Coron

Getting to Coron town was amusing... When we were researching this part of the trip (I say 'we' - I mean Kev), we found that the only way between El Nido and Coron (a town on the next large island) was by fairly expensive small boats, taking 8 hours. When we reached El Nido however, we discovered that there was in fact an option costing less than half the price - the twice weekly cargo boat, leaving at midnight. So, 5 days in advance, we eventually found our way to the office .The only description we were given was that it was in the pink house - who'd have thought there would be more than one? There we were looked at dubiously, then told that there were already 250 passengers booked on that boat and they were special delegates so there was no room. We looked so disappointed that he changed his mind and after telling us how awful the journey would be, how much better it would be to take an expensive boat, he decided that if we came back the day before the boat sailed he would sell us a ticket. We assured him that we didn't mind sleeping on the floor amongst the chickens, and left feeling pretty pleased. Sunday came around, and we went back to the office and were told there were now 290 passengers on the boat, and they would have to ask the captain if we would be allowed on when the boat arrived. Come back later. We came back later. The captain said yes, but guess what? We had to ask the coastguard. Come back tomorrow (the day the boat was due to sail). Next day - come back this evening. Finally, after sitting in the office (well, the guy's living room) for half an hour, being told how awful the trip would be, they sold us a ticket (after we solemnly promised not to sleep in a bed) and we left feeling very pleased with our perseverance. A meal and a couple of drinks later we made our way down to the port, where there were about 10 others waiting for the boat. Well, the boat was there but we were waiting to be let on. We waited. And waited. Midnight came. 1am came. We waited. Occasionally everyone seemed very excited and got up. Then sat back down. Mysteriously, everyone had suddenly forgotten all their English and would tell us nothing. The man who sold us the tickets was running back and forth between us and the ship (whilst completely pissed). Finally, at 1.30am, his wife silently took our ticket, handed us back our money and we watched the boat depart with us on dry land. Not a word was passed between us and them and we were left scratching our heads in the middle of the night with no clue how we would get to Coron.
Fortunately the next morning we were able to buy a ticket for the more expensive boat leaving at 8am, and 6 hours after leaving it we were back at the port waiting for another boat. Fortunately this one left without too much difficulty and we spent a nice day onboard admiring the beautiful scenery and reading. Kev most of the journey on the roof, however the lack of railing made me a little nervous each time the boat moved. When we arrived in Coron, we met up with a group we had met in El Nido, and they gave us some good tips on where to stay and book our diving. The main draw of Coron is the WW2 Japanese wrecks which were sunk in 1944 by the US. This is where I was so glad I had done my dive training and we were both pretty excited by the idea of diving in wrecks. We spent some time in the dive shop planning where to dive and decided on the Olympia Maru - a 122m upright freighter and the Morazan Maru - this one sunk on it's side.
The trip was great - after getting past initial nerves on the first dive I loved the experience, and the second site was even better as we could go in and out of the ship, into the boiler rooms and shower room amongst other things. There was also good sea life around the wrecks - lion fish and scorpion fish - both pretty scary looking! Between dives, Kris, our dive instructor, took us to some hot springs. To get there we had to snorkle through jellyfish infested mangroves, which was pretty cool. The hot springs were certainly hot - like having a bath. Lovely. On the second dive I stayed down longer than Kev as his air was running out faster, and as we made our way to the surface we were 'stalked' by a sharksucker - which pretty much do what the name says. Apparently they're happy to latch on the divers as well - I'm glad I didn't know what it was until we surfaced! Meanwhile, Kev had emerged from the water with a mask filled with blood (not that he's noticed). He claims I kicked him with my fins and gave him a nose bleed. I reckon it was due to pressure underwater. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
By this time it was about 4pm, and we went to another site, this one with corals good for snorkelling as well as diving. Here, I decided to do a third dive, whilst Kev decided to crack open the beer and stay on the boat! This dive was different - just me, Kris and Kipp (one of the guys we met in El Nido and also a Dive Master). This was great experience for me as I was given impromptu lessons as we went along on better ways to kick. It also meant I could stay down longer, in the end Kris and I ended up down for 72 minutes. After which is was time to head back to land, enjoying a couple of well earnt beers on the journey.
The rest of our stay in Coron was a less exciting - a couple of days without doing much, and then a day out on a boat around the nearby islands where we stopped in a number of places. The best one was a freshwater lake, with amazing rock formations under the crystal clear water - great for snorkelling. At the point where we passed by the most incredible empty beach, surrounded by turquoise reefs and dark blue waters and realised it was now 'just another beach', we thought it was really time to move on to somewhere new. And so to Indonesia, where we have now spent 5 days and are heading towards my first volcano tomorrow.