When a dream became a reality: Trekking Mt. Tapyas and Dipping at Maquinit Hot Spring

At 4PM, we are already on the lobby of the hotel waiting for our tourguide. After 15 minutes, out tour guide led us to the tricycle that will be our mode of transportation for Mt. Tapyas and Maquinit Hotspring. There were two tricycles, so we decided to split the group into two, one tricycle for boys only and the other one would be for girls only.

Road Sign going to Mt. Tapyas

A mass was on-going when we pass through San Agustin Church. After like 15 minutes, we were already on the starting point for Mt. Tapyas trekking.

What to Bring:

• Water! (Especially when you’re not into trekking or climbing)
• Chips (so you have something to eat when you got hungry on the top)
•  Towel (for your sweat)

Long way to go!

Let's Start!

It was very easy for the first 50 steps since the gap between the steps is somehow far. But the next steps will make you chase your breathe! (Am I exaggerating?? hehehee). This applies for those people that are not into trekking, mountain climbing and too much walking up. Imagine the stairs in MRT stations, for example, in Shaw Boulevard station? Multiply that to 7 or 8, that would be, approximately, the height and number of stairs leading to the top of Mt. Tapyas. 

STOP! :)

BF ignoring his cramps

enjoying the view and resting :)

Couple pic while resting

the view while going up

were almost there!

We reached the top around 4:50PM; probably it took us just 30-45 minutes going up. Although BF had cramps while climbing, we find the climb too short and not that hard. Probably because we had reached the highest peak in Luzon, which is Mt. Pulag (I’m not bragging, you know! hahahaha)

So what can you see at the top?

There is a big cross at the top of Mt. Tapyas. This place is good for photo ops, before and after reaching the top. Overlooking is the whole Coron Town. You can also see the islands that are part of the Coron Loop Tour.

Is it worth it?

The answer would be a big YES! I so love the view of the sea and the mountains surrounding the town. It seems serene and calm. How I wish I can have a house that has an overlooking as beautiful as I saw at the top of Mt. Tapyas.

the cross

can you see the port?

can you see the islands for coron loop tour?

you can see the boats from here

couple pic with the cross

sunset :)

After cam whoring, we decided to go down to proceed to our Maquinit Hot Spring tour. We trek downwards, more or less for 30 mins. While trekking, we saw a man going downwards the hill using his bicycle! We were amazed how he can managed to go down because the Hill is somehow steep and worst comes to worst, he might end up stumbling until he reached the ground.

the bicycle man, i wonder what happened to him

stairs going down!

this is us after finishing the trek, it's like nothing happened :P

We then rode again the tricycle. We went back to the hotel because we need to pick-up another couple that would join our group. But they were not there so the tricycle went to the marketplace first to buy barbeque for dinner then search for the couple. After 15 mins, the couple was still not in sight so we just went on to Maquinit Hot Spring. The couple will just follow then.

It was a rough road going to Maquinit Hot Spring. It was not yet cemented so you need to get your butt ready. Lucky us it was not raining that time. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to pass on this road during storms or rain.

Around 6:45PM, we arrived at Maquinit Hot Spring. There were a lot of guests that time when we arrived. We did cam whoring first. I find the big mask hanging on the tree cute! I hope I can bring it home. hehehe

the mask

We ate dinner first before dipping into the hot spring. The dinner was taken care of by the tour guide. It consists of itlog na pula, fresh tomatoes (kamatis), fried fish (I forgot the name, but it has sharp teeth!), barbeque and ofcourse rice. Unfortunately, some of the dishes were not served because the container fell during the travel going to Maquinit. The container has the food inside. Still, we did enjoy our dinner and we ate using our hands only :)

dinner

this is where we eat

there's the pool!

After dinner, we went to the hot spring. We were warned that it is very hot but BF, being stubborn as he was, hurriedly went to the hot spring and dip his feet. As I expected, he immediately get out of the water and went back to me.

Me: “ang init noh?!” (it’s very hot right?!)

BF: “OO!” (Yes!)

And we just laughed. I then tried to dip to the water and dude, it was hot. Not just hot, it was really HOT! It was like 40 degrees Celsius! At first, we can’t bear to dip even our legs. But everything is a process right? So after dipping our legs, our knees followed, then our hips, our tummies, our shoulders and lastly our necks! Well, that’s for me. Hahaha. I can’t dip my whole head to that super hot spring! Hehehe

The Hot Spring is man-made and privately owned. It has a PHP 150 entrance fee. It’s big. I can’t determine if it’s clean because it was night when we went there and you can’t see clearly other things below the water (aside from your feet). But I think it has moss. A lot of rocks underneath so be very careful and mindful. If you get used to it, the hotness of the water would not bother you anymore. It will relax you that you really want to sleep there.  I think the forest and the nature surrounding the Hot Spring would look good in broad daylight. But hey, it’s a hotspring! So ideally it would be best to go there after a tiring trek to Mt. Tapyas or a whole day of snorkeling and island hopping :)

enjoying the hot spring!

After some BF and me time, then photo ops, we got out of the hot spring. I think we just stayed there for 30-45 mins. According to some locals, nobody can stay there for more than an hour since it is very hot. And when I looked to Jah, her face was oh so red! I was kinda worried coz I thought she’s sick. Luckily, she’s not. It’s just that, the hot spring is really HHOOOTTT!! (I think I just mentioned the word HOT 100 times to this blog! Hahahaha).

After fixing ourselves, we went back to our tricycles, this time we were complete in one tricycle (the six of us). Seriously, the road going back is really dark and if you’re the type that watched the movies Wrong Turn or Jeeper’s Creepers, well, you’ll find the way back really creepy. Hehehe. That time, Coron doesn’t have electricity so imagine that! Hehehe. I didn’t even bother to take a picture because of total darkness in some parts of the road!

Finally, we were back at the hotel pass 9PM. We discussed the details for tomorrow. One of the topics is where we are going to have breakfast. Since we just really tired, we decided to just eat breakfast at the hotel. This in turn became a wrong decision. 

See Day 2.