Ferry to Coron

It was sad to see Martine go. She's a great friend and was good to have her along our journeys.

Today we planned on leaving El Nido to go to Coron, Palawan via ferry. We didn’t want to take a plane because we didn’t want to pay for overweight luggage fees. I wasn’t looking forward traveling on a ferry for 8 hours.

Martine woke everyone up at 6:15 AM to get ready for a 7:30 AM ferry which I thought was leaving at 7 AM. I rushed to pack my bags. Martine stayed behind because she planned on meeting a friend somewhere else. It was sad to say goodbye to Martine because after she visits her friend she’ll go back to the Netherlands.

Waiting for our ferry to arrive.

In my mad rush to get to the pier for the ferry, I forgot my large camera backpack. Martine noticed this and brought it out to me. Phew. On the way to the pier, we picked up some food for the ferry ride. We got to the pier at around 7:15 AM and the ferry wasn’t even docked. I waited around with Erich while Sara bought more food. It wasn’t until I got to the pier that I found out that our ferry was actually leaving at 7:30 AM.

The ferry was less than what I thought it would be—it was just a large banca. I thought it would at least me a steel ship. I was hoping we wouldn’t have any rough seas along our travels. About 10 minutes after leaving port, the engine of the boat started smoking a lot. The boat crew though was quick to fix it. Hm, ok, this will be an interesting 8 hour journey I thought.

Most of the passengers on the ferry passed time by taking naps.

Six other travelers traveled with Erich, Sara, and I. Two of the passengers were our rude neighbors that played music really late in the night in El Nido. One of the guys was a slightly intimidating Irish guy named Sean with two sets of tattoos on his feet—“You’ll Never” on the right foot, and “Walk Alone” on the left foot. The way he wore his sunglasses and hat reminded me of my friend John back in the US. The other guy is a less intimidating French guy. After taking a short nap and settling in a little bit on the ferry I talked with Sean who was actually a nice guy.

The ferry ride wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. The seas were calm, weather was sunny and nice, and the islands we passed were nice to look at. We mainly passed time by sleeping, chatting, eating, and enjoying the scenery. The 8 hour ferry ride didn’t feel long at all.

Houses along the bay.

The ferry conveniently dropped us off at Sea Dive Resort where we were going to go to anyways to look for a room and diving. The restaurant has a nice view of Coron bay. Erich made free coffee at the resort while Sara and I looked at room and diving prices. The rooms were simple rooms with two beds and a shared bathroom for 280 pesos/night—we booked two rooms.

At the dive shop we signed up for two wreck dives for the next day. At the shop, I met Chris, an instructor that was an IDC student of Warren Dixon, my instructor. In fact, Chris said that Warren used to work at Sea Dive Resort. It’s interesting to see how many people know Warren around the Philippines.

Sunset in Coron on the roof of Sea Dive restaurant. Beautiful way to end the day.

For the rest of the evening Erich, Sara, and I hung out at the Sea Dive Resort restaurant area. We had some coffee and beers while we watched the sunset. The view of the bay was very beautiful and it was the perfect way to end a long day of traveling and rushing around. For dinner, I ate two nice tasting steamed crabs for 240 pesos. The rest of the night we just hung around the restaurant and went on the free wireless Internet.


- jason