Coron

For the week of Easter, I managed to get a full week off from work, and traveled to Coron with my Pops.  Johnny B had arrived in the Phils two days before our trip, and managed to make it to Jim (My boss’s) 50^th Birthday Party in GK Enchanted Farm (Previous blog on this village around November).  The flight to Coron is about an hour, and we arrived early in the afternoon. The trip to most Island paradise spots in the Philippines consists of plane, then van, then boat, and this one was no different.  We arrived at our resort (occupying an Island by itself) and proceeded to eat, drink, scuba dive, mountain bike, and sun bathe for 7 days straight.  

While the beaches are beautiful and the water is pristine, the real highlight of Coron is the Wreck diving.  In September, 1944, American planes caught up with a fleeing Japanese fleet in Coron bay, and sank 26 ships in one day.  The best part of this is that the fleet was located in relatively shallow water, and are all still there! You can actually swim through the engine room, cargo holds, and brigg.  They are amazingly well intact, and very, in the words of one of my favorite children’s books, “dark and full of secrets.” 

Our first day we got started early, taking a boat to Coron Island to dive Barracuda lake.  This is the only lake dive I’ve ever done, and it was a pretty unique experience.  This particular lake is a mix of fresh water and saltwater, and is a drastically different temperature at the surface than at the bottom.  As you drop down, it gets very blurry at the portion where the two water sources mix.  Then the water heats up almost immediately, like being in a hot spring.  The terrain looked somewhat akin to the surface of the moon, and visibility was great.  On the way up the temperature cools again, and feels even more so after 40 minutes in the hot spring. After this we did a reef dive, and ate lunch on a nearby beach.

At this point, the boat we had arranged that morning met us at the beach to take us island hopping.  The two main highlights of this excursion were more inland lakes.  Twin Lagoon can only be reached at high tide by swimming underwater a short distance (or taking stairs over a rocky ledge).  Pops and I chose the former, and swam along the edge of the lake to the opposite side.  Next we went to what our guides referred to as the most famous lake in Asia, Kayangan lake.  Reaching this lake required about a 20 minute hike up a steep hillside and then down to the lake.  We reached the photo op at the peak of this rise just before sunset, and got to witness a breathtaking view of the islands in Coron bay.  The lake itself is absolutely beautiful, surrounded on all sides by tall mounds of volcanic rock overgrown with trees and bushes.  Since it was the end of the day, we had the lake all to ourselves.  I swam out into the middle and lay on my back looking up at the sky and surrounding hills.  It was the magic hour, when the sun is still out, but has lost its heat, and most areas are in the shade.  The whole place had an incredible echo, and it was possible to communicate with the shore in practically a normal tone of voice.  I tried to picture what I would be doing at that point if I were in the US, and decided there was a pretty good chance I’d be playing video games, and irritated with some 12 year old kid I had never met.  I laughed out loud at the thought, and twirled in circles for quite a while, giggling like an idiot.

The following day we did a mountain biking adventure tour on the mainland that had been recommended by a peace corps buddy of mine.   Our guide was TJ, a young British/Filipino guy, who had quit his marketing job in the UK to move to Coron a few years earlier.  He had met a Filipina wife, and started TJ Adventure tours to earn a living.   Along the road we passed a couple of kids riding their bikes, and as I marveled at the speed and confidence which the young lads navigated the rough terrain, the smallest one lost his balance and went over the front handlebars, landing squarely on his face.  A bit stunned, he kept his composure, stood up, and assessed his bike.  This kid couldn’t have been more than 6-7 years old, but he took the fall like a man.  No tears, no whining, even said thank you when Pops gave him a piece of candy.  His chain had jammed and the handlebars were twisted the wrong direction, but TJ was quickly able to get him back on the road.

The tour turned out to have a few more hills and off-roading than advertised, and we reached a point where Johnny was no longer into it.  Not to worry, TJ knew the mayor of a village along the way.  We dropped Johnny off with the mayor, and continued to the “secret waterfall.”  This included a 30 minute hike through the jungle at the end, but was totally worth it.  It was an extremely hot day, and the cool, shady waterfall was the perfect lunch spot.  On the way back, we stopped in the village  (maybe two houses?) where we had left our bikes for a short rest.  TJ asked if I wanted a Coconut, and quickly ordered two.  A very thin, young gentlemen began scaling the nearby palm tree barefoot (footholds had been chopped in the side of the tree), and cut down a batch of coconuts with a machete. 

We met Johnny back in the earlier village, and found him to be very buddy buddy with the mayor, cruising around to visit the school and public meeting halls on the back of his scooter.  To relax after the long day we went to a nearby hotspring, but not before visiting a local cashew factory and buying two giant bags of garlic cashews.

The next morning, we took a 2 hour boat ride to our next destination.  Coral  Bay Beach Resort, located just a short boat ride from all of the Japanese wrecks, is in a quiet cove with a spectacular house reef.  We arrived just in time to organize dives for the next day, and eat dinner.  We had prepaid (and by we, I mean dad) all of our meals, which turned out to be buffet style.  All you seasoned travellers, I know what you’re thinking - rookie mistake.  However, to our great surprise, the food was fantastic.  Fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, french bread, juice, real coffee, real milk, cake for dessert, crepes and bacon for breakfast, incredible.  Add this to our evening routine of cashew snacking and San Miguel beer, and we were very happy campers.

I did 6 wreck dives over 2 days - submarine hunters, freighters, and cargo ships, ranging from 50-120 feet long.  One of the ships had a giant crane off the back of it, and another had a very intact anti-aircraft gun.  Officially, you aren’t supposed to penetrate any of the wrecks, as that requires a technical diving certification.  However, our Filipino dive guide wasn’t overly concerned with the rules so long as higher authorities (like Steve the divemaster) were all the way back at the resort.  “Don’t tell Steve” became the running joke when arriving back on the boat after swimming through small holes and hatches into the hull of each wreck.  Fortunately, we were accompanied by an Irish-Dutch couple that were very experienced divers.  They took some amazing photographs, which they later emailed to us, the only dive shots I currently have.

Pops enjoyed the wrecks as well, although preferred to observe from the outside, in view of the surface.  He also skipped the second day, and was content to just island hop and bask in the sunshine.  I joined him on our third day, during which we visited a nearby water cave, kayaked, and snorkeled.

We got in one final snorkel on Saturday morning, and reluctantly headed back to Manila.