Busuanga and Coron

January 16, 2008 at 4:51 am · Filed under Philippines

Pictures of Busuanga and Coron from the Province of Palawan in the Philippines.

Went to Coron via Seair. Wow, what a small plane - a 19 seater one. After a 1-hour flight from Manila, we arrived in Busuanga. Asian Spirit has a jeepney that transports their passengers from the airport to Coron Town (150 php, 40 minutes). Mara, a girl from the island resort that we booked, met us at the airport. She arranged for a van for us to go to Coron Town (still 150 php). My first impression of Busuanga is that it is green, wild and isolated. It is a stark contrast to overpopulated Manila. I found the unpaved road to Coron and the fact that we didn’t see another car on the road for half an hour very refreshing. I was quite thankful for the air conditioned van though as the road was very dusty. Coron Town is a charming, small town. There is not much to see or do in Coron Town, the real prize are the islands around. The pier where we took the boat to go to the island is beside the market. Anyway, in this town, everything is just beside the market.

There is no beach in Coron Town but there are a lot of island resorts not so far away…

I really loved our islands especially in Palawan! The air strip in Busuanga airport was a small one and we hit the dirt road via jeepney going to Coron - 1 hour ride.

Coron Island may be one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. The place looks so unreal, as if it was taken straight out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The contrast between the towering gray limestone cliffs and the clear aquamarine sea is beyond beautiful. The brackish water lakes with it’s clear waters and strange corals in the middle of limestone mountains is magical. As we entered the island for the first time through Blue Lagoon, we were mesmerized. The only sound coming from our mouths are oohs and ahhs.
I understand why the Tagbanuas consider this land as sacred and I salute their efforts in preserving it. As we swam in Kayangan Lake, I didn’t dare make so much noise lest I disturb the sacred beauty of the place with my shrieks. I didn’t mind at all to pay the entrance fee to the lakes or to pay to go the beach. I respect the Tagbanua and I consider it a privilege to be allowed to admire their island.The snorkeling around the island is very good as well (Siete Pecados is excellent), one can see diverse species of coral in many different colors. Try holding a piece of bread in the water and many different fishes will swarm around you. We saw also sea horses and sea anemones with nemo(clown fish) swimming in and around it. Just please resist the temptation to ask the boatmen to take you in a snorkeling place where you don’t have to pay. The problem in this case is there are no permanent anchors for boats in these areas. Your boat would need to anchor independently and use tikin (bamboo) destroying many corals which would take many many years to recover. Just for this reason one should stick to the “usual” snorkeling sites.There are no accommodations in Coron Island itself, one needs to stay in Coron Town, or any of the nearby island resorts and then do a day-trip to Coron Island (boats cost 1500-2000 php for the whole day, take note this is excluding fees to Coron Island and snorkeling sites which can be from 150-300 pesos per site). In Coron Town, we stayed in Sea Dive which is built on a protruding platform on the sea. It is a popular place for tourists. Rates are on the cheap side but the service is good and the rooms are acceptably clean. I also like their bar and restaurant. One can also rent boats cheaper (1500 php) from Sea Dive.

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