Warm hues lit the sky as I emerged from our ground floor hotel room. Our balcony extends directly to the resort’s pool and it was amazing. En route to Coron Westown Resort, we were debating who has the better hotel for the night, the group being divided into two hotels that evening.
Coron’s aquamarine water looked like a parking lot. Boats—loads of them—were all over the famed gap leading to Twin Lagoon’s entrance. Tourists were splashing about, making their way to the hole, orange life vests snuggled tightly about their writhing bodies.
That’s a bar, I told my seatmate as we jumped off our boat, splashing into the shallow translucent waters of Sangat Island. What do you mean a bar? That’s no sandbar camehis quick reply. We were wading onto shore, our cameras held high above the warm water. Not a sandbar dummy, a proper bar! You know where you drink San Miguel and Red Horse beers from.
We finally came ashore and stared some more at Sangat Island Dive Resort’s rustic bar. It sat snugly on a coral rock with its thatched roof some meters away from us. It is the most beautiful bar I want to drink my Red Horse from, Below Zero or not.
The day was about to end and I was at the far edge of Malaroyroy Island in Palawan. My companions, riding kayaks, wave to me from afar, surprised that I was so far from the main beach of Two Seasons Resort. I was setting up my tripod, changing lens filters and preparing for the coming sunset. I’ve dreamed of photographing the golden hour from this part of Coron during my first visit, and finally, after four years, I was finally given the chance to do so.
It’s been almost three years since I’ve visited Coron town. Most tourists dismiss the small town as there isn’t much going on there. But I fell in love with the place the first moment I walked through its winding streets. What endeared me even more are the numerous places to eat out in.
The view from Marina del Sol Resort completely wowed us. It was totally unexpected. Visiting the resort was really not in the itinerary for PHILTOA’s Northern Palawan tour, but when the owner found that we were in the area, he made an effort to connect and invite us inside his own paradise.
The sun shone bright, basking the Bay of Busuanga in hues of blues. From the resort’s infinity pool, I surveyed the calm azure waters of the bay. It was gonna be a fine day, I mused. It was the third day of PHILTOA’s Northern Palawan Eco-Adventure Discovery Tour and we just spent the night at Busuanga Bay Lodge.
Huma. A word I have heard uttered in awe. From the Persians, the term describes a mythological bird with griffin-like features—a bird of paradise, they dub it. But it wasn’t birds they were talking about when I heard Huma mentioned, rather, a five-star island resort located at the northern fringes of Palawan. There, apparently, is where the venerable Kris Aquino of Philippine showbiz has stayed during one of her holidays.
