When a dream became a reality: Coron Island Hopping

As I mentioned in my last post about Coron, ordering breakfast in R2R is a wrong move, well as for us. First, because their cook did not come to work that day, second, it was unreasonably priced and third, servings were small. For a portion of tocino, egg, rice and milo, they charged us P130.00! At first, I thought that food in Coron is expensive and I just accepted that fact. But later on we found out that there is an eatery that serves food cheaper with more servings! I will tell you later on about this eatery.

that's our breakfast

It was raining hard that day. It was like telling us that we will not enjoy that day, that vacation! Oh well, I got a little bit sad. But we just made fun about the non-stop rain. Why be afraid of getting wet because of the rain when our activity for that day requires being wet? Hehehe. According to the receptionist of R2R, Coron Loop Tour usually pushes through even if it rains because waves are not that scary in islands near Coron due to the mountains surrounding the town. The mountains served as the defense and/or wall of Coron versus huge and frightening waves. I hope I explained that well. Hehehe

Anyways, around 8:30AM, a tricycle was waiting for us outside. He brought us to the port. We thought it was for free and part of the package tour. But we were wrong! We were charged by the driver Php 15.00 each. He explained why it was 15, it’s because of the “waiting time” he did for us.

It was still raining when our boat proceeded with the tour. Our first stop was Siete Pecados. At first, I thought, we will visit the seven islands one by one. But I was wrong. We just stopped in the middle of the sea but surrounded by small islands. And the boatman told us that we were already in Siete Pecados and we need to jump off the sea. I was like “WTF!!! I don’t even know how to swim then you’re telling me to jump in a thousand feet sea!?!”. Seriously, I really don’t know what to do by that time. But I really wanted to see the beauty of Siete Pecados and I don’t want to waste the trip so we BF and I went to the waters. I was so afraid actually! But I was able to conquer it when I witness the beauty underneath the sea and the fishes surrounding us. It looks like they want to play.  After a while, it rained so hard but still we continued to enjoy snorkeling and cam whoring. Good thing we brought a waterproof cam. Even though the quality of the pictures from the waterproof cam is not that good, atleast we still have remembrance and we had the chance to take pictures of the fishes. Waterproof camera is a very important thing you need to bring when going to Coron. This is to capture the beauty underneath the place.

one of the islands of siete pecados

sorry for the quality of the pics :(

jah :D

kwek :D

because of the rain, we looked like volunteers going to rescue each other :P

BF and I

Our next stop, Kayangan Lake. If you notice on my first post about Coron, there was a picture from Wikipedia. That was the famous shot from Coron and it is the Kayangan Lake. You’re wondering why it is so famous. Well, Kayangan Lake is the cleanest lake in Asia. For you to get there, you need to trek again. But it was a short trek only. Approximately 15 mins up and down. The reward is a breathtaking view. BF and I enjoyed this place very much. But the rock formations here were too sharp. We saw a man with bandage already in his feet. He had been cut by one of the rock formations under the Lake. Afterwards, we went up again and proceeded to Kayangan Cave. There the famous shot was taken. The cave cannot be entered. According to our boatman, nobody has entered the cave because nobody knows where it will be going. I find it kinda creepy. 

docking area in kayangan

group pic! entrance to Kayangan lake, start of the trek

kayangan lake, pics c/o kwek

having fun!

couple of kayangan..BF looks drowning!

couple pic again! <3

the famous shot

We will take our lunch at Banol Beach. It is a small beach with white sand. Every tourist takes their lunch there. Lucky us, only two groups (including us) were there when we will be taking our lunch. This island is very cute. Very nice for quiet time and photo ops because of the rock formations, the sand and the sea.

going to Banol

our boat

banol beach

BF and Banol

nice rock formations

Our lunch was consists of pork liempo, fried fish, sea weeds, fresh tomato and cucumber. 

our lunch

Next in line was Skeleton Wreck. It was just a boat according to a local. According to some blogs, the ship can be reached by your feet during low tide. But it was high tide when we came, so we just looked using our very reliable snorkeling gear. Many fishes can be found here. But we didn’t stay long because the rain was very hard and we became afraid of the waves. I was really sad because I want to feed some fishes here, and I want to see the friendly pawikan that comes here according to our boatman. Also, i don't have any photos to show here because i can't seem to find my shot of the shipwreck. Anyways, this is a good reason to come back to Coron right? :D

Last but not the least is Twin Lagoon. We were very lucky because finally the sun showed up when we were already in the place. It is call Twin Lagoon because there were two lagoons only separated by big rock formations. You can reached the second lagoon through the small opening (a hole) on low tide and by climbing the rock on high tide. Don’t worry it’s not that hard to climb but it’s much better to just passed through the hole. 

walkway to the entrance of the second lagoon

the hole going to the second lagoon

The water in twin lagoon is weird. The feeling is like this, the water is cold but you can feel the hot water underneath you. After some minutes, the water becomes warm but cold. The temperature is not mixed actually, it is separated and you can feel it once you submerged on twin lagoon. 

going back to the boat

Our island hopping/snorkeling day ended around 5PM and it ended with a smile. It is indeed an enchanted paradise! 

like in Hollywood! :D

we made it!

love this shot

due to the light, the cross of Mt. Tapyas cannot be seen

Around 5:30PM, we were back in our hotel. We just took a bath and went out again to have dinner. First we decided to eat in Coron Bistro. But nobody is accommodating us there so we just went to Lolo Nonoy’s.

Lolo Nonoy’s is just a 10 minutes’ walk from R2R. It is a very simple eatery with very cheap meal compare to others. I love their Kubo so much! It is a very nice place for chit-chatting and making fun of our island tour earlier. Funny thing is, because the kubo is made of bamboo like our boat in island tour, I felt like the Kubo is also floating in water! Talking about mild sea sickness! Hehehe

menu, click to enlarge

the Kubo

I ordered their pork chop set meal and BF ordered their pork sisig set meal. Their set meal was served with rice, sunny side up egg and atsara already. We also added sinigang na hipon. Our meal cost us around Php 400++. Sad thing though, I was not able to eat their pork chop because it doesn’t taste good anymore. But I still recommend this place for breakfast meal.

pork chop set

sinigang na hipon

pork sisig meal

 We ended the day with a happy tummy. We slept early because our next tour will be outside Coron. According to the locals, we will be heading to a “Boracay-like” island. Excited!