Palawan Tour

part II

In case you guys missed Part I to this post, check that out HERE. Part II we’re sharing a ton of photos from Coron, Palawan and a few from our stay at Pico de Loro. Also at the bottom of this post is our video from the entire trip so make sure you scroll all the way through!

Coron

This was the first trip to the Philippines where we visited an island we had never been to before. With over 7,600 islands there’s always a new island being discovered and turned into the place to see. We had heard so much about Coron Palawan, and looking at photos alone, we decided we needed to go there.

The day after we celebrated Christmas with everyone, we hopped on a plane and headed off to Coron. From Manila the flight is less than two hours so before you even feel settled you’re already landing. My parents, bless their hearts, planned out this entire part of the trip working with Von Aire to book everything.

plane to coron

 

We were here for three days and four nights with two of the days booked with boat tours of Coron. Booking the tours worked out so great for us. Transportation was all set having a van pick us from the hotel and dropping us off at the boats – which was so convenient. Once we arrived by the water there were a ton of boats ready to take tourists out.

 

boat on coron tour

 

Each day we were visiting different areas of the island.

Day One Coron Tour Itinerary:

Las Islas De Coral, Quin Reef, Atwayan Beach, Green Lagoon, CYC Beach, Kayangan Lake

 

green lagoon coron

 

First stop was the Green Lagoon.

The waters here are a mix of sea and lake so while you’re swimming in the water it goes from warm to cold. This was one of our favorite stops. The waters here are so clear it was amazing. There wasn’t much for sea life though but for swimming it was amazing.

 

green lagoon coron boat tour at coron palawan

 

Also in case you were wondering, since we had 15 people in our group we had the boat all to ourselves which was really fun. A lot of other boats we saw had groups mixed.

 

coron

 

My family all went crazy and ordered those face snorkel masks.

Joe and I laughed at them. They look way dorky and ridiculous.

Then we tried it.

And then we wanted one.

 

 

Probably my favorite spot on both days was after lunch when we swam out in the middle of the ocean and got to snorkel and watch all the sea life. It’s amazing and no photo or video will ever do it justice. There were so many fish, starfish, coral and sea urchins (which were a bit too close for comfort at some spots!) everywhere.

Side note: We tried out a waterproof case for the first time (not a housing) and we were so excited to take photos with it. The first few were fine but once we saw some water drops getting inside we didn’t want to use it anymore – dunking your camera under water is nerve racking enough, we weren’t about to take any chances. We did take quite a few video though so make sure to check out the video on the bottom of this post.

 

coron palawan waters Atwayan Beach Coron Atwayan Beach Coron Atwayan Beach Coron Atwayan Beach Coron

 

Atwayan Beach.

We printed a large size of this photo and it hangs up on our wall now. Love walking by it every day and thinking of all the mems.

 

Kayangan Lake Coron Palawan

 

Last stop of the day: Kayangan Lake. Apparently every boat’s last stop!

We had to take a short hike to get to this spot – up steep stairs and then down. It was a bit too crowded with people compared to the other spots we had to gone to and we were only able to swim out so far  – if you look to the right of the photo above you can see the buoy boundary. The water here also is reeeeally deep. You couldn’t see the bottom at all, it was just a deep abyss of blue.

 

Kayangan Lake Coron Palawan

Day Two. Coron

Starting with breakfast at our hotel. Apparently a lot of us went with the traditional Filipino breakfast of garlic fried rice, fried egg, longganisa and a slice of mango.

 

Filipino breakfast

Day Two Coron Tour Itinerary:

Las Barracuda Lake, Smith Beach, Banul Beach, Skeleton Wreck, Reef Garden, Twin Lagoon

After the first day, some of the spots started to look the same! All gorgeous warm waters and beautiful sea creatures. We definitely enjoyed the places we saw and swam in the first day better than the second but don’t get me wrong, we were still in heaven.

 

coron tour

 

Our tour included lunch on the boat, with the crew cooking fresh caught fish from the morning and getting everything ready for us. It was so so yum! We cannot speak more highly of our guide, Juhn, and his crew. We loved him so much we requested him for the second day and were so happy when we arrived the next day that we got him again.

 

food served on coron tour seaweed lato salad

 

Lato (seaweed) salad.

This was the first time we’ve ever tried this. At first we thought it was a little weird when they told us it was seaweed but once we tried it, squeezed with a little calamansi, we couldn’t have enough of it! They were like little bubbles popping in your mouth.

 

coron tour group

 

The whole gang – family and our boat crew.

 

coron palawan boats

Pico De Loro

One of sister’s birthday is on January 1st. So the two days leading up to it we went to Pico De Loro, staying at a few condos of some family friends. There is a private beach there and on New Years Eve they had a fireworks show on the water. It was a fun way to say hello to 2018.

 

This Christmas tree was so unique.

 

pico de loro

What a wonderful trip. Photos we shared weren’t even half of it but hope you enjoyed looking through them.

The first time Joe went to the Philippines with the family was the first time we borrowed a DSLR camera from a friend and we had absolutely no idea how to use it. It was that trip we figured out how to expose but even then most of our photos were blurry and out of focus. We’ve gotten some practice in between then and now I’ll say.

Now on to the video!