This is a late post sorry guys! Well anyways here it is..
Me and my friend Rose went to Coron, Palawan last March 5-9, 2012 I know this is super outdated post but I still want to share it with you guys :) It was a decent trip especially that it was a treat for my birthday last March 2 and also t was my first time to ride a plane and it was really exciting and nerve breaking at the same time
I was so disappointed because my camera's memory card was corrupted! I see my photo's preview but when I put the memory card it has no memory of the photos I have taken! It was really frustrating because I cant restore the images. Grr!! I hate that memory card! Every time I used it it never works so I grabbed Rose's photo.
FIRST DAY:
We arrived at Busuangga Airport at exactly 10:40am and we were picked up by a van from Mommita's for free :) it was an hour drive from the airport to Mommita's and the drive was not bumpy and we were caught by a light traffic of Cows, Yeah you read it right COWS. I guess the Busuangga airport is newly built because it has a really short runway that's not enought for the big planes to take off it even looks like a parking lot of not more than 300 cars. Hence, the airplane you will be riding is also small because big airplanes will cause a lot of space at the runway leaving small airplanes on the circling on the sky waiting for it to take off.
We lodged at Mommita's Place and I think our room was Php700
(Green Room) per night we had TV, Aircon, Doubles-sized bed and a fan our room was not that big but roomy for the both of us but we use public toilet. It is alright for us because most of the other rooms has their own bathroom and some even had 3 beds of course it will cost higher :) I really wanted you guys to see our room but because of that dilemma caused by my memory card I will just described it to you. We had ocean painted walls with different kinds of fishes it was really nice it gives that fun happy feeling when I see our room.
The owner of the lodging house is Mommita and she is very kind she treated us like we are her own daughters gave us tips about island hopping, where we should go first and where we shouldn't go and her brother-in-law is the one who cooks. They serve Breakfast and Dinner only because most of the time we are out and the island hopping package already has free lunch and you can suggest what you want to eat isn't great? Mommita's place is very convenient because if you go out of the lodging house you could see drugstore at the left, the market place and the harbor on the right and a lot of great restaurants around them. Mommita will suggest you restaurants if you want to eat outside
It's like our own vacation house we had Motorcyle service from kuya kong (driver) from Mommita too. If you are going to Coron I recommend you to stay there. Here's their website http://mommitaslodge.jimdo.com/
We went to Binalot(restaurant) for our lunch Mommita suggested we try their food there and go to Kabu Beach it was a 20 minute ride via Motorcycle (I had no pictures recovered because Rose didn't bring her camera because I brought mine) But here's one from Mommita's Website hehe!
KABU BEACH
Only 20 minutes by motorcycle from the town center, these is serene getaway, perfect for a day spent lazing under the sun, with refreshing views of Coron Island Ancestral Domain.
After Kabu Beach we went to Maqinit Hot spring at 4pm it was a 15 minute ride from Kabu Beach. I really loved in here it was so beautiful there, the hotspring was surrounded by mangrove trees and the ocean. Sometimes, if the waves are too big, they will enter the hot spring :)
(from mommita's website too)
MAQINIT HOT SPRINGS
the blissfully warm and salty waters of the spring provides a soothing counterpoint to frenzy of activities you may had. Just take a dip and relax in its healing waters. with a temperature ranging from 38 to 41 degrees Celsius, Maquinit’s waters are very relaxing and therapeutically. It is the perfect place to go after a day of trekking and snorkeling. It has a flow output of 85 liters/second or a whopping 5115 liter/minute! It is unique because unlike other hot springs, its waters are salty with a slight sulphuric content. In addition, the algae that grow on its pools walls contain spirulina.
After Maqinit Hot spring we went to Mommita's to take a bath at 5:30 and after we ate our dinner 3 viand(fish, lobster and pancit) and a dessert(canned Peaches)! at 7:30pm we went to the market just for fun because it was still early and Mommita wanted us to go there. We were even accompanied by one of Mommita's helper(ate cristine), but we asked her if she would just drop us there and give us directions back to Mommita's because we didn't want to bore her out and feel out of place and also we assumed that she was already tired because of house works back at the lodge. The Market was well lit and had a lot of food if we weren't full we had a nice food trip over the market they even sell fishballs and ihaw-ihaw! I love it! There were no suspicious emblems there were many tourist foreign and filipino. There were gift shops, Souvenir Shops stalls like at Divisoria which sells Sun Hats, Sun Glasses even Swimwear! I was totally surprised of course the market sold fresh fish, meat, vegetables and fruits. We had a really nice walk over the Market it was a really fun experience I feel so Independent that time hahaha.(Sorry no pictures)
SECOND DAY:
At 5am we walked up to Mount Tapyas, we asked Ate Cristine for directions but she accompanied us from Mommita's to the short cut. Mount Tapyas was really high! I had a terrible cold and cough when we arrived Coron. but my excessive panting from climbing the stairs really got it off it was 1300 steps and believe me the steps were half a foot tall! The climb was not that easy at all I even felt that I cannot climb anymore because I'm having a little trouble breathing because of my clogged nose. But when I stared at the tip I always say to myself that I can do it and I was fooling myself that I'm close to the top hehe until I reached the top of course Rose was also there to give her moral support and we were trying to reach the top before sunrise, So it was also time pressure at the same time. But when we reached the top I was really, really amazed how beautiful Coron was.
And then By 7am we went down and had our breakfast at Coron Breakfast Central, you gotta try their Beef Omelet it is crazy good! After eating it I decided that I would eat this for breakfast for tomorrow! I really loved the flavor of Beef mixed with different kinds of vegetables on an egg! It had onions, green and red bell pepper, and tomatoes which was my all time favorite! When I tasted it I carefully remembered whats in it so that I can cook it at home :) Then, after eating we went to Mommita's because we are going to be fetched by our tourist guide and also the boat operator at 8am for Island Hopping.
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Our rented boat, "Althea" |
First stop, via Boat ride for an hour, Malcapuya Beach!
at 10:30 we left the beautiful Malcapuya beach and headed to Banana Island where we're going to have our Lunch :)
Our Lunch:
We asked our Boat operator/ Tourist Kuya Mac if we could stay for a bit longer here and shorter for the next two beaches because for every beach we will only spend 1 hour the most to get on schedule because the boat rides will took 1 hour long and 30 minutes at least. So if we are not going to stick on the schedule, we will running out of time for other beaches to visit.
After we ate I asked Rose if we can snorkel there but she wasn't so sure so we asked kuya Mac and yey! they had it for free
Next stop, Atwayan Beach we skipped CYC because our boatmates gone already went there yesterday:
Next Stop: Maynuno Beach
We didn't stay there for long only 30 minutes because the waves are becoming bigger Kuya Mac decided to get us back to the harbor safely.While we are on our way to the Harbor, Kuya Mac handed us merienda its like Suman but it was grilled and I forgot what its called but it sounded like Suman.
After almost two hours of boat ride we head back to Mommita's (5:30) to take a bath and rested a little bit for 2 hours and ate dinner at Lolong's Grill (at the back of the lodge) and ate chicken Cordon Bleu and Tapsilog for rose for our dinner. After that I bought Rose painkillers because she had muscle cramps from snorkeling. I guess that she didn't stretch and she is not fond of swimming for too long. We head back at Mommita's at 9pm and I forgot to load so I was getting my slippers when Mommita told one of her helpers to load for me because it was already late I was shocked and touched at the same time because I didn't expect Mommita to do that I was like home and Mommita was my mom.and so there I rested beside Rose and fell asleep :) Of course I didn't forget to thank Ate and Mommita for that gesture.
Third Day:
Because we slept early of course we woke up early as well. And I asked Rose if we can eat again to CBC and eat my new favorite Beef Omelet :)
grinning over my beef omelet
After we ate, we went to the harbor and met our new boatmates and Athea (the boat) and I am ver excited because we are heading towards lakes today :0
me taking pictures while waiting our boatmates (Rose really loves to take stolen pictures of me)
FIRST STOP: Twin Laggon
I loved it in here we had to swim to get there. I removed my vest because I really wanted to swim. What I did was I tied my slippers at the other end while my snorkels on the other end. because I had my camera on my other hand to take pictures and my other to swim.
We had a little accident where Rose accidentally forgot to remove her glasses and completely forgot that she wore it I just asked her if where did her glasses went and she was like shocked and don't know what to do at the same time and we are way behind because we are going to our next stop already. And Kuya Mac asked us if what is wrong and we told him what happened and then he dived and saw Rose's glasses and we were like celebrating that time and we were asked by Kuya Mac if we could swim faster because they were waiting for us. Because of Rose's shoulder pains I dragged her while I was swimming and she was like so relaxed while I was swimming for the both of us and when we got to the dock our boatmates asked if what took us for so long and we shared the story on the boat while going to our next destination :)
Next Stop:
FOURTH DAY:
this was our souvernir buying day din't took any pictures because we're too busy buying haha! :) and our minds were boggled by the choosing of best souvenirs :) the gift shop was introduced to us by Mammita as well :)
FIFTH DAY:
was our last morning :( was so sad about it thou I was fulfilled at the same time :)
Will go back to Palawan really soon! but not in Coron thou,