CORON TOWN TOUR Half Day Tour (TOUR-A)Accept the challenges so that you can feel the exhilaration of victory. ~ George S. Patton
Destinations: Souvenir Shops, Cashew Nut Producers, Tapyas Viewdeck, Coron Baywalk, Maquinit Hot Springs (Php500/person)*
Thanks to my uncle working in San Miguel Corp., we got a travel agent who, unfortunately, we did not meet in the island. He did refer us to a tour agency in the town proper that offers one of the cheapest tour packages: Coron Galeri.
During our first afternoon in Coron, we ate at a small grill shop. It was not the best grill I had had but since it was a very late lunch, we ate like our life depended on it. Afterwards, we went to Coron Galeri and finally met the owners.
May Linsangan was the one who welcomed us and showed us the tour packages we could avail. The prizes could be as low as P600+ including lunch and could be as high as P2,500+ including lunch, depending on the destinations you wanted to go. They also offer diving and snorkeling gears for rent and they also sell cool shirts and mugs for souvenirs.
Al Linsangan, May’s husband and also owner of the Galeri, is a photographer. We saw some of his shots of Coron displayed in their house/office and these inspired me to take great photos during our stay in the island. Al gave us a brief orientation about the island, the environmental movement they were taking to preserve as much of the beauty as possible, and how we helped the indigenous residents of the island whenever we avail their tours. Actually, we didn’t need much convincing to book our tour in the Galeri after we saw how low the prices were.
After paying for our tour and gears and after May confirmed our tour for tomorrow, we went with Kuya Bong who gave us our city tour.
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On our way to Mt. Tapyas. |
Our first stop was Mt. Taypas—the highest grotto I had ever been.
We climbed 400+ steps up the mountain to reach the huge cross at the top (the cross was already visible on our way to the town proper). There were children at the foot of the mountain, each carrying coolers where they kept bottles of water, juice, and Gatorades cold. One we call “smaller Bong” accompanied me and two of my friends while another kid accompanied the other seven who had enough strength to go fast.
The climb itself was hard, probably because I was a heavy smoker then, but the scenery on the way was worth it. Whenever I get tired, I pretended to take pictures of random flowers and grass so that we would stop. My friends also pretended to pose on the benches on the way so that they could rest. We also interviewed “smaller Bong” about his life.
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| Me (in the middle) and my two friends—the laggers. |
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| A view of Coron town. |
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| Can you spot the sleeping giant? |
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| Almost sunset. |
It was almost dark when we reached the top so all we saw was the cross lighting up and the town twinkling with lights. We were still able to take our first group picture. I was surprised how knowledgeable the kids were in using dslr cameras. They were even better than me!
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Finally, a group picture with all of us in it! |
The descent to Mt. Tapyas was a breeze but the challenge was the darkness. After we paid the kids what we owe and gave something extra for the company, we got into the van again and made our way to the Maquinit hotspring.
To say the road to the hotspring was dark and rough would be an understatement. But, since we were trying to scare the hell out of each other, we dared to open the windows. It was a good thing that we did because we felt the cool breeze of Coron night. After 10-15 minutes, we arrived at the Maquinit hotspring.
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| My friends posing as beauty pageant contestants and, uh, the host? |
The hotspring was like any other hotspring—a huge crater-like pool filled with hot volcanic salt water. There was a grotto there but we were not able to see because it was already dark. We stayed for about an hour, massaging our sore legs and teaching one of our friends how to float on his back. Hungry and tired, we finally decided to return to Seadive.
After taking quick baths, we decided we want to roam the town. We first ate dinner at Kawayanan, a grill restaurant and bar Kuya Bong recommended to us.
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| Say cheese before we order! |
If you’re going to eat there, I highly recommend trying their enseladang lato (seaweed with tomatoes and onions usually with vinegar or shrimp paste/bagoong). Half of us went back to rest at the inn while half of us, including me, stayed for a pitcher of Coron sling—a local cocktail. After we had our fill of alcohol and gossip, we walked back to the inn (everything is walking distance in Coron town) and finally slept.
*This is the available tour package at Coron Galeri. We did not avail this though and just paid Kuya Bong to bring us to Tapyas and Maquinit so we had to pay Php100/person entrance fee to the hotspring.
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