Palawan's Coron islands

Coron island in the Philippines may not be as popular as Boracay island but it has one of best shores for swimming or snorkeling. The third largest island in the Calamian Group of Islands in the northern Palawan province about 310 kilometers southwest of Manila, the country's capital, Coron is more known for several Japanese shipwrecks of World War II vintage.

From left: Bernadette, Lala and Lericita
 at the steps of Mt. Tapias.

The area around the wrecks has pleasant rock formations which provide for excellent snorkeling experience, with underwater visibility extending up to 80 feet (24 meters). The water is often calm. Coron is one of the most visited destinations for wreck diving in the Philippines. Wreck dive sites are found in a depth as shallow as 10–30 feet and as deep as 120–140 feet. Most are in the range of about 60–80 feet, perfect for sports divers.


But enough of the text-book type narrative about Coron as a tourist destination. You can search such information in the Internet. What you can't search in the web are real tour experiences. And that's what I want to provide in this post - this time it's the first-hand experiences of my two nieces and a sister-in-law.

Swimming in clear water, from left, Bernadette, Lala and Lericita

They took a promotion flight from Manila to Coron with the local airlies Cebu Pacific. The two-way ticket cost them 2,211 pesos each. At the current rate of about 42 pesos to a US dollar, that's more or less $52.5. They got the package from the website of Corongaleri.Com.Ph. It was a guided tour.


On day one, they climbed Mt. Tapias, which has more than 700 steps. "We were challenged to climb because our guide brought with him his 83-year old grandfather who took the climb in a breeze. We did not regret it because the view from the top was so beautiful. It provided a panorama of the island of Coron and the neighboring islands," says my niece Lala in an email.

A bee on an indigenous plant they took picture of along the way.

The day-two tour, that cost them 650 pesos extra, took them to the Kayangan Reef, Twin Peaks Reef, Arwayan Beach and the Coral Garden, which they said was the most memorable. "The water was so clear beyond 10 feet you can see the corals from the boat very clearly," Lala. says. "The corals were of different colors, the sight was so beautiful."


Their package included lunch, a tour guide, life vest but they rented the snorkeling gear.

One of their rooms at the Ralph pension house.

On day three, dubbed as Las Islas Ecotour  that cost them 750 pesos each, they went to the Barracuda Lake, Banol Beach, Calachuchi Reef , Sunset beach and Siete Pecados. What they appreciated most in this tour was the Calachuchi Reef.


"To go there, you have to use a snorkel to enter the cave with a submerge entrance. In the cave, you will find a lone calachuchi tree on a middle island. The sand along the sides inside the cave is so fine like a baby talk powder," says Lala. "It is advisable to bring an underwater camera so you can take beautiful sights inside the cave."


Their misfortune is they did not have an underwater camera.

The living room that goes with the three bedrooms.

They stayed at the Ralph pension house. The owner told them that everything they need in Coron - small restaurants, Internet shop, shops for souvenirs and local finger foods for taking home -  were just five minutes walk from the pension house. 

They did not go to those places but the Coron Galeri where they booked their package tours "was just a few minutes away." Food in the restaurant where the took supper cost 100 to 150 pesos a meal and they swear that the food were fine because they were like home-cooked.




Those who want to inquire about the tours here's the link of the Coron Galeri http://www.ralphspensionhouse.webs.com.

Sunset at Coron islands.

For those who want to go diving around Coron Island here's some tips I got from the Internet. 


There are many many dive sites around the island but the most famous is the Gunter's Cave, also know as the Cathedral Cave because at a certain time of the day the sun throws a beam of light through the cave hole illuminating it inside. The cave was named after Gunther Bernett who was part of the first group of divers to  explore it after local fishermen told him about its existence. 


The wreck diving sites in Coron Bay include the Irako wrech, Okinawa Maru wreck, Akitsushima wreck, Kogyo Maru wreck, Olympia Maru wrech, Kyokuzan Maru wreck, East Tangat gunboat wreck, Nanshin Maru wreck, Lusong Gunboat wreck and Skeleton Wreck.


The real name of the ship which was long been called as the East Tangat gunboat was discovered just recently by a group of Dutch divers who spent a couple of days digging the sand around its stern. I presume that the name of the ships in the sites Lusong Gunboat wreck and Skeleton wreck have been known. 


The underwater views of the sunken Japanese ships off Coron Island are listed in Forbes Traveler Magazine’s top-10 bests cuba diving sites in the world.

A group of tourists entering the Subterranean River.

Palawaan province, which faces the South China Sea on the north and the Sulu Sea on the south, has many tourist spots itself, including the Subterranean River which passes through a long cave.  
The 8.2-kilometer underground river in Puerto Pricesa City, the provincial capital, has been declared a national park and listed in Unesco's heritage program. It's among the nominess for the New 7 Wonders of the World.


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