Coron

Time for more snorkelling! The tours here are nowhere near as rigidly organised like in El Nido, and every operator offers slightly different tours. On the plus side, there aren't as many tourists and nowhere near as many boats, so that gives you a bit more freedom to negotiate (and of course much more freedom in the water!).

Since we were staying right near the wharf and next door to the dive shop, we didn't expect a proper pickup but the dive shop gave us a free tricycle ride to the wharf anyway, even though it was less than 2 minutes. And not long afterwards, we were away!

Surprised to see that a trio of French guys who'd been on the ferry yesterday were also on the tour, so we chatted to them a bit. Two of them had worked in Australia for a couple of years and were now holidaying their way back to France. The rest of the boat was 8 local Filipino tourists (two couples and a group of four colleagues from Manila), a German/English couple, a trio of Spanish women and a lone American guy who got plenty of stick about President-elect Trump.

And off we went! Stop number one was the Twin Lagoon, where a small saltwater lagoon collided with a large freshwater lagoon, and you could transition between the two by swimming through an underground cave. This was breathtakingly beautiful - again with towering limestone cliffs, beautiful aquamarine water, jungle foliage and undersea corals. Excellent visibility in the water too, it was actually startling how far you could see! Swam around here for probably 45 minutes before heading back to the boat.

Next stop was the Skeleton Wreck, the remains of a sunken Chinese warship from the 1930s. It was only a very tiny patrol boat, and admittedly I don't know the story behind it, but it had sunk in about 8 metres of water and the front half of the boat was still very clearly visible. With a bit of effort and breath-holding you could dive down and reach it for close-up views; the rusted iron now teeming with corals and fish life. Again, fantastic environment with clear waters and idyllic beaches.

Third stop for the day was the CYC coral reef, where we swam around above a shallow reef checking out the corals. Unfortunately not quite as much marine life as we would've liked, but very impressive corals nonetheless, and mostly in great condition too.

This was also where we had lunch - in a small shelter on a beach overlooking the coral reef. More freshly grilled fish, crabs, salads and rice, with watermelon and banana for afters. Great stuff.

Back on the boat and we headed off to stops 4 and 5 at the same point. Stop number 4 was another large coral reef, where we swam around checking out everything (saw a huge jellyfish which was thankfully very deep), and stop 5 was the beach attached to the reef - unfortunately I can't remember the names of either place. Didn't really go over to the beach as we were busy checking out the coral reef - always new things to find!

Stop number 6 was the famous Kayangan Lake, which is actually entirely inland and separated from the seas around the island. Obviously, that makes it freshwater as well. To get there, we docked at a small village, climbed up a small-ish hill of about 200 stairs and were rewarded with the iconic view of Coron (do a Google Image Search for "Coron" and I guarantee that view will be the first picture). Then it was back down a different set of stairs to the lake itself. The lake is huge, and very very deep so the water was much colder than we were used to! Took some photos and had a bit of fun diving in, though it wasn't quite as good for swimming since you don't float in freshwater, unlike saltwater!

Back up and down the stairs to the boat for our final stop, another coral garden. This was a channel between two islands, though thankfully nowhere near as intense a current as the one from El Nido a few days previous. It was fairly shallow here and with lots of spiky sea urchins sticking up, so I was a bit on edge the whole time. Highlight of this one was spotting an enormous barracuda at least two feet long, just sitting there chilling out. Those guys have huge teeth!

Back to the boat where we headed back to Coron Town, everyone exhausted after a long day in the water. After an amazing shower and rinse off (and an hour spent watching GoPro footage), we went to a tiny local restaurant next door for dinner. Shandos had grilled pork and I had seafood Canton, which I assume is just shorthand for prawns cooked Cantonese style, ie with just soy sauce and hokkien noodles. It was good, anyway!

Off to bed feeling very tired, and looking forward to a day of idleness tomorrow. Being retired and on perpetual holiday is hard work!Read more