Coron [Thread 10]

[paula17]

sis, try to contact kuya charlie labajo..he's a very nice and experienced tour guide. I can't post link to my blog site/itinerary eh, just check my signature dito sa post ko. hehe. Thanks!

thanks sis!

[Letmeloveu]

si Charlie rin contact namin nung nagpunta kami ng Coron.

[huit]

okay siya di ba? =) makuwento and maalaga sa mga gina guide nya. hehe

[meimei]

^sis julmin4u, just a piece of advice from your fellow Gtalker: i hope you could modify your post and separate it into several paragraphs. kasi honestly, mahirap siyang basahin, gustuhin ko man. tapos take advantage din of the formatting available in GT like "bold" and "underline" para mas maging reader-friendly yung post mo.

just helping out. para mas helpful sa sisses natin kasi i'm sure your review of your trip in Coron will be helpful to us.

[julmin4u]

^ hi sis meimei, sorry excited to post 

removed my post muna as it is hard to modify in a small modify box.

[julmin4u]

Sharing to you my travel kwento regarding our Coron tour. There were only three of us on this trip, me, my son and hubby.

Part 1.

I planned our Coron trip as early as May, booked with Zest Air for a Dec. 26-29 trip. Few months after, canvassed for a possible resort to stay in. Hubby wanted us to book with Club Paradise, however, the cheapskate me, doesn’t want to. I would have agreed had it not been that December is the super peak season for them as such super expensive. Further, I want to tour the famous spots of Calamianes group of islands, if we stay in Club Paradise, sayang naman if we’ll always be on tour pala + the tour with them is more expensive. So, as a compromise, I told hubby that on our next vacation to Coron, we’ll stay in Club Paradise.

Looked for a resort through tripadvisor, advise from my sister who’s been to Coron and checking out blogs and forums until finally, decided to book with Princess of Coron. My requirements that time: clean room with aircon, clean restroom with hot water, not noisy neighbourhood and with swimming pool (since according to my sister who’ve been to Coron, tours finish early so we need the pool para hindi ma-bore). Got the biggest poolview room in Princess of Coron even if we’re only three, booked the Nony room (which is good up to max of 8 pax).

July came and I receive an email from Zest Air informing that all flights to and from Busuanga starting October were cancelled. Imagine my horror and disappointment. I booked early to get good deals and then they cancel. Anyway, booked a flight with Cebu Pacific for a Dec. 26-30 trip, no more good schedule for Dec. 29 so opted to get the morning flight for Dec. 30.

Next item is the search for a tour guide/package. We wanted to get a private tour as we want to control the itinerary so we’re ready to spend more just so we can enjoy our tours without worrying of others. Initially contacted Charlie Labajo as recommended in Girltalk/PEX but through further checking in the forums, booked with Coron Wonders instead as their rate is cheaper and our requests were accommodated. Everything booked, itinerary fixed for a three full days tour and all down payments paid. I am happy. We’ll just wait for Dec. 26 to arrive.

Come Dec. 14, another problem happened. This time, Cebu Pacific emailed me because the Dec. 30 flight was cancelled, instead they temporarily booked us to a Dec. 31 morning flight. Of course, I am so mad, called them immediately. We don’t want to go back the 31st so although our 30th flight is perfect, I had no choice but to book the last flight on Dec. 29. Of course, our tour itinerary was affected. We initially booked for the following: Day 1 – Coron loop, Day 2 – Malcapuya, Banana island and Bulog Dos, Day 3 – Coral Garden, Lusong and Sangat. Because of the changes in flight, Rina had no choice but to combine days 2 & 3 itinerary at a lower fee of course.

Dec. 26 – no delay in our flight, the van who will pick us up as coordinated with Princess of Coron was there waiting for us when we went out of the airport, we’re the only three people riding the van. Got to our room and later on learned that Travel Asia people are also staying in the resort and had it not only because we booked earlier, they were tempted to exchange our room since we got the biggest room. Plus point with them although we would have not minded it if we transferred room for so long as we still stayed in one of the rooms with the pool view and still on the ground flr. We just rested for a few minutes then we went to the center of the town, the market area. On the way to the resort, we’re already studying the place and was happy to learn that we can only walk from our resort to the town center. We just went around, checked out the popular resorts/inns I read from the forums and blogs. Checked out the market and Lualhati park then for our first dinner, decided to try Centro Coron. As mentioned in the forum, food in Coron is expensive. For our dinner, we ordered: sinigang na ulo ng salmon (cost P300+; in Manila, this is only P100++), pork sisig. In fairness, the food was good. Walked a few more then went back to our resort, ordered a few beers and drank seated on the wood furniture outside our room facing the pool.

Highlight of this day is the fact that, since 1940s only 7 typhoons visited the Philippines on Christmas season plus the fact that the typhoon decided to pass by the seldom passed by islands of Coron. As in talagang eksaktong dadaan sya ng Coron! When we’re still in Manila, I am already exchanging SMS with Rina of Coron Wonders, she told me it is sunny in Coron, so that lifted our spirits, however we know that at that moment, the typhoon is still 90,000km away pa from Coron. We arrived with the sun still shining but with occasional light showers. When night time came, that’s when the rain and strong winds came, we were praying that the typhoon will just pass and leave before the following morning. Our prayers were answered as it is no longer raining when we woke up. But all throughout the night, we can hear the strong wind and heavy rain.

[julmin4u]

Part 2 of our Coron trip.

Dec. 27 – Day 1 for our tour. No more rain, the sun is shining, yehey! Our tour will start at 8:30. Since we did not avail of breakfast from the resort, we went out and decided to have breakfast at Foodtrip – we ordered beef tapa and it was good. Our tour guide, Plong, who visited us the night before together with our boatman, picked us up from Foodtrip. He is the one who recommended Foodtrip for breakfast. The boat we’ll be riding is docked near La Sirenetta. When we got there, we noticed that although the Coron town’s sky is clear and blue, the thick rain clouds is above Coron island, where we are going for that day. Confirmed with them that the coast guard cleared our trip. According to them, it is very seldom for tours in Coron island loop be cancelled as it is very near.

During our 30 mins. boat trip, it drizzled lightly and my son was so happy because he saw a full rainbow, as if promising us a very good vacation =) it was a bit scary that we are heading to where the thick rain cloud is located but glad that it is not raining and the waves are not that strong. Plong is a highly recommended tour guide as he always talks to us, eventhough he’s been in Coron for only 2 years, he’s originally from Quezon City, he seems to know a lot of things and for questions that he cannot answer, our boatman takes over.

We started our tour with Siete Pecados, Plong explaining why it’s called as such. Snorkelled there and Plong took us to the area with coral reefs. Grabe sa dami ng isda! Nakakataranta! My 8 yr old son initially doesn’t want to go down and snorkel, for some weird reason he doesn’t want to. To think he’s not new to this as we always join my husband whenever he have a dive (scuba dive) in Anilao. My son is used to just jumping in the middle of the ocean to snorkel, but with life vest of course. After a few minutes, he joined us in snorkelling. They gave us our morning snack of puto and softdrinks.

Next in our itinerary was Kayangan Lake. Had the usual souvenir photo on top of the hike with Plong as our photographer then went down for the lake. Plong took us to a small cave in the lake then he took underwater photos of my hubby with the stone formation below.

After Kayangan lake, we went to Banol beach for our lunch. It was such a nice pocket beach. Our boatman, docked into the more private area of the beach, it only has two cottages and we’re only ones there, while the rest of the tourists are docked on the main beach. We stayed there for two hours, eating leasurely, enjoying the sand and playing on the water. The food they prepared was good, we had grilled squid, grilled tambakol (yellow fin tuna), adobong baboy and lato salad. We only learned later na maganda rin pala mag-snorkel on this area, madami din fish and we had so much fun kasi there was this territorial fish who’s so brave – looks at us straight to the eye, attacks us then retreats din naman. He was so funny. Glad he did not bit us. Sand here is so fine, clean and so white. Water is also clean and clear.

After Banol beach, we went to twin lagoons. Plong asked us to wait outside the small opening while he goes in first and check if we can use the balsa. It was low tide so we can pass through the small opening – he however, recommended that we use the balsa so my son can have a resting area inside. We rode balsa and we passed the hole lying down. Enjoyed the mixture of cold and warm water inside, took pictures while our son never even attempted to go down the balsa. He just played with the lifeguard orange thingy that belongs to Plong. After twin lagoons, had our afternoon merienda of fried banana and softdrinks then off we went to twin peaks. The waves were strong already at this time, Plong went down first to check the current – told us that there is a current but we can still go down. Hubby and I went down – our son did not join us kasi maalon talaga. It was a tiring swim, the wave and undercurrent is a bit strong, nakakapagod maglangoy. Plong wanted to take us around the coral garden but we decided after 20-30 mins. swimming that we’ve had enough, nakakapagod kayang kumontra sa undercurrent. We were supposed to go to one more destination but we were no longer interested kasi nga maalon na so we just asked them to bring us back to the town na. We were back to the dock at past 4pm. It was a nice trip, the rain cloud that threatened us that morning left Coron island when we were in Kayangan lake so the entire trip, we had clear blue skies – the only difficulty we encountered was during the snorkelling in Twin peaks.

Upon arrival in the town, we just showered to take off the saltwater, changed into a clean and dry swim clothes (as we’ll also go straight to Maquinit) and decided to go to Mt. Tapyas. From our resort, we only walked toward the starting point and climbed the 720 steps to get to the top. Enjoyed the sunset view and watched the man playing with his remote control plane on top. Before it got dark, we went down already, hailed a tricycle and we went to Maquinit hotsprings. Wow! It was the perfect timing for a dip in Maquinit hotsprings. The wind was cold, the moon is full and the stars are shining bright. It was the perfect view and season to dip into the hot water.

We stayed there for more than an hour, left the place and went straight to Bistro Coron for our late dinner. We ordered their self-branded salad, Margarita pizza and Bolognese pasta. Wow! It is very -good and authentic foreigner cooked, we loved all the food that we ordered. The dessert place, Ice..something was already closed when we left Bistro Coron so we only had coffee at Kapernos, it was a disappointment, didn’t like the taste of their coffee that we did not finish it. Our son ordered halo-halo, ingredients were all those from the jar, except for the banana which is not even a sweet banana but a lacatan banana, the icecream added is cookies and crème flavoured, but because it has ice and milk, our son enjoyed it. He never liked the contents of halo-halo anyway except for the milk and ice.

[julmin4u]

Part 3

Dec. 28 – Our tour that combined our Days 2 &3 itinerary. According to Rina’s revised itinerary, we have to start early. So we had an early breakfast, still in Foodtrip, ordered longanisa and hotdog this time. We were on the dock before 8am but due to lowtide, we were not able to leave immediately. We had a change in tour guide and boatman. A bit disappointed as we got a better life vest the previous day, this time, we’re only provided with the orange, styro-filled generic type of life vest, whereas the previous day, we got the one that is like a real vest, new, not the big styro-filled and can be strapped in the crotch area para hindi tumataas and mas secured.

Although there was a change in crew, we were only disappointed at first then warmed with the new crew later on. This tour we learned is our “buwis buhay” tour. I read in the forums that Malcapuya and Banana island is far and isolated, etc. but never realized that it was that far and isolated and that we have to cross open seas. Given that a storm has just passed Coron, as expected, the waves were strong when we got to the open seas. I lost count of how many Our Fathers, Hail Marys, Glory be and Angel of God had I prayed. I just closed my eyes just so I will no longer see how strong the waves are and we were not talking to each other.

The boatman and tour guide may have sensed our fear that they told us that they had a trip worse than our current situation. We travelled for almost two hours because of the strong waves – glad that the boatman decided to take the longer route passing through some islands when we were nearer as it least there were no more waves there. As such, instead of passing through the front of Malcapuya then going back to the docking area, we approached Malcapuya from the back.

It was peaceful when we got there as we’re the first day trippers who arrived. There were a group of foreigners already there who according to our tourguide has rented the hut for a month – but every week, the group of foreigners staying changes. They were there to do kite surfing – they are really good and brave! We love the place, the vast sand and that we’re glad that we enjoyed it without the crowd yet. We had our morning snacks there.

When it was past 11am and the other group of tourists started to arrive, we decided to leave and head to Banana island where we’re having lunch. Although banana island’s beach is smaller, I preferred this over Malcapuya – probably because it is not a far walk from the shaded tables to the beach. Also, we were able to snorkel on this island. Our lunch this time consisted of grilled bangus, sinigang na hipon, inihaw na baboy, cucumber salad and bananas for dessert – we also have softdrinks this time e nung first day wala nung lunch. Our boatman was apologetic because he was not able to buy crabs – bilog kasi ang buwan so limited choices of seafood.

At past 1pm, we were informed by the boatman that we may not able to dock in Bulog Dos anymore as we have a long trip to go to Coral Garden and Lusong gunboat shipwreck. We’re ok with it as we don’t want to miss the shipwreck but we fell in love with the place that according to hubby, the next time we go to Coron, he would prefer that we stay overnight in either Malcapuya or Banana island to further enjoy the place – had it not been for the food problem, he would prefer to stay here longer.

It was another long boat trip to the Coral garden but this time, we did not pass through the open seas, so the water was calm.  I enjoyed the scenery so although it took us more than an hour, we did not get bored – we passed by Culion island. Upon arrival in Coral garden, we were happy to finally see two boats of tourists as we’re isolated during our entire boat trip. Had no expectation of the place so we were totally in awe of the vast coral garden that we witnessed. We are not newbies in snorkelling more so hubby as he is into scuba diving BUT this is the best we’ve seen so far. The coral garden is so huge that I believe we were not able to explore everything. I even got tired that on my way back to our boat from the other end of the coral garden, I was asked by the tour guide to just hold on the floating life vest as he pulled me. hehe…so tired na talaga that I can no longer swim. When we were back near the boat, we explored more, took videos of the underworld while my son had his turn of exploring the coral garden with the tour guide pulling him.

After more pictures and videos, we moved to the Lusong gunboat shipwreck. Same with the coral garden, they check first if the undercurrent is strong before letting us go down. This time, it was the boatman, who went with us. Due to strong undercurrent, the boatman asked me and my son to just hold on the strings of the floating vest he was holding then he will pull us and take us to the site. We were able to reach the site without any effort at all. Was able to stand up at the tip of the sunk gunboat then he took us until the end of the gunboat and back. There are corals around the area but not as great as the Coral garden – on our way back, the boatman swam downward to check on something then took us back near the boat. That is when we learned that he saw a giant squid – he came back to catch it and my husband was able to video the entire process of capturing the giant squid, the squid even squirted blank ink on them. It was so huge. Later on I felt guilty because of the captured giant squid and eggs that she left protecting. That was also then I remembered our previous talk with the boatman the day before about fishing near a tourist spot. He mentioned that it is not allowed up to 200m around the spot and beyond it, fishing nets are not allowed, only the more traditional, manual method of fishing. However, a lot of boatmen and tour guides were in the area and none of them prevented our boatman from capturing the squid so I don’t know the rules, yet still I feel sad for the squid.

We were still supposed to go to Sangat shipwreck but we’ve had enough so we asked that we be taken back to the town. It was another long boat trip back but we took the seas in between islands so no more big waves on our way back. We were so tired, got back at 5pm, so we decided to have a merienda in La Sirenetta – ordered pizza and shakes. Slow service but good food – so we decided we’ll go back there for our late dinner.

Went back to the resort where my son had a quick dip in the pool. Rested a bit then decided to go out for dinner at past 8pm. My husband was disappointed that La Sirenetta already closed kitchen when we got there (dami daw tao so ubos na supplies. Also, we observed that all restos here normally stocks ingredients good for one day so late dinner is not advisable as usually, ubos na yun popular food). We transferred to Seadive – I ordered garlic crabs, hubby ordered chili crabs while our son had fried chicken – only the waiter to come back and inform us that they can only accommodate one order of crabs – my husband gave way and ordered the prawns instead. He’s already on a bad mood because he was craving for La Sirenetta’s kinilaw na tuna then it got worse when his order in Seadive is no longer available as well). Me and my son were happy were happy with our food – I got four pieces of crabs – that I have to share two to my son – my husband won’t take any as he’s in a bad mood already that I let him go while we finish our food and have him eat again in Bistro Coron. Once we’re done eating, we went to him in Bistro Coron and saw that he’s in a good mood na – effect of good food.

[julmin4u]

Part 4 - last.


Dec. 29 – Our last day. We no longer have tours planned for this day, so this is our relaxed day. Woke up later than the last two days, and had a leasurely breakfast at Mannekin Pis restaurant. Hubby and I ordered bacon and eggs with bread while our son ordered corned beef and egg with rice. The plating was very good that it was as if we were eating in first class restaurant/hotel.

After breakfast, we hailed a tricycle and went straight to Harvest of Coron to buy kasuy. The tricycle driver waited for us then we asked to be dropped off in the market. We bought two kilos of lamayo (marinated fresh dangit) and searched for t-shirt souvenirs.

After this, we went back to the resort to pack while our son was having fun on the pool. Had lunch finally at La Sirenetta where we enjoyed our kinilaw na tuna, lato salad,fish of the day with pesto and bolognese pasta. While I tried their famous blue margarita – Blue mermaid. Because of their slow service, my son and hubby was able to enjoy a game of billiards while waiting while I savour the view.

We got back at the resort at exactly 1:30pm and learned that the van that will take us to the airport is already there. We got to the airport two hours early than our flight. The terminal was packed with people due to delayed flights of all airlines from Manila, so we had to seat on the floor. Our plane departed an hour after the original schedule.

So, what are our lessons – the next time we go back to Coron, we will stay in Seadive – unlike my sister who needed the pool after the tour (they stayed in Sunz en Coron), we saw no need for it as we’re always out. Also, we like the location of Seadive plus the fact that there is an easy access resto and free brewed coffee. Second, we will stay overnight in Banana or Malcapuya island to fully enjoy the place. Third, we will visit calambuyan islands as recommended by our boatman on the 2nd day. Fourth, my husband promised that he will bring his diving gears and he’ll do scuba diving. As for our original plan that on our second time to Coron, we’ll stay in Club Paradise? We’ll have to re-think that as we enjoyed our stay in Coron town.

Thank you very much to the very kind ladies here in girl talk, your kwento and responses to queries were very helpful.

[Letmeloveu]

medyo nostalgic ako habang binabasa ko yung hehe... I was in Coron last month. Dec 14 - 17... I super enjoyed the activities and more importantly yung places. On my next adventure sana kasing ganda ng Coron yung mapuntahan ko.  Wow Philippines talaga.

[jasta01]

@letmeloveu

san po kayo nag avail ng tours? sa 24 na kasi flight namin to Coron eh wala pa kami tours until now..

[gorgeousmama]

 sisses  joining

will be in coron this coming feb 13-18, glad that i stumbled upon this thread, di ko pa binasa fully yung posts ni sis julmin

this is our first trip in coron after El NIdo no iti yet, will park here hoping to get more infos

Im also a cheapskate but maarte when it comes to accomodation and I always read reviews before
booking sa hotel

after so many palabok, hehe my question will be

1. what hotel gives you a clean nice restroom with  air don, not that pricey but reasonable rate
2. what are the most popular sites that i should not missed and includes sa iti ko
3. where can i get a good but cheap package for 2 pax??

thanks sisses so excited since this is our first trip to coron

[paula17]

i contacted mommita's lodge thru email for accomodation because of the really good reviews sa tripadvisor (decided to stay in coron instead of sangat island since im not a diver naman, and its cheaper to stay in coron town) when mamita herself replied, she even attached a proposed itinerary! i read and reviewed it and immediately said yes, for the fact that i do not have to worry about anything after arriving in coron. from the shuttle and accomodation to the meals, snacks and tours, she'll be taking care of them all and the price is not bad at all, just a bit over 10k for 2 pax, 4d3n.

[Letmeloveu]

@ Jasta01

Try to contact Charlie Labajo.. (sent on PM) baka pwede sya mag accomodate sa inyo. Saka connected din naman mga tour guide dun so pag di sya pwede, mag re-refer sya para sa inyo. Madali naman sya kausap din so dapat makakuha na kayo package tour kasi malapit na yung punta nyo sa coron. Enjoy po!

[julmin4u]

1. what hotel gives you a clean nice restroom with  air don, not that pricey but reasonable rate
2. what are the most popular sites that i should not missed and includes sa iti ko
3. where can i get a good but cheap package for 2 pax??

thanks sisses so excited since this is our first trip to coron

Hi sis, some replies.

1. I can only vouch for Princess of Coron as it is where we stayed. The room we booked has a clean, huge restroom, may hot water pa, aircon din yun room. As to reasonable, hmm...depends on what is reasonable for you.

2. For Coron loop - Siete Pecados for snorkeling, Kayangan Lake - for the most photgraphed area in Coron and for the rock formations underwater, Twin lagoons - for the experience of warm/cold water mix, Twin Peaks - for snorkeling again. There are several pocket beaches where you can have lunch. We did not go to Barracuda lake - as it is more for divers daw and to Skeleton wreck kasi gusto na namin umuwi kasi malakas na alon but these two are popular spots as well. Malcapuya island, Banana island and Bulog Dos are popular destinations din and if you have another day, and very much into snorkelling you can go to the coral garden and shipwrecks pa. Others go to Culion or sa safari.

3. For the package, depends, do you want a private tour or ok lang with other people? Cheapest option is to join tours with others. Pag private tour, pag mas konti mas mahal though mas controlled nyo ang IT.

[hush puppie]

hi mga sis...do you have any idea about balinsasayaw resort..maganda ba? we like din kasi ng beachfront resort.. TIA!

[jasta01]

sa mga nakapunta na sa Coron.. ito yung Iti namin this coming January 24-27 ~

1st day
Coron Town Tour
Corong Galeri Arts & Crafts, Cashew Nut Producer, Tapyas Hill Viewdeck, Makinit Hot Springs, Coron Market & Baywalk

2nd day
Coron Island Ultimate Tour
Destinations: Kayangan Lake, Twin Peaks Reef, Hidden Lagoon, Bulungan Beach, Calachuchi Coral Eden, CYC Is.

3rd day
Sangat Shipwreck Tour
WWII Gunboat Shipwreck, Coral Garden, Decalve Reef, Ruyukan Mangrove Channel

Nakuha ko sya ng Php 1,900.00 per adult 2nd & 3rd tour includes buffet lunch, private tour using big boat with cr etc etc.. . yung 1st tour lang ang may van na susundo sa amin yung 2nd and 3rd wala susundo sa amin which is okay lang dahil may tryk naman daw na 10/head lang ang fare .. .

[meimei]

^huwaaaat?? yang 3-day tour na yan for only P1,900 per adult??? how did that happen?? hehe. saan mo nakuha yan?

[jasta01]

^
i booked it.. kaya yan nangyari.. hahah.. kidding

pm sent.. .

[foruiz]

^interested din ako sis!!! how many of you in the group by the way?