The Philippines! The Palawan Islands

After a few days in Manila, we took a short flight to Busuanga — the northernmost island in the Palawan island chain. Flying into the island was incredible, all of the smaller islands looked so gorgeous, serene, and were rimmed with sun-bleached rings of white sand. I was so excited to to touch down on the beach, I could almost forget about the crispy-brown dude next to me who could not keep his flip flops on and was waving his bare feet around the aisle.

After we landed, a tourist van took us to the harbor, where we caught an outrigger boat to our little island resort. We had a little three-person cabin with its own porch and hammock, and hung out by the pool and worked on our tans until dinnertime. Later we walked around Coron town — the main tourist center on Busuanga — and got fruit smoothies and Korean barbecue.

The next day we got on a private boat tour to check out the natural features of the smaller island south of Busuanga — Coron. We spent almost the entire day (8am-3pm) on a boat with a captain, first mate, and a really sweet, and funny guide named Joyce. As we motored across the bay between Busuanga and Coron, she motioned at the limestone cliffs and said “Welcome to my office”. The whole day cost a whopping 3,000 Philippine pesos ($60) and included a beautiful fresh lunch.

First up was the Twin Lagoon, a crystal clear lagoon where fresh water bubbled out of holes in the limestone creating weird blurry stripes in the water. There were a handful of pretty big fish in the shallower areas, and our guide was pretty excited about seeing barracudas… I was not as enthused. She ran a tight ship and had gotten us out the door early, so we were lucky to miss the crowds at most of the spots we visited. We paddled all around the lagoon with our guide, and as we were leaving the morning rush was beginning. We noticed long lines of tourists being towed by their guides. Joyce called them human centipedes, and they were being pulled by their guides because they did not want, or possibly know how, to swim.

Next we motored around to the southwest side of the island to Banul Beach. It was the most blue water and white sand I had seen in my life. Our guide gave us snorkels and it was incredible to see so much life less than fifty feet off shore. She then insisted that I let her do a photoshoot for my Christmas card, but I did not end up liking most of the photos even though she really is an incredible art director.

Photos below, clockwise from top left: Entrance to the Twin Lagoon, human centipedes outside the Twin Lagoon, Banul Beach.

The view from the Kayangan Lake overlook

Next we looped back to the more northern end of the island to see the crown jewel of Coron Island — Kayangan Lake. Our cousin told us that there was no point in going to Coron if we were not going to go to Kayangan Lake. She was not wrong — the gigantic lake was some of the clearest water I had ever seen. Even though it was probably 15 or 20 meters deep, you could see right to the bottom. There were hardly any animals in the lake save for some tiny needlefish, which Joyce said ate spit. And indeed they do. To get to Kayangan Lake, you have to boat to bay, and then climb 300 steps up and over a limestone crag. Luckily there is a beautiful overlook of the bay at the highest point.

We did our little swimabout and Joyce showed us some caves, and even held my hand going into one because I am creeped out by small, dark spaces.

The last stop on our daylong journey was snorkeling through Siete Pecados — or ‘Seven Pieces’ — a series of tiny little islands around what appears to be the top of an ancient caldera. There is a huge dark hold in the center of the seven islands, and then all around it are the most lively and beautiful coral reefs I have ever seen. It was like National Geographic come to life. All of the creatures we had seen in the National Museum in Manila were there eating one another, hunting, and making nests. I am sad I do not have any photos of the reef, but it is all the more reason to go and visit Palawan!