(note: Text and photographs are copyright and may not be reproduced without written permission of the authors and photographer. Photographs by Charles Barber.)
We left Manila on Air Ads, taking all but 1 of their 8 seats to Busuanga, and had a nice smooth flight all the way, with great views as we flew over Mindoro island and around a large cumulus cloud to find the airport.
After landing, we took the lovely ½-hr drive to town, across Busuanga's green interior pastures punctuated by the occasional group of white cattle. In Coron, we checked into the Bayside (simple, clean enough, with helpful staff) and arranged for our activities. After a quick midmorning repast, we were off to Coron Island (note: Coron town is the capital of Busuanga Island, and is not on Coron Island).
Coron is an island of steep karst limestone too
precipitous to support a large human population. The island has
at least 7 interior lakes. The lakes are considered sacred by the
native Tagbanua people, who actively keep
visitors away from all except 1-2 of the lakes.
We visited the magic Kayangan Lake, a large emerald nestled deep in the limestone. You clamber up many steps, then down again to the lake. Here we snorkeled, watching the light flicker off the formations below the water, the strange lake fish, and some parrots high above.
Then returned to the ocean and snorkeled off Coron's shores—lots of fish and corals (soft and hard) and sponges in many hues. Then, as the sun dipped into the sea, we visited Maquinit Hot Springs and refreshed ourselves in the hot pools of water, before returning for a seafood feast at Bayside. Across from the Bayside is the office of SeaCanoe, which does sea kayak trips along the islands. If you're interested, contact http://seacanoe.com, e-mail coron@seacanoe.com.
We spent most of the next day hopping between beautiful
coral islands, some mound-like, others with steep karst
interiors, and almost all of them having at least one beautiful
white sand beach—Robinson Crusoe paradises! Along the way,
we stopped to snorkel and dive over remains of the large Japanese
fleet sunk by American bombs at the end of WWII. Now these
vessels provide interesting and (the deeper ones) exciting
diving, and homes for myriad fish and other forms of aquatic
life, much of it amazingly colorful. We enjoyed especially two
colorful parrot fish at the bow of one boat, some large wrasses,
a couple of needle fish that were about 18" long and with
their long snouts were skimming the surface for their lunch,
schools of neon blue damsel fish, and brightly colored clam lips,
extended to lure passing food.
Our paradise for the night, Coral Bay Resort, was about 1.5 hours further, on Malapototan Island—truly a beautiful setting. Here we had a delicious Lapu Lapu (garouper) lunch about mid-afternoon, then rested until sunset. Cottages here are along the waterfront, uncrowded, nice nipa and bamboo, with good bathrooms (and electricity from sundown to sun-up).
The next morning, we climbed to the top of this part of
the island for a panoramic view of surrounding islands, each with
a little white beach somewhere, then took turns paddling the
resort's little banca into the mangrove swamps to look at the
flora and fauna. This was followed by more island hopping—first
to inspect a cave on Malcatop
Island, then for lunch near Maltatayoc, before
heading back to Tangat
Island where three of us enjoyed the
delightful Sangat Island
Resort while four had an excellent dive at
a nearby wreck. (For reservations at
Sangat, contact the owner/manager, Andy Pownell, sangat@pacific.net.ph
website: www.sangat.com.ph, phone (632)525-8041—messages
are relayed to him via radio phone.) Then
it was time to head back to Coron and prepare for reentry to our
real world the next day.
For diving arrangements if you're not staying at Sangat, contact Discovery Divers in Coron.
Lots of other possibilities in the area include numerous other small resorts, some up-market ones such as Club Paradise [tel. 838-4956 to 63; Clubpara@pworld.net.ph; web-site: http://clubpar.com ], and a visit to Calauit Island. In 1977, African species were introduced to this island, which is a wildlife preserve—you can see giraffes, antelopes, and zebras along with the native Palawan deer. Calauit is at the other end of Busuanga from Coron, so you probably want to stay for at least a night or two at nearby Las Hamacas Resort in Busuanga town, and arrange a trip from there.