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!

Family vacation @ Puerto Princesa, Palawan (February 3-6, 2009)

…at long last after such a long wait, our family is taking another vacation…by ourselves again (not an office outing or a family affair) just like what we did way back in 2007 when we all went for a short weekend trip to Baguio city…just the four of us… this time, we decided to take the kids on a plane ride to visit Palawan since after Jun and I visited the paradise last year, we vowed to take them there…and we are just staying true to that promise…

And so last year when we I saw the opportunity to avail of discounted tickets for Palawan I decided to take the risk and bought tickets for our dream destination even if it’s still around four months away! I reckoned the time spent waiting could be spent saving up for it din naman e…SO GO! Our departure from Manila was at 8:30 AM and so we all got up early because we have to be at the airport at 6:30 am (2 hours before boarding!). Thankfully, we didn’t have a problem waking up and getting there on time…(so excited!) We reached the spanking new NAIA Terminal 3 (for Cebu Pac flights) and it was indeed very clean and sparkling. We had fun while waiting for two hours for our flight, we had breakfast at a Jollibee kiosk there before we boarded our flight that left as scheduled at 8:30 a.m. Our flight was quite uneventful…had a good laugh though coz our daughter (her first time to fly!) almost squealed in delight when she saw the plane slowly taking off…all the time saying (ayan na! ayan na! tumataas na!) She was just a joy to be with…


















DAY 1 – CITY TOUR

One hour later and we made our touchdown at the Puerto Princesa airport in Palawan. We rode a trike to our hotel/inn beside the famous Puerto Pension, the Audissie Pension(because it was much, much more affordable!) After checking in, we went to the city proper and contracted a trike to take us on our very own personalized city tour. But first, we ate lunch at Elmer’s Pares, the same turo-turo that we went to last year before we went on our Island Hopping. After we were full, we proceeded to our first stop…we opted to go the farthest place first in our itinerary – the Iwahig Penal Prison. There was no entrance fees here…it was in fact, a very wide open expanse that did not seem at all like a prison! There were walls but only superficial ones. The prisoners can freely roam around and interact with visitors – they are allowed to farm, breed animals, do crafts and other sorts of livelihood. But there are still some hardened criminals that stay behind bars. We stayed awhile and talked with them and bought some of the souvenirs they themselves made – like keychains and T-shirts. Key chains here had the same price as in the market priced at 12 pcs for PhP100 while ref magnets are PhP50 for large ones and 3 pcs for PhP100 for the small ones.











Next stop was the Crocodile Farm, it was another place we weren’t able to visit the last time we were here because it was a bit far…entrance fees were PhP40 for adults and PhP20 for children. We marveled at their display of the skeleton of the largest crocodile captured in the country. The also had live crocodiles in cages and we saw them lazily sleeping the hot afternoon away. The highlight of the trip is the picture-taking session with a real-live crocodile (but it was just a small one! Hehehe and its mouth was even sealed shut with tape!) The experience was still kinda creepy holding the ‘creature’ with your bare hand. The photo op just cost us PhP30 per pic.











After buying a crocodile stuffed toy for Kaye and a T-shirt for Keith, off we went to our next stop – Mitra’s farm. The place was one we already visited a year ago and it was still just as relaxing and refreshing to visit. It reminded me a bit of Tagaytay or Antipolo with a great view overlooking the city. The place is owned by the Mitra family, whose most famous member is former congressman who ran for President Ramon Mitra. The place seems to be neglected though, maybe they don’t really live there anymore but it’s good that the caretakers allow visitors to enter and rest a bit (without charging any entrance fees!)





Next was a visit to Baker’s Hill – where we bought some snacks and lots of baked goodies - some for pasalubong and others for munching as we go along. The kids also took the opportunity to have their pictures taken among the numerous animal and cartoon character statues that littered the restaurant cum bakeshop.











Final stop for the city tour is the Butterfly farm…more pic taking and we watched a short video presentation on how butterflies evolved…the kids had fun taking pics of the fleeting butterflies. Entrance to the place was PhP25 for adults and PhP10 for children. After awhile, we went back to the pension house, paid our trike driver PhP500 – how’s that for a half-day city tour eh!?! We rested for awhile in our bedroom before dinnertime.







We had dinner at Chicken Inato – their specialty is BBQ chicken and the kids truly enjoyed it! It still tasted great and I still liked the same warm cozy ambiance that we enjoyed here last year. Since we have our kids with us, we can’t take them to that popular resto here that serves the Palawan specialty – tamilok! Anyway, even I am not brave enough to try eating it…maybe next time when they are a bit older and much bolder in their food preferences. Our entire dinner cost is around PhP800 but truly, truly worth it! After eating, we decided to shed away a few pounds by walking along their Baywalk…the place was quite near our hotel and my daughter already saw earlier that the place was teeming with youngsters and had bikes for rent! And so we let them rent out bikes while we just sat around in the benches after walking a bit. After awhile it was time to retire for the night since we had to be up early tomorrow.







DAY 2 – UNDERGROUND RIVER TOUR

The next day we were up early at 5:30 to bathe and get ready for the Underground River tour. We ordered two breakfasts from the Audissie kitchen but found it wanting. Last night, we passed by Jollibee on our way home and ordered burger steak takeout as the kids’ breakfast while for us, we had their so-called Filipino breakfast (na kakaunti!) at least now we know that we should not order from them again!

The van picked us up at around 7am and we passed by a few more places to complete the other members of our tour group then it’s off to Sabang we went for the Undergound river tour. Of course, there was the usual stop-over at Buenavista viewdeck for more souvenir shopping. Then, after two hours of bumping along the still-unpaved road (well, after a year and so many visitors they should have been able to fix the road diba?) we finally reached Sabang. We waited for our turn to ride the pump boat that would finally take us to our ultimate destination – what is touted to be among the new wonders of the world!








Thirty minutes of riding a pump boat finally brought us to a cove in St. Paul’s Mountain … the entrance to the Underground river. From the beach, we passed a wooden walkway that is littered with monitor lizards and playful monkeys… at the end of the path, we found people queuing for their turn to get on a paddle boat to traverse the wonders of the caves. Finally, our turn came and I could sense that my daughter was a bit fearful she may fall off or that the boat may capsize…but I held on to her hand firmly and reassured her that it was safe. Soon enough she was overcome by awe at what the caves had to offer.











The tour finished at around 11 and we returned to Sabang beach to have lunch once again at Taraw resto…After eating and while the adults rested, the kids took a dip in the beach. At around 2pm, we all returned to the van to go back to Puerto Princesa. There was one more stop at Vietville where we ate Chao-lung and toured their facilities including the souvenir shops and old houses where the Vietnamese refugees used to live. Now, I guess there are just a few remaining which is why most of the houses seem abandoned already. We got back to the pension house at around 5pm, very tired but still happy and satiated with the day we spent. The tour cost PhP1500 inclusive of the van rental, boat transfers and lunch at Taraw resto…a bit steep but at least we didn’t have to worry about anything much! Besides, they gave a discount naman for my daughter so I only paid half-price for her.









We retired to our rooms to rest and nap for awhile. We went out again at around 7 to eat at Ka Lui, I made prior reservations since the place is almost always fully packed but thankfully it wasn’t full naman this time. It was our first time to visit the restaurant and it was very homey and cool. Upon entering, a person is required to take off his footwear and place them inside cabinets located just after the main door. Inside the resto, one is given the choice of dining in regular tables but we opted to be seated on the floors, atop cushions. We placed our orders and while waiting we marveled at the beauty of the place, it was so rustic and native-looking with all those polished wooden floors and carvings. Then, the food arrived and we were treated to a feast we would never forget! Almost all of the food we ordered tasted great and was worth every penny…just check out the pics!



















After our fully satisfying meal (which cost us PhP1100), we passed by Baywalk once again to try to shed off all the calories we just consumed. After the kids had their fill of biking, we returned to our room to go to sleep.

DAY 3 – ISLAND HOPPING

The next day was another early day for us because we were going Island Hopping at Honda Bay! We had breakfast of luncheon meat and rice…which the Audissie kitchen cooked for us…now, we know better instead of ordering breakfast meals from them we bought a can of luncheon meat and rice from a nearby grocery. Then, we asked the kitchen staff to cook them for us this morning so we could have breakfast before leaving for Honda Bay…they even cooked us an extra pot of rice for our baon later. If I remember it correctly, we only need to pay them around PhP50 for the cooking…how’s that for a cheap breakfast, huh?

After eating, we rode on a trike that would take us to Honda Bay. (BTW, we rode the same trike that we had during the city tour. We even took them with us island hopping since the poor guy says he’s been in Palawan for more than a year and yet he hasn’t been there yet so we brought him and his wife along rather than just let them wait for us at Honda Bay). We passed by the market first to buy hipon and alimasag costing just PhP150 per kilo. It was much cheaper that way coz last year when we were here, the fresh seafood cost around PhP200 a kilo already and we had to pay for the cooking pa. So armed with lotsa lotsa food and water, off we went to Honda Bay.



















We paid PhP1300 for boat rental (we used a bigger boat than the last time we were here) then we also rented 4 snorkels and masks (PhP100 each). And we were off to our first island – Pandan island. We stayed for only a short while, snorkeling and feeding fishes, with the island entrance @ PhP25 for adults. Then, we proceeded to Snake Island where we would stay for lunch. We bought another fish, more rice (because our baon was kulang pala) and drinks. Good thing this place did not ask rental for the cottages, we are only asked to give donations. But more than the good food I guess the kids just truly enjoyed feeding the fishes at Snake Island…even Kaye forgot her fear of the water and was totallu unaware that she was already too deep just because she was having the time of her life. We took underwater pics…something we learned from our last visit here and we forgot to bring an underwater cam. The shots were a bit dark and blurry but I’m glad we still got some that just showed the underwater beauty that Palawan had to offer.












After the kids had their fill of fish-feeding, we went next to Luli Island for some diving! The entrance here is PhP50 per person (because they say a foreigner owns it!) All of us took a dive, except for Kaye (because she was already sleeping at the time and so we just left her on the boat with the boatmen). Anyway, we didn’t stay for very long and just took one dive each just to get the feel of it! Final stop was Pambato reef and though it was not really as spectacular as our experience feeding the fish at Snake or Pandan island it was still exciting to swim in open water and gaze at fishes in their natural habitat. I was just a bit apprehensive that we may encounter a shark or something but the boatmen assured us that there were none in this area…or so I hoped! After some time, we headed back to the boat and back to Honda Bay to bathe and get dressed.
















We were all tired from all the swimming and eating we made the entire day and so we just decided to have our dinner delivered to us (from Chowking). We all slept early that night knowing that tomorrow would be our last day here in paradise. The next day, we let the kids sleep in late, only Jun and I left at around 7 to buy breakfast at Jollibee and marketing for some fish and shrimp for pasalubong. When we returned to the pension house, we checked out (I paid about 3K for the accommodations including the breakfast we had on our second day and paluto for the 3rd day), packed our bags and were at the airport by 9am…we all left with a wistful smile on our faces…quite content and blessed to have experienced what we did the past four days and knowing Palawan would always hold a special place in our hearts.