Backpacking in Coron: itinerary planning

(After more than half a year of being in hiatus, PinayOnFoot is back!)

Armed with sun block and snorkeling gears, my family and I flew to Coron for a 4 days and 3 nights trip (but we ended up spending 6 days and 5 nights, not intentionally). 

A glimpse of Calamian Islands from above - Calamian Islands consist of Busuanga, Coron, Culion, Calauit and other minor islands in the province of Palawan. (Oopps, I misspelled my blog URL!)

Being the “master planner” that I am, I did my research months before our scheduled trip. I found out from a few travel bloggers and online guides that do-it-yourself Coron is not that difficult, accommodations are cheap, public transportation is easy to figure out, and most importantly, tours are not that complicated to arrange. 

Here’s a summary of our 4 days and 3 nights original and actual Coron itinerary:

Original itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival in Busuanga, tour Coron Town and arrange Day 2 and 3 tours 

• Coron Town walking tour (Coron Harbour Center, Tourism Office, Lualhati Park, Municipal Hall and public market)
• Mt. Tapyas
• Coron Harvest Cashew Factory
• Maquinit Hotsprings

Day 2 - Coron Island Loop

• Siete Pecados
• Skeleton Wreck
• Kayangan Lake
• Twin Lagoon
• Barracuda Lake
• Banol, Smith's Point or Atuayan Beach
• CYC Island

Day 3 - Sangat/Lusong and Calumbuyan Island Reserve

• Calumbuyan Island
• Lusong gun boat wreck
• Coral Garden
• Sangat Islang Reserve
• East Tangat Wreck

Day 4 - Souvenir hunting and departure from Busuanga

Actual itinerary:

Day 1 - Arrival in Busuanga, tour Coron Town and arrange Day 2 and 3 tours

• Coron Town walking tour (Coron Harbour Center, Tourism Office, Lualhati Park, and public market)
• Maquinit Hotsprings

Day 2 - Coron Island Loop

• Siete Pecados
• Skeleton Wreck
• Kayangan Lake
• Atuayan Coral Garden
• Cap’s Point
• Twin Lagoon

Day 3 - Culion Town, Lusong and coral gardens

• Culion
• Marili Garden
• Coral Garden
• Lusong Gunboat

Day 4 - Souvenir hunting, bumming around in Coron - our flight was cancelled due to bad weather

Day 5 - Bumming around in Coron - our flight was cancelled due to bad weather (again!)

Day 6 - Departure from Busuanga - the sky cleared up, finally! Home sweet home.

Tips:

• Reserve your accommodation prior to your arrival in Coron specially if you're going during summer months, long weekends and holidays.
• For beach bums, visit the Banana, Malcapuya, Malaroroy loop. I heard the beaches are great there. In our next visit, our boatman recommended that we stay overnight in one of the islands. (We're a bunch of snorkeling junkies so we opted to see more of the fascinating coral gardens.)
• If you want a safari adventure, include in your itinerary a visit to the Calauit Game Preserve and Wildlife Sanctuary where you will see animals such as giraffes, zebras and deer from Africa. 
• Don't over research! It is best to experience everything as it unfolds. (This is actually an advice for myself, which I find very difficult to follow since I am the "master planner" of most of the trips.)