Unforgettable Trip to Coron, Palawan

Let me share with you my most unforgettable experiences when I visited Coron, Palawan.

I was rewarded to experience a 3 days and 2 nights trip in Coron, Palawan together with the top performers in our company. I was given an itinerary, plane ticket and other stuff that I will be using for the trip. I was really excited because it will be my very first time to visit Palawan. There are a lots of popular tourist spots to visit in Palawan, and what excites me more about the trip was we are going in Coron.

Coron is part of Calamian Islands and famous all over the world because of its stunning islands. I would recommend Coron to anyone who are looking for an exciting island hopping adventures. I did my research on what to expect when I get there, and by just looking at the photos on the internet, I have no words to say, it's breathtaking.

September 25, 2015

At the airport.

The coordinator for the trip wants us to be at the Domestic Airport Manila at 7:30AM to give us a quick briefing. I arrived at 6:00AM and because I was too early, I get inside the airport to look for familiar faces from the company who were also part of the trip. To make me feel comfortable, I talked with some of them. While waiting on our departure, we've decided to form a group. After a long hours of waiting, we finally depart from Manila going to Coron.

Alright, let's move on and go to Coron.

We arrived at Busuanga Islands, Coron Airport between 12:00-1:00PM. Idon't exactly know what time.
Getting off the plane was fun while looking at other person's gestures of excitement. Everyone on the plane including me were very excited to make our first step on the ground. And when we finally have our first steps we took pictures for remembrance. Travelling from the airport going to the hotel where we'll be staying takes 30-45 minutes. Vans from Coron Westown Resort were already there, waiting for us. On our way to the hotel, we never missed the exciting road trip and look left and right to see the surroundings.

At Coron Westown Resort Hotel...

We arrived at Coron Westown Resort Hotel between 1:00-2:00PM. Tour guides were waiting at hotel lobby and distributed keys for our rooms. We were grouped to share in one room. When I finally knew who were my roommates, we went to the room to drop and leave our things and quickly went out and go to the function area of the hotel to eat lunch. There was a mini program held while we were eating our lunch. The host announced that after eating, we can go back to our rooms and can take a short rest but need to get back to hotel lobby for an assembly at 4:00PM, because at 4:15PM we are going to have a town tour.

At 4:15pm we left the hotel and went to our first trip.The souvenir shop in Coron was our first destination. Everybody seems to enjoy picking souvenirs to buy which were surprisingly cheap and with different varieties to choose from like key chains, t-shirts and etc.

After buying some souvenirs we proceeded to Mt. Tapyas. Our tour guide said that walking up and down on stairs of Mt. Tapyas can be a great exercise. Well, imagine climbing 700+ steps going up and 700+ steps going down, of course you'll surely loose weight. We brought water, ready our phones, cameras and ourselves for an exciting stair climbing. In our group, some get tired when we reached at least 400 steps, so we've decided to take a rest for a few minutes, drank water and took pictures. When we're all ready and done resting, we continued walking up. With just a few steps and a few minutes we reached the highest peak. From the highest peak you can see the whole town of Coron in 360 degrees view. We are able to see the famous "Sleeping Giant" at its best on top of Mt. Tapyas. We just took pictures for a limited time because we need to go back down before the sun sets.

After that tiring but exciting stair climbing at Mt. Tapyas. Our van took us to Maquinit Hot Spring. Our tour guide said that there might be a volcano under it that's why the water is hot. Possibly yes because I think Coron sits atop of Pacific Ring of Fire.

What a relaxing way to end our first day tour. We soak in the hot spring and relaxed ourselves while chatting.

Between 7:00-8:00PM, we left Maquinit Hot spring and went back to hotel and ate dinner in another function hall. There was another planned program happened after dinner. Right after the program, many of us went beside the pool of the hotel. We enjoyed swimming at the pool and brought beers to drink and played games until midnight.

September 26, 2015 I woke up at around 7:00AM. I took shower and ate breakfast together with my new found friends. At 8:30AM, we had an assembly at hotel lobby to prepare for another trip. This was the most exciting day because we are going on an island hopping.

At Kayangan Lake...

We left the hotel at 9:00am and went directly at Coron pier and rode the boat. The first place we visited was the popular Kayangan Lake.
The entrance at Kayangan lake welcomes us with its beautiful rock formations so we never missed any moments and took pictures of it.The water was clear inviting us to jump off the boat and swim.
Our tour guide told us to prepare for another stair climbing on trails to be able to reach the Kayangan lake where we could swim. He said it wasn't as high as Mt. Tapyas but warns us that the trail was a bit slippery so we need to take care of ourselves having our way up.

When our boat finally docked, we get off and started walking. As expected the trail were slippery. While having our way going up, we saw a lot of tourists going down talking about how beautiful the view from the top of the trail was and how they enjoyed swimming at the lake. When we reached the top of the trail, I have no words to say, the view was magnificent.
After taking pictures, we continued walking but now going down the trail. When you hear people screaming, that means you near to the lake. When we reached the lake, we never missed any moments and just enjoyed swimming. We were also able to feed some fish and enter a small cave to see some limestones.

Our tour guide made a quick briefing on what to expect at Twin Lagoon, telling us that the lagoon was enchanting. He explained to us that when we swim, we can feel an alteranating temperature of warm and cold water with just a few movement.

We docked the boat on the first lagoon and excitedly get off and soaked in the water. I felt the warm water first as I soked in, and just by moving a few distance from where I felt the warm water, I then felt the cold water. It's really amazing.
Our tour guide brought us to the other side of the lagoon. Since the water is low, we were able to pass through a tunnel to get to the second lagoon. If it's high tide, it's impossible passing through the tunnel. The only way to get to the other side of the lagoon is to climb to an improvised pathway.
Our group form a human train in the water to make our swimming more enjoyable. While swimming and feeling the alternating warm and cold water of the lagoon, I was thinking that there might be some magical thing happening there at night. When you go there you'll also feel how enchanting that place is, I swear.

Coral Garden...

We went directly to the Coral Garden after our trip to the Twin lagoon. Our tour guide as ausual made a quick briefing explaining some rules before going on a snorkeling.
We left our boat floating while our group enjoyed snorkeling for an hour together with some of the tour guides. Looking at the beautiful corals and fish in different colors made me want to swim with them. We weren't able to capture anything under the sea because nobody in our group had an underwater camera. But I assure you, the snorkeling at Coral Garden was great.

Beach 91...

After the long hours of exploring the beauty of Kayangan lake, Twin lagoon and the Coral garden, we went to Beach 91 to eat lunch and had our team building. Nothing more to expect at the beach. It was just a normal beaches out there, white sands and had cotteges. The beach is perfect for the the people who are beach bums. When done with the program, we finally left the beach and go back to the hotel.

All the boats were ready to go back to Coron pier. But before heading back to the pier, we visited the last place in our itinerary which is the Siete Pecados or in Spanish, The Seven Deadly Sins. According to the legend, Mother ordered her 7 daughters not to go swimming but they disobeyed their Mother which in result they got drowned, making 7 small islands appear.

Siete Pecados is the closest snorkeling destination around Coron. Our boat just slue round on each of the islands while our tour guide was explaining about its legends.

When we were finally done visiting the last place in our itinerary. Our boat went back to Coron pier.

September 27, 2015

We went back to the hotel and ate dinner, drank beers and slept. I woke up early and went to the pool side waiting for my friends to come down to eat breakfast. After eating, we all went back to our rooms and packed all our things. Before lunch we left Westown Coron Hotel and went to the airport. Finally we left Coron, Palawan bringing all the beautiful memories and experiences we had for 3 days and 2 nights.

I would gladly want to come back to Coron again soon and visit other stunning and majectic islands.