Walks down TF Memory Lane: Coron, Palawan in June 2008

16 Jun 2010 No Comments

in Palawan

The first time I went to Coron, I was not even supposed to be there. My flight was supposed to be for Butuan and I had grand dreams of going to Siargao on my own. It was October 2007. There were no direct flights to Siargao then, or even Coron.

But a Philippine Airlines plane had some problem landing on the Butuan airport and flights to the airport were cancelled for the day. We were informed we could fly the next day – but I did not want to go home and unpack my bags only to pack them back again for the next day. I hung around for a few hours hoping to get on any other flight, to no avail. Until I realized, it was a Friday! I knew for a fact a Super Ferry boat leaves for somewhere on a Friday afternoon. I took a cab, told the driver to bring me to the Super Ferry pier, and off I went without a ticket, without knowing where I was headed.

It turns out, the boat was bound for Coron. Among a number of chance passengers who were all locals, I made a friend. Jeff, who regularly goes to Manila to visit his family and buy some vegetables (you’d think he could get those vegetables in Coron but well…), would be my friend for the next week and would introduce me to all his other friends, one of whom, a girl named Hope I would become very close to.

On that first trip to Coron, I did not get to do any sightseeing or island hopping. It was too expensive to rent a boat on my own and by myself. Jeff, together with Hope and her boyfriend, and I instead rented kayaks and kayaked all the way from Sea Dive to Siete Pecados and the Calachuchi snorkeling site – and back. I told myself I’ll come back to do more of those island hopping and stuff.

My second trip to Coron took three days to plan. It involved me googling to look for people who were going on a trip to Coron that weekend, people I could, hopefully, go and split the expenses with. That’s how I found Owen Ferrer and his DIY trip. Owen and I would end up being friends. I spent a total of P1,600 on two-days of island hopping with Owen and his group. That included the overnight accommodations, 2-days worth of lunch and all the fees. That was such a bargain! (And one that would never ever happen again in any of my trips, anywhere LOL)

When I came back to post the photos (wherein I got carried away with the saturation and brightness by the way and to this day I deeply regret, ahem. What can I say? I was trying to find my own art form. And my art form turned out to be something like “making my photos look unlike how they actually were as much as possible”), my newly-made Travel Friends friends saw the photos and suddenly, we were all on Yahoo Messenger conferences. They did not comment on my supposed-art form but they all thought Coron was beautiful and is well worth a trip. Thus, the TF Coron Palawan trip was born.

Friday afternoon, taking a photo of the sunset in Manila Bay

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