Camping in Coron

Returning to Manila after our time up north was a bit like coming home from college for the summer. We were tired, and excited to get cleaned up and sleep in a nice, clean bed. But as soon as we got cleaned up we were ready to head back out.

With a day to kill before our flights we did some wandering around the endless malls of Manila, thoughts of the upcoming holidays starting to creep into the fringes of our minds. On the other side of the world, people were gearing up for Christmas. Trees were being decorated in living rooms, front bushes adorned with lights, and the shopping process had begun. While in no hurry with 2 weeks remaining in our trip, we strolled amongst the stalls and shops of the malls, giving fleeting glances to items. Any lingering looks would imply intentions, and the wrath of an unrelenting sales team.

Accomplishing little, we spend the rest of the day packing for our trip to Busuanga, Coron in Palawan.

Palawan is a very distinct island (or set of islands) in the archipelago. Check it out on a map. This westernmost outcrop of the Philippines, stretching down towards Malaysia, is quite a different entity from its neighboring land masses. Characterized by it's sheer limestone cliffs it seemed to be much less developed than other parts of the country, along with being home to some of the best water and coral in the country and probably the world. A bold statement, but we seemed to be continually awestruck.

With Coron as our home-base, we spent the next eight days adventuring around the adjacent islands. One day we hired a local banca captain who brought us to some excellent snorkel spots. Island hopping our way around, we spent the day at the different lagoons and reefs.

Highlights included coming face to face with a pack of twenty or so barracuda, watching sea snakes slide along the reef in search of unsuspecting lunch, and stumbling across a roving sea turtle. In fact, all three of those experiences occurred within 15 minutes of one another at the first location we stopped at. Seemed to kick things off in the right direction.

At another spot, while snorkeling around the upper portion of a WWII Japanese gunner boat wreck, we were swarmed but a hungry cloud of fish thousands deep. Armed with a loaf of bread we experimented with the pulsating school of weaving life forms. Their movements appear entirely chaotic at certain times, synchronous at others. 'Such beautiful animals', I thought as I ate one of their comrades in an awesome lunch prepared by the boatman and his helper.

Other stops that day included pulling up to secluded beaches tucked between towering cliff faces; entirely enclosed and discrete paradises. Our upcoming plans included camping on one of these beaches, so some scouting was in order. With a few solid possibilities in mind we headed back for an evening in town.

The next day, we called up the same boatman and headed out to a beach he suggested. After a few snorkel stops along the way, we came to the private stretch of beach we'd call home for the next few days. Equipped with tents, a cooler of food, booze, cards, and goggles, we unloaded and set up shop. Shortly after arrival a man paddled over from some unknown adjacent place to collect a fee for staying on the island. While the cost was quite cheap to stay, a matter of only a few dollars a day, in normal filipino fashion some obligatory negotiating took place. I'm not quite sure what the final bargain was, but I do know the man sweetened the deal by giving us a rather large reddish fish that would serve as lunch the following day.

As our boatman pulled away we all crossed our fingers that he would hold true to his word and be back to pick us up two days later. With a limited supply of food and fresh water, it occurred to me that should anything go wrong with our transport, we were in quite a remote place. Shunning references to Lord of the Flies, we pitched our tents, mixed some pineapple rum drinks and proceeded to play the most infuriating game of Hearts ever.