Tuesday in Coron

Tues. Jan 24 was our first eco tour with Al Linsangan's company. We chose the snorkelling and island hopping day trip that took us to Kayangan Lake, Twin Peaks Reef, Twin Lagoons, Atwayan Beach & Coral Gardens and CYC Island (650php). I'm including costs of things for those who might want to head this way as well. Prices also available on the website at www.corongaleri.com.ph

We had so much fun we forgot to reapply sunscreen throughout the day - and also were trying not to kill the corals with our toxic human chemicals. The end result is that my back currently looks like that of a burn victim and is peeling most grotesquely despite constant post-burn marination in baby lotion.

Here's a few shots of our destinations on Tuesday:

Kayangan Lake (freshwater)

Twin Lagoons access: you have to swim right under the wall!

Atwayan Beach lunch stop.

Snorkelling at Twin Peaks Reef

The mayor of CYC Island. She'd just bitten a small child before we arrived...provoked maybe? and was a bit testy.

CYC Island's other resident. The first flea-free cat I've seen yet in the PH.  Seemed to get along well with the monkey but may have been abandoned, poor thing.

Our new friends, returning to the boat. Clear, warm water, but lots of garbage on the beach. Al Linsangan likes to send tourists to CYC Island even though there's not a lot there to keep an eye on things and discourage locals from polluting its beautiful beach.

Our daily routine after Tuesday became like this: Get up, either eat at Momita's or grab something down the street from Al's (there's a great little place that serves traditional Pinoy food including the chocolate-rice porridge called Champorado); confirm our activity for the morning, walk to the port to board a boat for an island eco tour; return around 5 or 6pm, shower, wander to Al's and pay him for the daytrip, then wander around town filling our water bottles at Water for Less in the town plaza (5php for one 1L bottle, 8php for two - don't let the kid cheat you by charging 10. His sister caught him one time because she knew I'd been there earlier and knew he rate. He was SO embarrassed!). Then we usually ended up eating at the same place next to Water for Less in the Plaza. Not sure of the name of the place but Pet found out from the owner's wife that they met in the market of Coron Town - she was on vacation and he followed her home to Manila. Then she followed him back to Coron. They serve a ton of traditional Filipino dishes so Pet got to try something different every night while I stuck to the Veggies and fried noodles. Hey, i like fried noodles! I tried spaghetti one night but it was too el dente and was penne, not spaghetti, and the sauce tasted like ketchup. Win some, lose some.

Wednesday we nursed our respective sunburns on the white sandy shores of Malcapuya Island but that's a story for another day. I'm bagged from a day of Mall Ratting at the Power Plant in Makati while Inna hung out with her high school girlfriends. There are unlimited numbers of Zara, Top Shop, and Starbucks in Makati! I'm out-latte-ed today!