CORON DAY 2

Day 2 started at 7am with breakfast. It was covered in the package and we had a choice of a Filipino set breakfast or an American one. We got 2 Filipino and 2 American set meals. Yummy and filling.

We left the hotel at 8am in a tricycle and headed to Lambingan dock where our banca was waiting for us. Our tour guide was with us all the way. While at the dock, Ruther and I took photos while our guide readied everything for the trip to the islands. We finally left after a few minutes and headed to our first stop: Siete Pecados. Siete Pecados (or 7 sins) represent the 7 small islets surrounding the area. It's actually a marine sanctuary, I found out later. I was the first in the water (after asking my guide about sharks which he said there weren't) and once I put my head underwater there were so many fish!! They were just swimming all over me. It was amazing. I love to snorkel so I just snorkeled away and took photos. Once, our tour guide (named Jojo) dived a few meters below me and brought up these big triangle-shaped fish! It was amazing I just had to try it. Since I had my life vest on (and I can't swim well), I couldn't dive down to the area where the fish were. Finally after much coaxing, I managed to feed a few!! I was scared it was going to bite my finger off I quickly let go of the bread before it snatched it away. But it was so cool. Good thing Ruther took a photo of me feeding the fish. Anyway, after an hour or so (couldn't really remember), we went back to the banca and headed for our next stop.

Kayangan Lake is "a fresh water lake hidden behind limestone rocks amidst small mountains". We actually had to climb these steps up and down a small hill before getting into the lake itself. In other words we did a mini-hike to reach it. I was panting a bit when we reached the beautiful lake. I thought at first "this looks pretty plain". But was I wrong. Underwater, I found the most amazing rock formations. Since the water was fresh, it was so clear. I took Ruther's photo and it looked like he was flying over mountains of rocks. It was so cool. Then Jojo told me that there was a small cave on the eastern wall of the lake. Of course I had to check that out. It was cool. The cave entrance was small (one person could go in and out while avoiding the rough walls) but it was cool and wider inside. When you reached the inner part and looked up, you'd see a hole above where some light could pass through. I felt like a mermaid. :P Anyway, we didn't stay too long at Kayangan lake and headed to our next stop: Banol Beach.

Banol Beach is "just one of the many white sand beaches you can find on the island of Coron, Palawan. It is a small, cozy beach" and there were less than a dozen small huts along the shore which you can rent (but that's covered in our package). We also stopped here for lunch which is again, covered in our package. It was a buffet lunch with rice, barbequed chicken, roasted squid, ensaladang talong (eggplant salad) , crab, bananas, sodas and bottled water. It was a yummy lunch and I don't usually eat eggplant like that but I didn't want to offend our tour guide so I tried some and it was surprisingly delicious! I had a few more spoonfuls after that. :D Anyway, the boys didn't feel like eating but after a while, Nikki came out of the water and ate lunch. Ethan, as usual, didn't want to eat rice. Sigh. After resting a bit, we headed back to the water while tourists (mostly Caucasians) sun bathed. We then took more photos and then headed back out once more onto our banca.

more stories tomorrow... :D