Coron: Shipwrecks and Cuttlefish
Thursday, January 29th, 2009Our water adventure through Palawan continued on Tuesday with an eight-hour trip on a wooden outrigger boat past the Bacuit Archipelago, into the South China Sea, through the straits separating the Palawan mainland from the islands to the north, and finally into Coron Bay to Coron Town, our last stop in Palawan. After a boat-free rest day on Wednesday, we set sail again yesterday for the attractions around Coron and had another amazing day on the water.
Littered around Coron are about 15 Japanese WWII ships that were sunk by American planes in 1944, and our first stop was to snorkel around one of these, the Lusong Wreck, that lies just under the water’s surface. To our surprise we found that the coral growing on the wreck was more alive and colourful (purples and greens) than what we’d seen in the Bacuit Archipelago, and the way the coral grows around the different parts of the wreck was really interesting – seeing a shipwreck under water was another first for us.
After seeing another deeper and less impressive wreck, our next stop was the Kayangan volcanic lake on Coron Island, a worthy addition to the great swimming holes of Palawan and perhaps the best because of the clear and fresh water. The lake looks just like one of the lagoons in Bacuit, with jungle-clad karsts rising up from the water, but it is completely cut off from the sea and, once the Chinese tourists left and we had it to ourselves, hearing only the sounds of birds, the serenity and calmness of the lake was very special.
Finally, we stopped at a snorkelling site called Siete Pecados (Spanish for the Seven Sins; Spanish and English words are littered all throughout the Filipino language), which provided our best snorkelling experience in Palawan. The highlight was seeing a giant cuttlefish (squid), which really was enormous but most impressively had an amazing ability to change colour and shape to camouflage itself when it wasn’t moving. The first time Wendy pointed it out I thought it was a piece of coral (she thought it was a mythical sea monster, for what it’s worth) but when it started moving it was completely different. It transfixed us for about 10 minutes until it swam into deeper water, and was the unlikely highlight of an already great day. Hopefully the photos I took of it, and the wreck and the turtles, with a disposable underwater camera turn out well.
With our backs burned, our bellies happy but our budget smashed, we’re leaving Palawan tomorrow for the rather less exciting destination of Manila. Wendy is flying to Bangkok on Monday for 48 hours to take a UN translators exam, and after she returns we’ll spend the second half of our Philippines trip on the main island Luzon.
Nick