Coron, Palawan - February 26, 2011

Our second day, a Saturday, in Coron.  This picture was taken 7 in the morning wherein the road is quiet as there's not much people and vehicles yet.

We did not contacted our tricycle contact from yesterday's and we walked a little going to the city while waiting for a public transport to pass by. The sign up there reads "Coron Town Proper".

B.O.G. is a coffee shop.  I took a shot of it as it looks nice and well lit by the morning sun from my position.

A view from the side of Sea Dive Resort.  It is one of the good places to stay in Coron.  It's not new or entirely clean but would do for tourists with a spirit of adventure.
We are planning to take our breakfast here, as insisted by me to my friend who booked us to Rudy's Lodge.

 A view from their restaurant.

That's one of the more expensive, if not most, restaurants in Coron, La Sirenetta.

This is while waiting for our ordered breakfast.

Still waiting, yet, I must say that Sea Dive's restaurant is presented well and clean enough.

Mine.  It's not heavy as one might expect with a meal of rice but this worked well for me as I'm reducing carbohydrate intake for my diet. :)

Hers.  I wasn't able to take a picture of their menu for breakfast but the menu and prices are very similar to most resorts in Boracay or similar beaches.

A view from the resto after I finished my plate.

Interesting list below.  You will see prices going to El Nido or Mindoro.  This is the port where travelers all go to get to the beautiful islands around Coron.  Ask the boatmen for the prices as it varies widely depending on where to go to and how many people you are with on the boat.

Boat left at 9AM,  we had to wait for a few more groups and some lone tourists to get to the boat.

Boats have toilets such as this one.  Good question right there, nope, waste goes to the sea underneath. :)

That is not being used to cook food for us, it's for the boat crew.

This is our first stop, going to Kayangan Lake, the most popular destination in Coron.

We're pretty above sea level from here which means we will have to climb up stairs which are made from rocks. The climb is quite manageable from the physical training we got yesterday going to the peak of Mount Tapyas. :)









Where else, it is the famous rock and background.  You haven't been to Coron without taking pose and have a picture taken.
Seriously, this is during the month of February and it's quite crowded despite being one of the first groups to get here.

Coron Tip:  Be early, please.  Ask the "port" people a day before on how to.

 

A sea of orange vests and there's more to come.  Get here early you run out of places to leave things such as camera and slippers.

We're back to the top again but more crowded which explains less than ideal shot.

That is for sale. At the moment of taking this picture, I thought it was part of our soon to be lunch. :)

Huge diesel engine of our boat.  These types are second hand engines which came originally from Jeepneys.

Next destination, Twin Peaks,  that's all there is to it. These are rock formations that are almost symmetrical which is good place to have your friends got their pictures taken while they stand near the edge of the boat.









I thought I'd see enterprising fishermen with goods on their boats.  This was just two men, coincidentally passing by our stationary boat in Twin Peaks.

This was taken at 11:34 AM which means......lunch is near. hehe.

We had to stay in this one nice island for lunch.  I obviously forgot the name. :)

Excuse me for these panoramic shots from a Sony camera which can't fit well in my small blog.

I was taking a lot of pictures while they were preparing lunch, while still eating, and stayed in the "kubo" for a huge group conversation.

Our group which had a good laugh and set of conversations.  Four guys in our group went alone for the island hopping adventure, one is European, Canadian, Japanese, and a Filipino.

Some took a swim on these nice and clear waters of the island.

Saying goodbye to the island as we leave for our first snorkeling site.

Our Japanese friend turn out to be a very good swimmer who went alone to visit the Philippines, following one of the adventures of his Japanese friends.
Anyway, he go that black Sea Urchin with his bare hands.  He got two while the European got one using a knife he struck into it.
Of course, I got nothing with my life vest and exceptional swimming. Hehe.

Here's going to Twin Lagoon.  They were very nice, showing those weathered rock formations really well.

That is a parked boat to Twin Lagoon and we got some delay to park our boat there as it was pretty crowded during these hours of the day.
Unfortunately again, it is high tide wherein we would not be able to take a "balsa" float to get underneath a rock formation which is a way to the lake without getting yourself wet.

I can't find the video in Youtube where some tourists were able to.  I'll just update this post when I find it.
Anyways, a climb through very narrow stairs would eventually get you to the lake.  Expect heavy traffic of people eager to get it and out of the said lake.

Succeeding images are inside the lake.  It's eerily quiet and only gets disturbed by shouting tourists or "kids" trying to hear the echoes of their voices.

That's the crowd right there.  Underneath that is a passage for skilled swimmers who can hold their breath for around 2 minutes, unsure though.

Going to CYC Island.  Apologies for the flood of pics to come as we stayed long here, maybe due to the fact this was the last tourist spot of the day.

 

Us going back to town proper after all the day's adventure. I forgot to mention to bring towels as you will get wet and dried repeatedly throughout this day of island hopping.







Interesting shot which includes Mang Rudy, the lodge owner.
Can't find him? He's the driver of the vehicle at 86 years old!
Like them, we're going back to the lodge.

After taking a bath and charging all our gadgets, we went straight here in La Sirenetta resto for a planned dinner with our new friends from Europe and Canada.

We got a little impatient waiting here and find the prices too expensive just for ordinary Filipino food.
We went to Sea Divers, in the hope of seeing the foreigners there and at the same time eat reasonably priced food.

Turns out that they're here. We had long discussions of various topics, during and after dinner, mostly around Facebook since were making fun of our European friend all night, age 42, who didn't know about Facebook, Twitter and such.

The resto closes at around 10pm and we're the only table left there so we had to continue our chatting and drinking elsewhere.
We found a bar adjacent it with a pool table, cable tv, and nice set of music.  The drinks are on with our European friend with a budget of 1000 pesos as it was only his cash left.





Around 2 AM, the foreign guys weren't satisfied and wanted to continue drinking elsewhere.

We got here where friendly girls and lonely guys meet.  :)
It was a sight especially with the ladies in our group.  We just had bottles of San Mig Lights for each then left the place after downing them.

Wow, still open grocery store during the wee hours.

Us, just walking to get back in our lodge as public transportation is not available anymore.
All of us peed in public while going back, it was dark and there's no one out there anyway.




This is one hell of a day!  Thank you God and goodnight Coron.

NEXT DAY >>>

You need help to get here in Coron?

One friend with me here is a travel agent at CNM Travel and Tours.  They're the only agency that allow you to travel now and pay in a 6 month term at "zero" interest.

Go here at CNM's website to get their numbers and look for Khrizia regarding your inquiries.