CORON
THE PHILIPPINES SERIES PT13
Today I was getting the boat north to an island called Coron to explore to lagoons and do some diving.
AGAIN, I SEEMINGLY HAD THE PLACE TO MYSELF
After Nacpan in El Nido, it sure had a lot to live up to but from what I have been told its more than up to it!
WHERE IS CORON?
Diving shipwrecks & stunning lagoons in Coron
THE BOAT
Have heard mixed reports about the sailing to Coron. I’ve been told it’s 6hours by some and 9 hours by others but generally speaking its not the calmest of crossings. This would have normally out me off but I knew what this place had to offer and wasn’t going to miss out!
MILFORD SOUND
Thankfully it turned out alright and the boat which can take 80 only had 20 so everyone just napped. I surprisingly slept most of it but woke with an hour to go and looking outside the view was phenomenal! It almost reminded me of what Milford sound would look like (I was too hungover to go LINK) and I kind of wish I hadn’t slept for the majority of it. Went up to the top deck where it is open air and enjoyed the rest of the sailing. If the normal transfers are this good then how good are the tours going to be!
RB TRANSIENT
Checked into RB Transient House which was interesting to say the least. It’s in the middle of a stilt town which is just bog land and the smell is horrific. But again it’s not about where you stay here! I’m a good 15min walk from the town so I rented a dirt bike for the 3 days and then signed up to diving tomorrow with Dive Society.
The walk to my guesthouse
SHIP WRECK DIVE
Up and away early for my ship wreck dive. It consisted of 3 dives. The first was at a sunken artillery ship. There was nothing like going through a old navy ship on the bottom on the sea. It was pretty cool but hard to do as you had to judge your buoyancy pretty well because of the tight spaces and sharp edges in places.
RELATED READ: A NAKED SWEDE AND ANGKOR WAT
IN THROUGH THE BACK
The second dive was the largest ship of the 15 in Coron and it began with us swimming up through the propeller shaft which was insane. Most of the things have been salvaged already which is pretty impressive considering they are 30-40 metres underwater. We saw some interesting stuff, an iron, an empty turtle shell which obviously couldn’t find its way out, gas mask and plenty of fish who seem to be thriving.
The last dive was a shallower reef dive but was the longest dive at 50mins. There was also a boat there but not much to see. Signed up to an island tour again similar to that from what I done in El Nido, although without the mass of crowds.
Diving shipwrecks & stunning lagoons in Coron
TWIN LAGOON & BARRACUDA LAKE
The island tour was amazing, much quieter than the one I done in El Nido and for that fact a lot better! Twin lagoon was probably the highlight. There was a few photos of this lagoon going around Instagram and everyone was going nuts over it, it wasn’t quite the same as the photo (never is) but was still amazing in real life. Another place was barracuda lake where you need to walk on a little Boardwalk through some rocks and then up to an opening. I was the first off the boat and no 1 was in the lake at that stage, amazing!
Diving shipwrecks & stunning lagoons in Coron
FINAL THOUGHTS
Ok, Nacpan Beach aside I would have to say Coron beats El Nido hands down. The lagoons and diving experiences are unique to anywhere else I’ve been. But as the crowds move in, I could imagine having either lagoons to yourself is just not going to happen again. Between El Nido and Coron I have no doubt that I have found two places that will soon be on top of everyone’s list.
NEXT UP
After an interesting week in Cebu I made my way back to Manila before Guam, country number 36. Click to read.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
35/229
This episode is part of The Philippines Series. Click to view episode1.
