Our trip to Coron started with what I like to imagine was a cruise. It was a 14 hour ferry ride from Manila (that does not include the 4 hours that our ticket said to get there early for boarding). It was a very comfortable ride though. We each had a top bunk the size of a cot to ourselves. I had 4 issues – (1) you had to store your bag on the bunk with you, so it kept you from straightening out your leg, (2) Jeanette’s bunk was on the opposite corner of the boat from mine. Eventually enough people shuffled around that I was able to move to the bunk next to hers though. (3) the ferry had odd hours; it left Manila at 1:30pm and landed in Coron at 4:00am which left us waiting for our hostel to open when we arrived on the island. (4) The free meal they served was a joke; if it weren’t for a blog getting our hopes up that it was a good meal, I am sure I would have expected that. Even with the issues, I found our first “cruise” to be a lot of fun and very relaxing.
We stayed 2 days and nights in Coron – day 1 being the day we arrived at 4 in the morning. Day 1 was another day of relaxation. We missed our chance at taking a tour – they have to be scheduled at least a day in advance. So instead we hung out at the pool and hiked up the hill overlooking the city of Coron.
On Day 2, we took the Coron Ultimate Island Tour that included stops at the Twin Lagoons, Kayangan Lake, CYC Beach, and a couple of other snorkling areas that contained coral and a shipwreck. It was very cool. Jeanette’s favorite was the Twin Lagoons, and I liked snorkling at the shipwreck the most. The last 2 hours of our tour was in fairly heavy rain. It put a damper on it for a couple of prissy Slovakians (said jokingly-the man of the couple was about 6′-5″ and easily weighed 2 of me) that were on the tour with us, but didn’t affect Jeanette and I much; we were first in the water at both sites where it was raining. The tour cost 1500 pesos per person ($30 each). Snorkels were not included, so we had to rent them for 150 pesos. We ended up sharing a snorkel because I did not carry enough money on me to get 2 sets. (That was embarrassing, but it worked out fine)
We caught a ferry the next morning bound for El Nido.
Oh yeah, the ferry from Manila to Coron cost about 2300 pesos each (or $46), so it was not a cheap way to travel. We learned that traveling in the Philippines really should be planned out ahead of time so that you can save time and make sure that you have a seat.
It didn’t look good as we headed to the Twin Lagoons. Jeanette is curled up in a poncho.
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