6 - Palawan: Busuanga

From El Nido, in about 10 hours by bangka we reach Coron town, on the island of Busuanga. 

We are now in the Calamianes Group, visited especially by scuba divers for the extraordinary dive sites, among 
which many wrecks of Japanese ships sunk at the end of World War II.
The town is "pretty local", complete with slums on stilts, and unfortunately it throws in the sea a lot of crap - 

as we realize doing a canoe trip the next day.

We stay in the center, in a small room on a terrace overlooking the sea where people come and go.
We rent a kayak and go snorkeling to the coral garden of Siete Pecados; the idea is then to paddle across to
Coron Island but I (Paolo) am a little bit sick and what's more I flood my (theoretically waterproof) camera.
We decide that it's not our day, and go relax to the nearby hot springs instead.

The next day we join a group of Filipinos for the boat trip to Coron Island. The island is beautiful and wild, 

the ecosystem is protected by the local community and only some places may be visited by tourists. 
Under limestone cliffs and lush forest we find white beaches, coral gardens, hidden lagoons. 
And we walk to a lake where the water is even clearer than the sea.

kayak trip

(Google Earth file here)

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last picture, then... blub blub

(from now on, we use the cellphone)

celebrating the local Fisheries School: 

 alumni parade, grouped by graduation year

the lake water is super-clear, and there

are spectacular rock shapes underwater

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roosters are everywhere,

people breed them for cockfighting

this innocent pepsi-like look

hides an awful mouthwash taste