724 Steps Above: Mount Tapyas, Coron Palawan

Now that we are done with the Island Tours, Let me now share with you the step by step journey towards the peak of Mount Tapyas. So much have been said about how beautiful Palawan is, but not many has experienced this much talked about place. Well, we have, and will surely be glad to share the feelings, and pictures of course. * Thank God we did went up the hill. It sure does not look promising when you are at the town proper, looking at the almost barren mountain - but you can never be prepared at how beautiful the place truly is when you see it for yourself.

Well, it was said that Mount Tapyas is called this way because during the world war, a bomb was dropped and caused the other half of the mountain - tapyas is a tagalog term meaning "ripped off".

Quite a number of villagers await you from this starting point on your way up. Most mineral water sellers accompany you as you go up the mountain - yes we have been accompanied by two kids who where in their highschool. It was summer vacation and they have thought of selling mineral water here at the site to the mountain climbers wannabe like me. =)  

The steps have no markers, but the kids who went up with us confirmed that there are 724 steps to the cross!  The above 200th marker is the last identifier of how much more steps you have to go through.... Barely making it to the half of the steps, i am a bit exhausted, and catching for my breath! I am excited though of what is up there! so up we go - my friends, and I.

There is the cross, it looked so near from our view... But we have a couple of hundred more steps to make to get to the top. We have to go up as fast as we could, it is almost sunset and we need to be up there in the summit before we lose the chance of sunlight seeing the whole town, and the Coron islands view from the top.

Taking the steps one at a time, hurrying at some points... the villager kids have told us that it was really beautiful up there... and there is the mountain range they call the "Sleeping Giant".  It is reflecting as a man lying on his back - with a very obvious head and body form.

We are very close to our successful climb uphill. I am now smelling what true nature is! The air is much colder now, the view whilst still in the working our way up the steps is getting even better, the beauty is slowly unfolding itself. This is one way you are to feel God's manifestations and love! I think I could go over and over raving about the wonderful feeling as you go high up the ground.

Finally! I can see quite a number of people running around the site, obviously mesmerized by the view they are seeing from there! Now im much more excited than I was before the climb!

Now with all these, I am really lost for words - no better adjective can describe the beauty and the wonderful things that we have in our country, there can be no other place i want to be at the time! It was perfect timing! Witnessing sunset from the top of the mountain is truly an experience worth every step.

 

We give tribute to all those who have worked hard for the cemented steps up this mountain, for the villagers who have kept the place safe for tourists, for the two boys who have served as a guide as we go up the mountain.... and to God who is magnificently manifesting his love through these wondrous works of art everywhere - not only in Palawan, in the Philippines but all over the world!

Day 2 Island Hopping Tour - Coron, Palawan

Starting off with the last stop for the day... The Banana Island. We asked the boatmen but they didn't know why the island is called "Banana Island", we found out the next day through the caretaker that this was due to the shape of the island, almost similar to a shape of the banana leaf. 

We paid an entrance and overnight fee of 700 pesos per person (including the huge hut we slept on) in this island. 

The view is magnificent, from the boat, about a few minutes before our boat settled this was the view we get to see. The clear water, the white sand that we all love!! My friends and I are too excited to get down the boat and just relax and enjoy the place all to our selves! 

We came to the place at around 4 to 5PM, almost sunset, which excites us more since we are to witness another beautiful sunset. The place is peaceful, there were perhaps just a few people around, the family of the owner, his 3 caretakers, and a foreigner couple who according to Manong is on their 2nd night staying at the island. We went to seek out the place, checking out the few cottages where we can stay for the night and deciding on it before actually trying to discover what else this island has to offer to us.  

Thanks to Yanthi, this picture was the view from inside the huge cottage we're staying! 

My friends enjoyed the beautiful shore, the white sand and the sun almost losing it's strength... We found the perfect place for a jump shot. The spot seems to have this purpose for all its visitors! Thanks to my BF for this  wonderful jumpshot! We couldn't have done this without you! 

The Banana Island by the way, relies on solar power for electricity. The lights are not very well lit, the flashlights we brought shone much brighter than that of the island's lights. There are no water directly flowing from the faucet ( they are currently fixing their water systems) and so the caretakers  have to carry pale of waters to fill two huge water basin in each of the room's toilets. The caretakers are friendly, and are always ready to assist us. They even lend us their whole kitchen so we can cook our food, both dinner and breakfast the next day. 

I just have to share a few more pictures taken in the island before the day finally gave way for the night to come. Hope you like the pictures and may you find inspiration in them, as well. 

After a few more minutes, when the sun is finally saying goodbye, we headed off to our cottage for a nice fresh water bath! We have been exposed to much to the sun, ans sea water that the sale is forming crystals in our skin! We just have to freshen up and prepare for dinner before totally heading off to sleep and end the day. Even the bird, stopped for a while and has probably enjoyed the view of the whole island, and the sea.

Time passed so quickly, the strong winds woke us up at about 5:30AM. The sun is shyly peaking and is ready to rise anytime soon. With the cool sea breeze, away from the noisy cars, and traffic of the city... We can't help but just spend time watching the sea, and feeling the strong wind blowing our hairs, touching our faces. Banana Island is definitely the best place to be at that time.

At breakfast, we were told to go to the nearby Island, The Malaroyroy Island, Also owned by the same owner of the Banana Island. This is perhaps one of the best beaches I have been! The island is right in the middle of the sea. The sand bar bridges two islands, and thus connecting them. The water is clean, the sand is powdery white.  This island is just 5-10 minutes away from the Banana Island. We were not prepared at the breathtaking natural wonder that awaits us here. 

The saddest part really was when we have to leave the place for Coron. It is almost 11AM and we have to travel another hour back to the island loop from this far island. Our ride was rough, all of us get splashed with sea water even on the boat. The waves are just huge... almost 3 feet high! All us brave girls, for every splash, the sea gets a loud laugh from our group. We endured the scorching heat of the sun and the waves. It was one of the roughest ride i had to take in all of  my boat riding experiences. 

It so hard letting go of the Malaroyroy Island... Leaving the place meant, we are just a few hours away before entirely leaving the place, Palawan. It was sad that we have to go as far as this place just to be able to enjoy the beauty of nature, but I feel proud of what the country's islands has to offer the world!

Our next stop would be the TWIN Lagoon. The entrance fee for this place is Php 100 per person. Whether you went down and took a dip or not, you will have to pay the entrance fee. Note that when coming from the Cayangan Lake, the entrance in this island should be free. (We did not know that until after reading some posted island tours in the guesthouse where we stayed. I supposed our boatman knew but did not tell us. My friend saw some caretakers of the islands giving the boatman their share of the earnings whenever they bring tourists for snorkeling, or for a tour...) So when you are going for a trip, make sure to plan everything out, and avoid miscommunication!

This was the last of our island tour. We headed off to Coron Town proper, took a slow bath (NOT BY CHOICE - the water in the shower at the guesthouse was only dripping!) and got dressed so we could go to the "Bayan" and find some decent lunch - at 3PM!
 
This wraps our our island tours. I will still have to share what happens in our attempt to climb Mt. Tapyas, and what the Maquinit hot spring has to offer its tourists. 


Entrance Fees:

Banana Island - 200 day tour / Overnight - additional 500 for a huge cottage / additional 400 for a smaller cottage/ and 200 for an open air cottage fronting the beach. 
Fresh water bath available, electricity is available at night only, free use of kitchen, kitchen utensils, stove for cooking, and best of all - free entrance to the Malaroyroy Islands! 

Twin Lagoon - 100 pesos per head (it doesn't matter if you took a dip or not) Free if coming from Cayangan Lake, so make sure to come from the lake when going to the twin lagoon. 

Coron Islands Tour

I have been waiting for this day to arrive!! We arrived at around 5:45Am in Terminal 3 airport. The airport has been improved. It is better now than the domestic airport that I have seen a few years back when we went to Boracay.

This was the plane that took us to Busuanga airport. My guess was that it is only a 60 seater plane.. but frankly speaking, it is not as bumpy as expected. So the short 30 minute trip from Manila to Busuanga Airport is enjoyed, and not quite felt.  

**To look for information on cheap bookings, and promos, you can always try to visit their site as often as you  can at Philippine Airlines Website. 

We arrived at Busuanga, with no one to pick us up. My friend has been in contact with a guesthouse owner where we are staying but his van was no where to be found. So off we rode to one of the vans and just asked the driver to drop us in the guesthouse. When we went there no one was expecting us! We didn't even see the owner as he was still sleeping at that time. How could anyone forget you have a guest arriving?!The caretaker, was not so accommodating either and just told us to buy our  food from the market and will just cook at wherever we will go on our way in the boat. Our boatman was not aware we didn't have things to cook these with! Now that's another bummer as we were supposed to be informed there's no way we could cook the raw fish and meat we brought with us during the tour. Patrik's Guesthouse is not so guest friendly after all.   If we have more than 2 days, we would have tried to look for another place to stay, but we have limited time... and so we were stuck. 

At around 11AM,  our boat ride started and off we went to our first Stop. Siete Pecados. This is where we had our first snorkeling time. The fishes are not as many as expected, the corals are dead! They are lying in the seabed, pale, white and lifeless. so sad we couldn't see more colorful fishes. (I swear our snorkeling was better at at Laiya years back compared to this spot in Siete Pecados). 

Next stop was the Kayangan Lake. This place is really wonderful! I love the view, the serenity of the lake, the sometimes slippery steps going up the mountain trail... it is really a wonderful experience, and view from the top!  We spent ample time here taking pictures of the view from top. We also spent some time dipping at the very peaceful lake, with no other crowd. We had the place all too ourselves! 

Too bad we had to leave this place... It was one of the best places (Nature) I have seen. I wish there are more places like this in the country, so beautiful, not exploited, but well recognized. 

Next stop was the Barracuda Lake, our Boatman assistant said that there are big barracuda fishes found in this lake, hence the name Barracuda Lake. This was a freshwater lake in between 2 limestones. There's a steep stairs you have to climb, and the same to go down to the lake, for a dip. We didn't push through as it is a low tide when we were at the place, we can't go through the small entrance to the lake because of the sharp limestones. We were there about a few minutes to take pictures and off we went to our next stop. The caretaker, did not asked for an entrance fee already, since we didn't stay that long anyway.

The  second to last stop of the day 1 island tour, is the Skeleton Wreck. Here we spent some time to swim, and snorkel around the place. We saw some fishes, no Corals, and a shipwreck. It was a skeleton of the said ship whose ruins are left in the site. We only saw a portion of the ship wreck.  

Islands on Day 1 trip, encircled in below Coron Island Map and their entrance fees:

Siete Pecados - 100 pesos

Kayangan Lake - 200 pesos

Barracuda Lake - 100 pesos 

Skeleton Wreck - 100 pesos

Watch out for the 2nd part of the trip to Coron! :) We'll be posting more pictures.