Trust Me, It WAS Paradise!!!

And I'm pretty sure it still is up to this very second that I'm pulling the creative threads out of my almost kaput brain (or not! I'm definitely thankful it's still working! Hahah!) Hmmmm... I can still remember a month ago, I was busy being anxious on the weather! Since the day we booked our (unfortunately) two-way ticket trip to paradise I've been praying for nothing else (aside from world peace, of course!) but good weather. As per RC, one of our Coron trip buddies, if God can't give us a good weather then at least a manageable one! I took my cue from her and prayed for the same thing - but God knows, deep down inside I was really, really praying for a perfect weather! Because I wanted the "bakasyon grande" to be perfect as perfect can be: picture this, blue skies against glistening crystal blue waters, birds chirping freely overhead and sea creatures playing gaily underneath! Well? Perfect smiles and clean tan lines, right? 

Oh I bet you already have an idea of what I am talking about. Since the day I came back to reality (a.k.a came back from the paradise that was...) and posted the pictures of our adventures, I've been getting numerous queries on details about the trip. So here goes. I'm spilling the beans - detail by detail so that by the time you're done reading this you'll be checking out the airlines' websites and available packages for your own travel to the Philippines' last frontier: Palawan.

Welcome and mabuhay! :p

Bonggels si Ate sa iyang pag welcome! Iyan po pala ang sinturong pangkaligtasan! I sure do love that lady's accent! It's like my jetlag LSS everytime!

I'm not sure when I started dreaming about going to Palawan. I can't even remember anymore who told me about it or how I even found out that there really is this sweet unperturbed rapture sitting somewhere in this country - amidst the chaos and RH bill protests or the unending stalking of the media to the President's lovelife, but the idea of making this dream come true came in a form of a casual conversation between bestfriends on a usual day over some beer (maybe?). Lo and behold! The wheels just started turning and the hunt for the perfect package, which could certainly help us in saving some good moolahs, began. The trip should've been completed by the end of last year, but it didn't happen as I was, honestly, too chicken to check on the flight fare rates and package prices! Because... hello?! That's Palawan! Only artistas could afford it. So I thought. To make this already long introduction not too long anymore - I finally had the guts to search, search, and search! Thanks to RC for helping me out. Now without further ado, let me introduce to you first my Coron trip buddies:

Coron-kada :)

L-R: Rc (my research partner in crime); Vito (her boyfriend and representative during GMs if she's not available - yes, GMs as in General Meetings!); Rv (the coolest boy ever because he's ok with everything that we offer him - like, sky's the limit! Hahahah! Peace, Rvs!); Me and of course, Tim (the best boyfriend ever! Ehem! Very supportive! :p).

By March we finally had our tickets booked and that's after weeks and weeks of contemplating and waiting for the most sought after CebPac PISO fare! I never had much luck on it however, ended with still lower fares but not really as low as paying for just the taxes. I've suggested to the group for us to book two separate flights since there are no direct flights from Cebu to Busuanga (Coron airport) and the connecting flights are almost ten thousand pesos more so we're really saving a lot with my suggestion. Here's a screencap:

The price we paid for our roundtrip tickets for Manila:

For Coron:

We might have paid additional P224 each for both trips for booking it online but that's still a lot of savings, right? It was just as convenient although for the time that we had to wait for our next flight we had to carry our bags around, we didn't have any check-in baggages for the same reason that we wanted to... you got it! :) But the most amazing part though is that we only got to pay P220 worth of airport terminal fee: that's 200 from Cebu and just 20 pesos from Coron - yes, you read that right! Busuanga airport only charges that very small amount of terminal fee. We didn't have to pay for the terminal fee for NAIA as our flights have been considered connecting. Just present your boarding pass and terminal fee receipt and you'll be good to go! I hope they don't change it though!

TIPS on choosing your flights:

1. If you're going to book the flights the way I did, I suggest that you choose flights with at least 3-4 hours difference from your next flight so you wouldn't have to worry about delayed flights or stuff like that. Plus, since you can go out of the airport and come back later (at least 45 mins before your flight), this allowance will give you time to explore maybe... MOA or some nearby establishments. Just be really time conscious! It's Manila you're connecting to! Hello traffic!
2. Choose a flight that will get you to your destination the earliest and the latest flight for your departure so you won't waste any moment at all! 
3. Book at least 2-3 months before your trip and never look back! Prices going down at a significant rate RARELY happens so don't fret ;) 

Here's what we did during our stops in Manila:

While waiting for our flight to Busuanga:

We ate some good breakfast at a nearby McDonald's, just right across NAIA and beside Resorts World :) The walking from NAIA to McDo was a good exercise - actually, sort of a warm up for our upcoming activities!

We lit some candles and I thanked God for the good weather!  It was really more than manageable and perfect timing! We arrived just after the storm flew out of the country!

Hung out at that park-like space in between Maxims and Genting - feeling the sun and counting the airplanes that flew by. Hahahah!

This one is during our wait-time for our flight back home. We hurried off to MOA to grab a serving of DQ and KrispyKreme! My trip to the Northern Lights will never be complete without these two sweet delights! :)

Moving on...

FLIGHTS, FLIGHTS, FLIGHTS!

TIPS: 

1. If you don't have a check-in luggage, make sure that your hand-carry must not exceed 7kgs. 
2. All liquids: lotion, shampoo and such should be placed altogether in one ziploc and each of these must not exceed 100ml. 
3. If you want free check-in luggage book with AirPhil. Hehehe... They have up to 15kgs free, I think. I am never a light packer myself and the things that I took with me on this trip were the most sorted out and I fit them all in one backpack! It was really a challenge, but if you schedule your outfits - you'll be able to pack light like a pro! :) 

The check-in process was swift and fast and the next thing I knew we were already boarding a noticeably smaller plane. Nervousness galore because I have never been on a propeller plane! The good thing was I got a window seat, the not so good thing? I have this view:

The pilot announced that we were going to land in a few minutes and look at what's below us:

PURE MOUNTAINS!!!

I was like, seriously?! We are going to land in a few minutes? A few minutes?! But where is the runway?! There was no turbulence at all, but I could tell the plane was shaking and I hope the plane crew didn't notice the fear in my face. And finally... Ka-blag-a-gadag-gadag! Touchdown Busuanga!!!

They do have a tiny, but decent runway after all! And the airport is so cute and homey:

The airport. Nothing great, but functional :)

But expect nothing more! It's a really simple airport - no electronic devices at all (well, except for the blending machines for the coffee shop there and probably plane-related stuff). Those baggages that have been checked in will be manually placed on a wooden thing (thing cuz I don't know what it's called exactly!) and you have to pick it up! No strollers or anything. Welcome to the simplicity of life! But of course, we just walked through. And right outside...

Tsadan! 

Ok. Kinsa man jud imong gisugat Koya?

Kuya Danilo, all smiles here, was very punctual with matching sign board and my misspelled name on it. Hahah! Funny! And another first! :p In fairness, the airport transfers are in very good condition SUVs and Vans. I'm already impressed! Kuya Danilo is the designated driver for our airport-to-and-from-lodging transfer only. Think you don't need one? Think again! To their description, the Busuanga airport is about 30mins away from main town Coron. That's 30mins of traffic-less travel, but it felt like traveling from Mandaue to Carcar for us! Or even farther! It was really far! 

Finally, we got to our opted lodging house - Amor & Boytek Pension House. Just right outside thebayan, literally. Unfortunately, we weren't able to take a picture of the place and its hospitable owners Ate Amor and Kuya Boytek because we were too giddy to climb the 1,400 steps of Mt Tapyas! They were very lovely people who were always ready and willing to cater to our needs and requests!

Since we want to make the most of our vacation we then hurried to Mt Tapyas. We were told that we could take a tricycle to the foot of the mountain for only P10 each, but since we were also planning to go to Maquinit Spring afterwards we decided to hire Kuya Rommel's service at P400. This already includes the drive to Mt Tapyas, Maquinit Spring (which is also very far, most especially with a tricycle with five passengers and an underdeveloped way). Kuya Rommel was really very nice to us we decided to add P100 in the end as a tip :) The dinner at the Kawayanan restaurant pretty much summed up the first day of our trip then we retired to an early rest to prepare ourselves for our island hopping the next day!

PACKAGE DETAILS:

Please click for a larger picture :)

 

We chose Option 2 out of the four packages that were offered since we were really enticed by the beauty and the reviews/feedbacks we got about the Banana Island. When we met Kat and Arnold on our first day of island hopping they also recommended us to go to the island as they've already been there the day before and they apparently enjoyed it, what with Arnold's animated narration of how they had so much fun! He was right! The place was truly immaculate with its almost virgin-like pristine and azure waters plus green lush! Here's what we call a paradise within a paradise ;)

Now the good stuff about the package:

1. Home-cooked breakfast with a very inviting aroma of danggit that wakes us up from our sweet, sweet slumber.
2. Snacks composed of native puto and kutchinta plus some bread which usually ended up as food for the fishes as we swam along with them! 
3. Sumptuos lunch of crabs, fish, freshly grilled talong (or was that steamed?), unlimited rice and refreshing soda!
4. The island entrance fees weren't included and that's a good thing because you won't be obliged to go to all of the islands included in your itinerary. Most of the places look alot like each other so you can definitely request your boatman to just take you to next spot and spend more time where you like most. My best bets: Kayangan Lake (I could stay there forever!); The WWII Ship Wreck (the experience would probably be better if you can go scuba diving); and Banana Island (we stayed there the whole day and it was well worth it!).
5. If you have more time for your trip and your have more than three people in the group adding Calauit Island to your itinerary would surely make your experience way better because you get to see Giraffes - free walking/running in the wild! It would probably cost you about 5k for the van to Calauit.

Now, here's an account of the money that we spent per day (amount estimated per person):

DAY 1:

Terminal Fee - 200

Tips - 40

Meals - 600  

Trike Service  - 80

Maquinit Spring EF - 100

TOTAL - 1020/person

DAY 2

Siete Pecados - 100

Kayangan Lake - 200

Sampaloc Beach - 100

Twin Lagoons - 100

Ship Wreck - 100

Fare - 40

Tips - 50

TOTAL - 690/person

We saved meals on the 2nd day because it was Tim's birthday and he treated us for dinner! Sweetness! Except for the cake which wasn't really sweet at all, actually, it was  more than rancid. Inedible. And it seems like Aling Lina knew that it was but she sold  it to us anyway! Good thing she offered a refund the moment she saw our upset faces the next day.

Happy birthday Tim! :)

DAY 3

Banana Island - 250

Fare - 40

Dinner - 250 

Tips - 50

TOTAL - 590

DAY 4

Pasalubong - 1000

Fare - 200 

Tip - 100

Meals - 350

TOTAL - 1,650

TOTAL: 3,950

+

PACKAGE: 3,800

+

FLIGHTS: 4,893.12

GRAND TOTAL PER PERSON: 12,643.12 

FLIGHTS: CebuPacific

Other airlines that fly to Coron:

PAL

AirPhil

PACKAGE: Coron DIY Tours

Contact person: Rhymond Vanderlipe

You can also e-mail him at: corontours(at)gmail(dot)com

If you have any questions about their packages you can go ahead and ask him directly! Don't be shy because he's really willing to answer your questions!

LODGING: Amor and Boytek Pension House

So there it goes! I hope this will help you and entice you to go to the paradise that is Coron, Palawan! The people there are really amazing and hospitable! These two are perfect examples of it:

Boatmen and friends :) Bernard and Gelbert.

Until then, Coron!

missing you already,

~tSin