We boarded a small plane with a lot of locals. Palawan is a large island Southwest of Luzon. We read that if you want unspoiled nature, go to Palawan.
While we waited for our luggages, a man called out "Kim, Matthew?" and asked if we had lost money. I realized that 850 pesos had fallen out of my pockets, so I told them the amount and they gave me the money. I was very impressed that the Philippine Air employee did not pocket the money. Man, my standards are low.
SHUTTLE TO SEA DIVE RESORT
For 150 pesos each we rode an air-conditioned minivan with other local tourists to Coron town center, about 45 minutes. A Filipino couple in front of us took a lot of pictures. I was curious about the local tourists. Are they rich? Where do they work? Growing up, I mostly encountered the upper class, and I wondered if there was a middle class.
There was nothing but mountains and land on either side of the road, which made me happy. We saw posters every few hundred meters of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a construction worker's hat.
SEA DIVE RESORT
The workers here are very nonchalant, even dismissive. American-owned. It sits right on the dock, so one can hop on a boat directly from the open-air restaurant. The air con in our room barely cools the room down. Great.
At the restaurant I order a burrito. Bad idea. Never order non-local food. I eat it anyway. I spy a Lonely Planet book on the table next to us, where two Caucasian girls are talking. One of them approaches a European couple at another table and proposes something. A few minutes later, the European girl comes over to tell her that they're going to just relax that day.
Just as I am thinking about whether I should be more social with other backpackers, I hear "excuse me" and the same girl who'd approached the European couple is behind me. Karen is from London and asks if we wanted to do a boat tour together to share the cost. Ok.
BOAT TOUR
We ask Karen how long she's traveling for, and she said she left London in May of 2007. What? She's been backpacking for over 2 years! And by herself! She met the other girl, Kelly, on the plane to Palawan. Kelly is from New Jersey and a first-grade teacher at the Hsin Chu International School in Taiwan. She is on a 3-month summer holiday. Before this, she taught in the UAE and backpacked around the Middle East. She really recommends Oman. I was very impressed with these 2 female solo travelers. I'm too scared to backpack by myself.
LAKE KAYANGAN ON CORON ISLAND
Even though we are in a town called Coron, we are actually on Busuanga island. Our boat takes us to Coron Island. We climb over a hill and descend to Lake Kayangan. We put on sunblock by the lake. On the water surface, a dense group of thin long fish swarmed about. The water is super clear and I see tiny snails on the rocks in the water. I don't want to go in. I've never swam in a fresh water lake! This is probably as clear as it gets, but I still don't want to go in. My skin tingles at the thought. But, this trip is about doing new things, so I put on my snorkel mask (way too tight), and hop in.
There isn't much to see beneath the water, so I pop my head out. Gray limestone cliffs with patches of green plants. Pristine lake. Clear blue sky with accents of white clouds. I feel humbled. I become present to the idea - fact - that earth is worse off with humans around. We've done nothing good for earth. And we call ourselves stewards of this planet? We should be ashamed.
Karen and Kelly lounged on a rock near the front of the lake, talked, then swam to another rock further out and sat there. Matthew and I swam around and eventually rested on a rock. Karen took a picture of us. You can see our bodies beneath the water because it is so clear. The best part is that we were the only ones there most of the time.
FARE COLLECTION
When we climbed back out, our boat guy said we should pay the island guys the fare, even though the island guy had told us no need. We paid him anyway since that's what the sign said.
SMITH BEACH
From our bangka (wooden boat with small motor), we spotted a tiny little beach that was completely deserted, set in a cove of a small island. Our boat guys said it would be hard to go there because the tide is low and there is a lot of coral, but said he had a way. We parked on the side of the beach and snorkeled. I saw colorful fish and corals for the first time. I was amazed.
We sat in a small hut to rest and two men rowed up in a small canoe. The canoe was very narrow and would barely fit my butt, but somehow the men were able to fit, one in front of the other. They asked us for the entrance fare. Karen asked him for a receipt, and she was surprised when he produced an official one.
SIETE PECADOS
Our last stop. Lonely Planet says, "the coral here is a wonderland of colours and shapes." And so they were, but the sky clouded over so the colors weren't as nice. Our boat guys threw pieces of bread near us and all the fish would try to eat in a frenzy. Somehow they never bumped into each other and never into us.
By now my head was hurting from the tight snorkels. Matthew and I had deep red marks on our faces. Our masks also fogged up easily which was annoying.
That said, it was still a marvelous island tour.
SCUBA DIVING?
Coron is known for wreck diving to see sunken Japanese WWII ships. Karen said we may want to get scuba certified somewhere cheaper and more known for coral and fish. Both she and Kelly are divers and they both love it. I hadn't been super committed to getting scuba certified, but maybe we'd give it a go afterall.
Matthew and I considered leaving the next day for El Nido, but I did not feel the usual urge to commit. From the moment I popped my head out of the lake, my mind started to go blank. Nothing is urgent, and everything, no matter how they turn out, will be fine. Being in limbo is not so intolerable now.
MEETING BEN
After a shower, a slim English guy approached us while we walked down the stairs. Ben was looking to pool 6 people together for El Nido. The bangka is over there, 6 hours away, and would only come back if we have 6 people. We said okay, count us in.
A little while later, we saw Ben talking to a lady at the counter. He said he thinks he should give the ferry fare to a lady at another resort, since he'd talked to her about the ferry first. Does he really need to pay Sea Dive? He was pleading. The woman said yes; since he's staying at Sea Dive, he pays them. They were joking, negotiating, and flirting at the same time. Honestly Ben could have just done whatever he wanted, but somehow he felt strong-armed into paying Sea Dive, which he would later gripe about.
DINNER AT VILLAGE LODGE
I was starving so bad I could eat my elbow. After some wifi research on Matthew's iTouch, we walked to Village Lodge and ordered bulalo (house speciality beef shank soup) and pinakbet (mixed vegetable stew). I had a particular craving for bulalo and was totally satisfied. The beef was so tender.
ATM
After dinner, we looked for an ATM. Matthew had gotten directions from a Sea Dive lady but they were useless. We were led into dark streets that made me very nervous. Finally we found the ATM and waited for two men to be done. While Matthew got money, I looked in the eye at everyone passing by. One man rode his bicycle slowly and we made eye contact and held it. He turned his head as he passed, and I thought I saw him consider turning the bike around. Scary! I wondered if making eye contact deters or encourages a potential criminal. I hope I intimidated them with my stare-down.
Money in hand, we quickly walk back to Sea Dive. The streets were all poorly lit so I was glad to be back at the resort. I passed out at around 9pm in our warm room with the useless AC.
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