the moment we reached the bottom of the mountain…but we had to catch our breath first and just take in the beauty of the place before truly diving in.
The water of the lake was so clear that we could easily see some small fishes swimming underneath the surface. We brought with us the life jackets from the boat and so we were able to venture out to the center of the lake and find out what’s underneath …and we saw nothing but sand. We thought the bottom was just near so some of the boys tried to dive to touch it, but the bottom looked truly deceiving because it was much much deeper than we thought. We enjoyed ourselves immensely just floating on our life vests while the others used the bamboo poles just floating near the side of the lake. We would’ve wanted to stay a bit longer but our stomachs were clamoring for food so we had to leave since the place didn’t provide any place to eat or stay long. Maybe this was deliberate to ensure that no trash would be left behind. Reluctantly we left Kayangan Lake thru the way we came in and this time, however, we opted to pass by Kayangan Cave and have our pictures taken with Kayangan Lake in the background… just to prove THAT WE WERE HERE…
Our next stop was Smate Point beach…a cove in one of the islands of Coron. I guess it was another privately owned isle since it had an entrance fee of Php 100 per person. We spent the rest of the morning there, preparing our lunch – a la Survivor since there were no basic amenities – we had to make do with just firewood and setting up some stones to create a makeshift stove. The place was inhabited by an old guy – complete with graying beard and straw hat (like an ermitanyo) and he left us mostly in peace living in his small hut (that looks more like a bird’s nest really) and we just gave him some lunch (that seemed forever to cook…well, with the makeshift amenities, what would we expect?!?) But we had fun eating SRO nga lang because there was only one cottage and so the others ate on the sand or standing up…but still it was so much fun eating all together like that!
After eating, we rested awhile and posed for photos before leaving once again for CYC beach. We stayed there for only a short while though because there were too many spiked sea urchins so though the water was clear we only swam at a point where we could not reach the sand. Next stop was the Twin Lakes and it was just apt that we made it our last stop for the day because it provided a truly eerie ending to our island hopping adventure. The initial write-ups I read on the Twin Lakes never really prepared me for the real thing… When we approached the place, the towering cliffs protecting it seemed dark and foreboding. And I guess it was truly an unwelcoming place but we refused to heed the signs and plodded on to reach our destination. There were only a few who went down to savor the cold waters of the first lake… there was some sort of rock coral that one could stand on and explore but when you venture a bit farther from there…there was nothing but darkness and it would be like a huge drop into a vast unknown.
But we did not stop there… we ventured further on to the second lake which was only passable during low tides thru a small opening/hole in the rock mountain. Only a few of us dared to enter and once inside we were welcomed by cool and black waters… one of the swimmers who ventured to the middle of the lake said he felt a cramp and went outside immediately. We, meanwhile, opted to just swim near the mouth of the cave …too cowardly to venture any further inside. We left na din soon after wards and it was only then that we learned that the first one who went out did not really feel a cramp but rather a tightening in his chest and a feeling of being closed in so he went out na…the other officemate who dared to dive under to take a look at what’s underneath the black waters claimed he saw a huge school of barracudas beneath us…but it was several feet below…and he could not even fathom the bottom of the lake. Good thing nothing untoward happened to us in that lake but it was truly an eerie experience being there as if something was with us…some ancient creature waiting for us to make one wrong move…whew!...quite a close call!
When we finished our island hopping…or maybe it would be more apt to call it lake-hopping don’t you think? …we headed off to Discovery Divers resort to have dinner. They prepared a huge feast for us which took a bit long to prepare so we were quite ravenous by the time the food arrived…in fact, I could not even recall if the food tasted good or not?!? After eating, we hopped back to our boats and travelled back to Coron Village Lodge where we took our bath and settled in for the night.
The next day was our last day at Coron and some of us got up early to go up to Mt. Tapyas and witness the breathtaking view of Coron from atop a mountain. It was good exercise going up the many steps (too many to count e!) and the view from above was just worth it! When we went down, we visited some souvenir shops muna for pasalubong shopping before returning to Coron Village Lodge. We then packed our things, boarded the vans that would take us to the airport and bid goodbye to one of the most beautiful places in the country. Truly one we wouldn’t get tired of returning to once again especially with our kids in tow…so it isn’t really Goodbye Coron…but till we meet again!
