coron

amazing coron!

i finally was able to go to the place dubbed as the philippine's last frontier palawan. my boyfriend and myself went to the town of coron and toured the island of coron and were overwhelmed by its seemingly untouched beauty and aura of innocence. we almost lost our 3 days 2 nights vacation, admittedly my fault, because i had mistakenly thought that our plane departs at 12:30..when in fact, it was supposed to leave at 11:30. so i had planned to leave the house at 9:30am, which we did. and blimey! when i looked at the ticket again i found that the plane is leaving at 11:30am. 

 we were in the taxi already by this time and asked the taxi driver to speed up. we arrived at the airport and ran towards the check in counter. but unfortunately they had closed the counter for coron. i begged and begged the attendant to let us in..we were only less than 10 minutes late before the 45 minute rule they have n closing counters..but still he wouldnt let us in. i told him that i had booked the hotel, i paid the tickets already and i have spent money on this vacation that i wont be able to get back if he wont let us in. and he just dismissed me just like that, not even offering to give me options on what to do. 

 i know it was my fault for not checking the ticket twice but they couldve been more considerate and at least offered me options on what to do next to save this vacation. my boyfriend and i stood at the airport for a few seconds and decided that we would go with our vacation. so i thought of getting the next flight to manila and then fly to coron from there. this whole scheme costed us 15,000 pesos at least. we took the same airline (cebu pacific) because they were the ones who have the soonest flight to manila. and what happened was that..they didnt even start boarding yet, 10 minutes before the flying time. check in was still going on at this time also. they were so strict about not letting us into the plane after check in counters for coron closed. they are not sorry when they get delayed and cause inconvenience to the passengers and make them wait unnecessarily. and they are also not sorry for a vacation that might have been lost and all the money you spent on that. again, i know it was my fault but some consideration would have been liked and just the fact that he dismissed me just like that without giving me choices on what other flights i could take. 

 anyway, coron was all worth it. the water is as clear as can be. the corals and life under the sea were amazing. i just dont think that the corals are colorful enough but then i havent really snorkeled in many places so im not really sure what corals are supposed to look like. i was quite proud with what i have done in this vacation. i bought a hotel called busuanga island paradise though agoda.com. they offered a great rate, breakfast included. for the airport transfer you need to pay 150 per person per way. you get a free transport from the hotel to the town proper and then back. i liked the filipino breakfast that they offered. my western boyfriend didnt like it as he feels he has had enough rice to last him his whole life. the hotel staff were very quick to attend to your needs however the rooms dont have a phone so youll need to walk to the reception or the restaurant to call some staff for whatever you need. they have a small sized pool that was alright and a bar by it. the rooms were nice and comfortable however the problem that we have is that the curtains are too thin, so that when you have a light on inside, whoever is looking from outside will definitely see you. there's a lack of privacy somehow. 

 the next day, we went island hopping around the island of coron. we went to the town proper to this shop called corongaleri. i found them by searching on google and the website name is corongaleri.com. we paid 650 per person for an island hopping trip with other tourists on the boat. you dont get an exclusive boat but you will share it with other tourists, which was great. i mean, it would be quite boring if you would go island hopping with just you and your boyfriend and the boatman. the tour is called the ultimate coron tour and included the entrance fees to the places we were going, the boat, and the lunch which was prepared by the boatmen. they rent out equipment like snorkeling gears and fins for 100 pesos. we spent the whole day in the sea and finally came back to the pier at around 4 or 5pm. the tour started at 9am i believe. i would love to go back there again with my family. 

 we didnt go to mt tapyas like we wanted as we were too tired and just reserved that for the next time we go again. on this trip was he night when my boyfriend proposed to me and showed me a ring that was actually too big for me so we had to get it resized when we came back to cebu. i like coron. i hope that this beauty will remain as wonderful as it is now or will only change for the better. as for those who plan on going there, please help keep the place as you have seen it. as what they say, take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints and kill nothing but time.