Coron: Where It All Started

After overhearing a small group of officemates discussing a trip to some where:
Jonel: “Pupunta kayong Coron?” (Are you going to Coron?)
Leia: “Yes, pero naghahanap pa kami ng kasama” (Yes, but we are still looking for people to go with.)
Jonel: “Kelan?” (When?)
Leia: “Sa March…”
Jonel: “Pwedeng sumama?” (Can I go with you guys?)
Leia: “Sure! …”

As simple as that, they filed their office leaves and booked their tickets. And so they went, Leia, Tiff, & Jonel; three officemates who hardly knew each other before they had this conversation.

In the first 26 years of my life, the farthest I’ve gone to outside of Metro Manila was Batangas. Puerto Galera in Mindoro only happened in the summer of 2005, a year earlier from Coron.

It was my first time to travel by ship. At last, I got to ride on one. It was also the year when the shipping industry had their fares dropping to the floor as challenged by the airline industry’s similar fare discounts.

The ocean’s dizzy factor was not as bad as the stories I heard. We left the city at night, slept through it, and was greeted by about 10 very small islands during sunrise. I went to check each side of the viewing deck and they were all almost the same, limestone islets covered with green grass, bushes and trees floating mindlessly over the quiet waves of the sea. It was a sight to behold. It was as if I am viewing a 360 degree calendar picture of nature, but not.

While the sun started to rise and the ship approaching the port of Coron, Palawan, I knew more is yet to come as the day unfolds. I would have to go down from the ship and temporarily step on the cemented pavement of the port, ride some motored vehicle to the lodge, leave my heavy baggage and prepare for my sweet encounter with nature.

(continued here [Part 2 of 2])