Currently Listening to: “Bad Self Portraits” by Lake Street Dive
Early Monday morning Tom and I woke up and attempted to get some shakes before our ferry ride to Coron. People are slow movers in El Nido and no one ever has change for 1,000 pesos, which is what the ATM dispenses, so in don’t understand why it is such a struggle. The shake place had no change and the employees moved as slow as molasses. We gave up and went to the ferry terminal. While walking over, we were expecting to find a boat similar to the boat we took from Bagan to Mandalay. It was spacious with seats covered from the sun and seats in the sun. After arriving at the terminal, we were eventually led to a boat that was said to only hold 70 people, though I reckon there were more than 70 people. We sat in plastic lawn chairs in the middle of the hull with chairs in front and behind us and people sitting along the edge on a bench. We were packed like sardines. And then, before leaving, were told to put on our life jackets. It was hot, uncomfortable, and made me concerned as to how we would survive 6-7 hours of this. Luckily once out of the port and in open water, people were allowed to move around and take of our life jackets.
The 6-7 hour ride ended up being 8.5 hours.
At the top of Mt. Tapyas
View from our boat on day one of diving
Diving in the reverse thermocline in Barracuda Lake
The reef growing on the Olympia Maru
We arrived in Coron with an idea of where to stay, but ended up staying at the Sea View Resort and splurged on an air con room. Coron is a small town similar to El Nido with one long street, the highway, in the center of town and then smaller streets extending off that main street. It was nice, but we quickly realized it lacked the small beach town charm that we fell in love with in El Nido.
After checking in we quickly went to Fun & Sun Dive Shop to sign up for our PADI Open Water Certification Course. We had spoken to another backpacker and did some research and found that it was new, but had high ratings on Trip Advisor and was the most affordable option. I’m so happy we went there. Tom and I had one instructor to ourselves and this proved to be amazing two days later when we got into the water the first time.
The next morning we were at the dive shop by 8:30 and spent the day watching PADI videos, filing out review sheets and then taking our quizzes. By about 4pm we were drained and itching to get outside. We decided to walk the stairs up to the top of Mt. Tapyas for the sunset. It was, as usual, hot and humid, but the views at the top were beautiful and made the sweaty walk worth it. The colors of the water were breathtaking and the green mountains on the island were so lush and vibrant.
Wednesday morning was our first day actually scuba diving. Tom had done two discovery dives prior to traveling, so he wasn’t nearly as nervous as I was. We started by practice setting up and taking apart our gear five times. After that we made it to CYC Reef for our confined water training. There is an area right next to the reef shallow enough for you to stand in and we would do our 5 confined dives there before exploring the reef for our first open water dive.
To get us used to the regulators, our instructor, Maxine, had us just put our faces in the water. It was weird but doable. Then Maxine had us submerge our bodies in the water and that’s when the nerves hit me. I had to signal to go up twice, but by the third time back down I was able to control my breathing and felt more comfortable with it.
Maxine was a great instructor. We breezed through the first three confined dives before taking a coffee break and then got back in for our last two confined dives. She did a great job at referring back to all of the theory learning we had done the day prior and connecting it with the water lessons.
The crew BBQed lunch for Tom and I; did I mention we were the only ones on the boat? It was a huge boat and it was ours for the day. After lunch, we went into the water for dive number 1. We would reach a maximum depth of 12m and were on the look out for crocodile fish. They are fish that sit on the sand and look just like crocodiles. The coral was beautiful and unlike when snorkeling, the fish just swim all around you. They don’t care that you are there and they don’t swim away from you. As a diver you just become a part of their normal lives.
After dive one, we got back on the boat and we were off to our next reef, Alcatraz Reef, which is located just in front of a massive rock formation. This time, one of the boat crew members went diving with us. Once again, we went down 12m and saw even more fish than the last reef. We saw clown fish, Nemo’s! We saw an eel, a massive clam, and so many other fish that I don’t know the names of. We swam over the reef, practicing our buoyancy, which is easier to do while moving than while staying still. When we came up from the water it was well after 4pm and we had to hurry back to land. Tom and I were exhausted that night. We had a dinner of street BBQ and were in bed and asleep by 9pm.
The next morning was our last day diving and our last day in Coron. This time we shared the boat 5 other people. 2 of the people were certified rescue divers and one was advanced open water certified, so they were diving together at much deeper depths. One girl was open water certified and joined us for our first dive and the fifth person was just starting her theory work for her open water certification, but decided to join her boyfriend on the boat.
Our first dive spot was Barracuda Lake, which has a reverse thermocline, so as you descend the water suddenly switches to hot water. We entered the water without a wet suit and it felt refreshing. Maxine then said that when we finish the dive, that water would feel freezing cold. We began descending to or maximum 18m. My ears took a bit longer to equalize on the initial descent but I eventually made it down. It was odd you’re swimming and moving on down some more and out of nowhere it goes from refreshing to hot. And as Maxine made it deeper before me, you can see where the temperature is about to change, as she looked as though she were standing behind stained glass. It was a really cool experience. We saw some Cardinal fish and catfish and I now can say I’ve visited one of only three reverse thermoclines in the world.
The second dive we did was at a WWII ship wreck site. On September 24th 1944, the US launched what was to be the longest air strike in history. They discovered Japanese boats around the waters of Coron and and sunk a fleet of their ships. Many of these ships remain at the bottom of ocean and great dive sites. We explored the Olympia Maru, which is surprisingly well intact and now has a small coral reef growing on it. We saw crocodile fish, lion fish, scorpion fish, and more tiny clown fish and the crater from where the bomb hit was still easily visible.
After that dive we had lunch and then the rest of the group went for a third dive. As they went for their third dive, Tom and I took our final exam. We both passed! We are both officially certified as PADI Open Water Divers! Our dive instructor, Maxine, and the other dive instructor on board, Bea, were both as excited as we were. Bea was telling me that this certification had just opened up a whole new kind of travel.
That night we had a celebration beer and eventually pizza for dinner. We had to pack all our stuff up again and head to bed early. We had a 5:30am pick up for our first flight to Manila with a connection to Boracay.
Strange Trails 