Coron, Philippines (Week 1)

Tatum & Corbin
Feb 1, 2019
3 min read

Updated: Sep 13, 2019

After 4 flights, three layovers, and 40 hours of travel the anticipation was over. Our boots had touched down on the island of Busuanga and were soon in the bustling town of Coron. Jet lag won the first day, but on day two we were ready to see what all the fuss was about so we headed to the street to flag down our first tuk tuk (motorbike w/ side car).

We waved down a driver and jumped in, excited that our first attempt at doing so had gone smoothly. However, the ride only lasted about 30 seconds before the tuk tuk got a flat and just like that our first tuk tuk ride had ended. No worries... we flagged another down and were on our way. Exploring commenced for the afternoon and we ended the day at the relaxing Maquinit hot springs.

Coron is a town known for it’s beautiful lagoons which we needed to see. The lagoons had stunning, sheer cliffs that dropped into the bluest blue water you can imagine. Twin Lagoon, Kayangan Lake, and Green Lagoon were the three we visited. Green Lagoon is small but quickly became our favorite since it was just us there (it is more of a local spot). Comically, our guides played romantic Filipino music as we floated around enjoying a beer. Their attempt to ‘set the mood’ was hilarious but their efforts appreciated nonetheless.

Wreck diving is a massive attraction in Coron. There were many Japanese World War II boats sunk on Sept. 24th 1944. Corbin had some prior dive experience but Tatum had never dove outside of the diving class. We started the day by diving on a corral reef and Tatum being Tatum was automatically amazing at it. Corbin had a hard time keeping up with her. After the corral reef we set our sails for our first wreck dive, a Japanese cargo ship, sunk by an American torpedo. Our final dive of the day was a Japanese artillery ship, which we were able to swim through. It was an amazing day.

Our week in Coron seemed to fly by. While we enjoyed epic days at lagoons and scuba diving we also spent some time getting rid of our travel jitters and adjusting to being in a foreign country. We quickly found that WiFi is a luxury (making it hard to book future flights and hotels) and that it is imperative to carry your own roll of toilet paper. The town of Coron seemed to move at such a quick pace and occasionally caused the feeling of ‘sensory overload’. We didn’t let the overwhelmed feeling get to us and acknowledged that being out of our comfort zone is part of what inspired our trip.

To continue our trip to Banaue (our next destination), we needed to first travel back to the city of Manila. To do so, we decided that the budget-friendly, 18 hour ferry ride was the best option... we were wrong. The ferry sounded like fun at the time, but the reality of a night spent in green metal bunk beds and wavy seas quickly made us regret our decision. We made it through the night thanks to Tylenol P.M. and Dramamine and arrived safely in Manila.