Coron Island Ultimate Tour

Day 2
Oct 20, 2012
Coron

We booked the Coron Island Ultimate Tour from the Calamianes Expeditions Ecotours, an organization that supports communities and environments thru sustainable tourism. It was nice to be able to support its cause just by booking one of its many tours.

With 6 other tourists in the boat (total of 12 in the boat), the tour first brought us to CYC island where everyone enjoyed the crystal clear water of the beach.

CYC Island

We then headed to Twin Peaks Reef and Coral Garden to snorkel. The underwater scenery was amazing with all the colorful fish and beautiful corals. 

It was around noon time when we reached Isla Bulungan. It was here where we ate our lunch which was included in the tour package. We were served grilled pork chops, grilled fish, seaweeds, and bananas.

 

Isla Bulungan

View from Isla Bulungan

We then went to see Kayangan Lake, which was judged to be the cleanest lake in the country. It was on the quick trek going to the lake where we got to see the most photographed view in Coron.

On the way to the lake...

a quick stop for the most photographed view in Coron

Kayangan Lake

Our last stop was at the part-warm and part-cold water of hidden lagoon.

It was just past 4 PM when the tour completed. We decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up, but only after eating halo-halo at Tita Esh eatery.  For dinner, we went to Kawayanan Grill for some seafood.

It was a very brief vacation, 1.5 day to be exact, and it felt like we only had a preview of Coron. I will definitely be back here to take the Sangat WWII Shipwreck tour (sounds exciting!) as well as Mangrove kayaking and nature trekking package.

Estimated expenses:
3496 PHP - round trip air fare
1800 PHP - accommodation(1800 PHP per room good for 2)
  300 PHP - airport transfer
  250 PHP - day tour
  150 PHP - Maniquit Hot Spring
  650 PHP - Island tour
1000 PHP - Food
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7646 PHP

Around Coron town

Day 1

Oct 19, 2012
Coron

Finally, after so many years of hearing people raved about Coron, I, with some of my long-time friends - Andy, Ching, Jezzer, Lee, and Melissa -  got to see and experience this little town at the north of Palawan.

We arrived at Busuanga at past 1 PM and headed directly to Islands View Inn where we would stay for 2 nights. Our hotel room had all the standard amenities but it was the nice hotel staff that  made the place highly recommendable.

After a quick lunch, we started the city tour. We were able to book the tour for only 250 PHP per head, cheaper than the other tour packages we have seen ( though it did not include yet the 150 PHP entrace fee to the hot spring, it was still cheaper). Our first stop was at the baywalk,which was surprisingly quiet and empty except for a few health-conscious kids doing sit-ups. There was a zipline at the bay area, but as I was with the least adventurous group of friends, we opted for the dirty ice cream.

Then, after a quick stopover at a souvenir shop, we climbed the 729 steps to Tapyas Hill Viewdeck for the best view of the sunset.

We then went to Maniquit Hot Spring which was about 30 minutes away from the town proper. Here, surrounded by mangrove trees and floating bamboo cottages, we relaxed for about an hour in the 40 degree (more or less) hot water which apparently came from a volcano located underground (!?!). This was exactly what we needed after the workout at Mt. Tapyas.

For dinner, we ate at Lolo Nonoy's food station where the food was good and really cheap. We ordered 5 pinoy dishes plus drinks and dessert and we only paid 1200 PHP for all 6 of us.

Rain Shower at Potipot Island

Day 1

May 12, 2012
Potipot Island, Zambales

For my last 2012 summer trip, I and a few of my officemates went to Potipot Island at Zambales. The place was a perfect weekend getaway - it was only 5+ hours away from Manila (we took the 12 am trip coming from Monumento station). It has crystal blue water, off-white powdery sand and lots of trees to provide shade. What's even better was that the island is pretty big that even if there were a lot of people, the place never felt crowded. Only if it did not rain hard in the middle of the afternoon, it would have been a perfect vacation. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the few sunny hours playing frisbee, learning soccer, and (endlessly) grilling the (fattest) chopped pork and hotdogs we brought for lunch (note to self: just bring bacon next time).

Grace, Kesh, Yong, Joey, and Jovie enjoying the sand, sea, and sun

Estimated expenses:

900 PHP - round trip bus fare (Caloocan to San Antonio)
800 PHP - overnight accommodation at Dawal resort (2400 PHP per room)

100 PHP - Entrance fee

 70 PHP - round trip boat fare (400 PHP for 6 people)

500 PHP - Food/Water/Grocery

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2,370 PHP

Around Puerto Princesa

Day 3

May 8, 2012
Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan

On our last day, we took a city tour of Puerto Princesa. We visited  Mitra Ranch, Butterfly Garden, Crocodile Farm, and Plaza Cuartel, where around 150 American captives were burned by the Japanese soldiers during World War II.

Plaza Cuartel

Butterfly Garden

Crocodile Farm

Along Underground River

Day 2

May 7, 2012
Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan

We spent the second day at the Subterranean River National Park, one of the 7 new wonders of nature. There were some really interesting huge cave formations inside but the boat ride along half of the 8.2 km river was very quick and was not enough to appreciate them. The cave could also use some artificial dim light in strategic places.

Later in the afternoon, to kill time, we rented bicycles at the city baywalk. We then ate dinner at Ka Lui Restaurant, known for its delectable seafood.

Grilled Tuna

Island Hopping at Honda Bay

Day 1

May 6, 2012
Puerto Prinsesa, Palawan

I and my officemates were fortunate enough to be able to redeem the vouchers we bought last November from coupon website CleverBuy before it was shutdowned due to complaints of fraud recently. Each voucher cost 9900 PHP and included a 3D/2N accommodation for 2 with roundtrip airfare. It also covered free breakfast and the Underground River tour with free lunch. It was a great deal even if it took about 2 months to finalize the actual airfare and hotel bookings for all 10 of us.

After checking-in at Tropical Sun Inn, we went to St. Lourdes port for the Honda Bay Island-hopping tour. It was already noon when we got there and there seemed to be a shortage of boats. Luckily, we were able to secure a whole boat to ourselves, as another group refused to share boat with us. This allowed us to hop through the islands at our own pace.

Our first stop was at this small island with a long stretch of white sand (It was not Snake island which was closed for renovation). We then moved to to Lu-Li island, which only emerges during low tide, hence the name which is short for Lulubog (sink) - Lilitaw (emerge). We also went to Starfish island, where we found a single starfish (we probably would have seen more if we explored further) and at Pambato Reef where we snorkeled for half an hour. Our last stop was at Pandan island, where we rented a cottage and ate the lunch we brought with us.

Jumping from a springboard at Lu-Li island

Jump shot at Starfish Island

For dinner, we went to Badjao Seafront, one of the more famous restaurants in the city. Their grilled squid and pandan chicken were good but it was their shrimp asparagus with cashew nuts that I enjoyed the most.