Coron

January 29, 2024

Coron

I was in Coron for the past two days. When I first arrived I knew that I wanted to only stay for two nights because I felt the vibe wasn’t right. The town seemed a little dirty to me and there were many tourists.

There were a bunch of tours to sign up at the hostel. I texted Jonathan, the French guy whom I had met in Taipei and came to Coron before, about which tour to take. He recommended Coron Island Tour A. I also did a little googling and read that the Ultimate Tour is a bit rushed. Out of the four or five island tours, I chose A. It’s also the cheapest at 900 PHP. The others go up as much as 1500 PHP or 1800 PHP.

I spent the second half of the first day exploring Coron town. I visited the San Agustin Parish Church and hiked up Mount Tapyas to see the sunset from the top. I walked up over 720 steps to reach the summit. This hike reminded me of the hike up Elephant Mountain in Taipei, similar in difficulty.

Yesterday was the tour. I had the chance to go snorkeling, but I opted out and stayed on the boat since I’m a poor swimmer. My favorite parts were chilling on CYC beach and eating a delicious lunch with the people from the boat. Compared with the island hopping tour in Panglao Island, this one is better because the boat’s engine wasn’t too loud and we spent more time in the destinations rather than on the boat. I thought Tour A had just enough activities for the day. The last stop of the tour was Kayangan Lake, supposedly it’s the cleanest lake in Asia. That is, clean until the tourists came.

The owner of the hostel, Ed, bought my ferry ticket from Coron to El Nido yesterday since it was cheaper than buying online, by a few hundred pesos. The cost was a little over 2800 PHP, or about $50. It’s almost the same cost as the 13 hour ferry from Manila to Coron, but from Coron to El Nido is only 5 hours. I found that to be interesting.

This morning at 6 AM, Ed drove me on his moped to the ferry terminal so I can catch the 7 AM ferry. I enjoyed staying at his hostel and I found Ed, like most Filipinos, to be very nice and kind.

I arrived in El Nido shortly after 12 noon and will spend at least two days here.