This January, I was finally able to revisit and I was in for some surprises (of course with progress, comes a lot of changes). What were some of the noticeable changes? Twelve years ago, we crossed a long and winding bamboo bridge and passed by houses on stilts to get to boat rides which was a good opportunity to interact with the locals and kids.
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| Where we took boats for Coron island tours in 2007 |
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| Another place where we took boats for Coron island tours in 2007 |
Today, there is already a pier for the island tours. The photo below is just one side of the pier. The boats are not just a lot more but bigger too. The pier is usually congested in the morning as tourists converge for the island tours. It was so congested that our designated boat couldn't dock anymore near the ramp so what they normally do is arrange the boats in one line so passengers could hop on and off from one boat to another. Our boat was at the end of the line and we had to pass through 5 boats in a row to get to our boat. 😅
Twelve years ago, when we went island hopping, we were the lone visitors in most of the tourist sites. The tour guide also explained that the Barracuda Lake and Kayangan Lake were considered sacred places of the Tagbanua tribe, the indigenous tribe of the island and so swimming and making unnecessary noise was not encouraged. In an instance when our tour guide allowed us to experience hearing our echoes in the enclosed sanctuary of Kayangan Lake, they had to ask permission first from the spirits.
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| Barracuda Lake in 2007. Quiet and peaceful. |
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| Barracuda Lake today. Bustling with swimmers. 😎 |
Today, swimming is allowed in all the tourist sites. Ramps and stairs have also been built for easier visitor access. And each site is teeming with tourists (considering January is not even considered a peak season).
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| Kayangan Lagoon in 2007. Quiet and peaceful. |
To get to the Kayangan Lake in 2007, you had to hike up a hill where you can take a photo of the Kayangan Lagoon (one of the most popular spots in Coron), then go down the other side of the hill where the Kayangan Lake is.
Here's Kayangan Lagoon today - 😮
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| Kayangan Lagoon today. Congested with tourist boats. |
It's the same view but look at all those boats! There's now a wooden ramp too. Because Kayangan was pretty packed, our boat couldn't dock near the ramp again so we had to pass through 2 other boats.
Concrete steps have also been built - you have to climb about 150 steps to get to this Kayangan vantage point. But the queue to take a photo from this popular spot is long - we had to line up for about 20 minutes to wait for our turn! 😂 After the photo-op, you have to go down 100 steps on the other side to get to Kayangan Lake.
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| Kayangan Lake in 2007. We weren't allowed to swim but we rode a canoe to explore the lake. |
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| Kayangan Lake today. A stronger and bigger ramp has been built and swimming is already allowed. |
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| Twin Lagoon in 2007. |
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| Twin Lagoon today. They've already built a staircase. |
The two lakes - Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake - are 2 out of the 13 lakes in Coron but only these 2 lakes were granted by the Tagnabua tribe to be open to the public. As I mentioned earlier, the lakes are sacred to the Tagbanua tribe so access to the other 11 lakes is still forbidden.
Though there are more visitors in Coron now, all the natural resources have been well-preserved. Everything is still pristine and beautiful if you compare the 2007 and 2019 photos. For the beaches, sand is still immaculately white and the water is crystal clear. I just forgot to take photos of the beaches coz my focus was on the food. 😂
Anyway, here are more photos of Coron -
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| The cave fronting the popular photo-op spot at the Kayangan Lake area. |
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| Beautiful rock formations made from limestone |
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| More limestone cliffs |
I did some research about the beautiful limestone cliffs of Coron. Apparently, these used to be coral reefs under sea level 25 million years ago. 😱
We also went on a Reefs and Wrecks Marine Tour covering Lusong Shipwreck, Coral Gardens, Calumbayan House Reef and Sangat Gunboat. The snorkeling experience was great but the travel time in between the destinations were too long - more than 2 hours for the farthest one - sapping all our energy. The travel time was longer than the actual time we stayed in each destination (but it could also because we started the tour late). On hindsight, we all thought that we should have taken a more relaxing itinerary but I think if you’re a diver, this should be a must-try since the shipwrecks of Coron have been cited by a lot of international travel magazines.
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| Snorkeling in the open sea |
When it comes to snorkeling, Coron is one of the best snorkeling places for me (the 2 other best snorkeling experiences I've had so far are in Waikiki and just recently, in Amanpulo). It's so enchanting that you'll forget about time - which is not a good thing if you want to become a diver. 😅 But at the same time, it's also scary for me especially when something under water touches my skin coz I easily panic - yes even if it's just a piece of seaweed. 🙈 That's why I know that my limitations when it comes to appreciating anything under water are only up to snorkeling, visiting ocean parks, looking at aquariums and viewing underwater photos/videos. 😂 I don't have to dive under water and see everything for myself. I actually get the same joy from watching fishes in an aquarium. 😂
Anyway, going back to Coron, as I was snorkeling, there was this foreigner who was waving at me and she was pointing at something below. I looked below and it was a giant clam! When we went above water, she goes apologetically - I'm so sorry I had to call you but I was so excited to see a giant clam and I wanted share the joy with someone and you were the only one nearest to me. Lucky me for being near her! I wouldn't have noticed the giant clam if she didn't point it to me. Haha... Such a nice surprise to share common appreciation and joy with a stranger.
As for the shipwrecks, there are a total of 12 in Coron, most of them are Imperial Japanese Navy vessels which were sunk via bombing or torpedo attacks by the US Navy during World War II. For the ones we visited, even if you're just snorkeling, you could see parts of the ships as underwater visibility (they say) is up to 80 feet. You could also see a lot of divers exploring the wrecks under water. But here's the thing - after watching a lot of Pirates of the Caribbean movies, your imagination could go wild around shipwrecks. 😅🙈
On our last day, we watched the beautiful sunset in Coron from a rooftop.
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| Coron Sunset |
I miss the peace and solitude of the Coron I experienced in 2007 but then again, when a place is captivating, it's bound for it to be discovered.
