Rainy and Windy Camp in Banana Island Coron: A Throwback Post

‘Twas almost two years since we visited Coron in Palawan. I suppose to wait for three more months for me to “sigh” and say “it has been two years” but I just can’t help it. I browsed through my Facebook photos and I found some pictures (tagged by Marx) with indelible memories and I got really excited to share the story. That is why, I couldn’t wait for three months to make a throwback post about it.

Since I’m three months short, maybe, I should call this a “throwback post: three months early”.

We went on a remote island hopping on the second day of our Coron tour. Our first stop was Bulog Island and it was breathtaking, spectacular, magnificent, wonderful, awe-inspiring, awesome, astounding, astonishing, amazing, stunning, incredible… As per Kris Aquino, “mauubusan ka talaga ng sasabihin [you’ll definitely run out of words]”. Good thing, there’s Google, I just typed “breathtaking synonyms” and boom, I got a lot of adjectives again – no kiddin’.

Technically, our second stop was Banana Island and since we were there just to negotiate, I won’t count it as an official stop. We headed to Malcapuya Island when things got settled. Malcapuya had this long strip of white sand beach and turquoise water. No, not turquoise, perhaps it’s overused and it wasn’t the actual color of the water by the way. Maybe, it’s safe to say; “it was so clear that every corals and pebbles below were evident”. (^‿◕)

After mesmerizing, appreciating, and engraving our footprints on Malcapuya’s shore, we returned to Banana Island. Patti and Jay previously agreed to rent a nipa hut for the overnight stay (₱700.00/pax including the entrance fee) while me, Marx, and Lyndi conformed to an idea of camping (using the tent we brought) and it costed us ₱400.00/pax (after some haggles) including the entrance fee. They also offered us fresh buko as welcome drinks. (Well, that’s not actually what happened – we asked if they could gave us the buko juice as freebie. But I can assure you, we didn’t use any force for them to agree, just words.)

After settling our stuff, etc., Kuya _ _ _ (sorry, I forgot the name of the husband of Ate Violeta the Caretaker) told us that if we are interested, we can take the trail to the Islands’ summit and see how beautiful the horizon is. Lyndi, Marx, and I headed on, accompanied by their dog – yes, they sent us with a non-talking guide. It was dark when we reached the first peak. When we saw that the sun was setting, we turned around and raced back to the camp, scaring ourselves on our way down. As expected, Lyndi was the most delinquent and was the noisiest.

While waiting for the dinner prepared by our boatman and his assistant, we had some swimming rituals in the beach even it was dark, and, it was fun.

After the dinner, we had some short drinking session and since I was the one who’s been awake the longest (nearly 3o hours), I gave up first. It was only 8:00PM.

Marx and Lyndi joined me after two hours and I pretended sleeping. I slept in the middle (which we previously agreed). Lyndi settled in my left while Marx was on my right and they kept on talking some random chismis which I wasn’t interested. At some point of their conversation, I heard something really intriguing.

Marx: Ang init!!! (habang pinapaypayan ang sarili) [It’ so hot!!! (while fanning)]
Lyndi: Marx kung di mo na kaya ang init maghubad ka na lang. [Marx if you can no longer take the heat, take off your clothes.]
Marx: Okay

(Silence…)

In my mind…hey guys, “I am still here and I am in the middle”

And then, there was laughter.

It was passed 3:00AM when I heard some weird sound from the trees, it was creepy. In few moments, I realized it was the wind when it started blowing our tent. The two individuals beside me were still fast asleep, seemed enjoying the cold. Eventually, the rain started to fall and I can feel the splashes on my face. Marx woke up to secure his belongings and when we realized that we had some left outside, we immediately grabbed it.

Lyndi only woke up when she found out that she was already partly wet. Rain water leaked and the splatters were collating to the side. Thanks God that it didn’t lasted until morning.

When the rain stopped, Lyndi returned to a deep sleep while Marx and I were wide awake ’till sunrise. We wondered how Jay and Patti were doing. But that was too much for us to worry since we knew they’re well housed.

In the morning, we shared the experienced to the rest of the group while having our breakfast, took some photos afterwards, and prepared for departure for the second leg of our island hopping.

It was wasn’t my first horrible camp. I can clearly recall what happened during my Boy Scout years. But it was my first being on a camp where there were no Scout Masters to grip on. Well, I’m adult now and I am enjoying camps with some weird events more (as long as no one got hurt).

All I can say is; “It was awesome”.

I didn’t have any camera during those Coron days so I owe all these photos from Marx.

• Ian Limpangog
• November 24, 2013
• Categories: Philippines, Travel