Beautiful Coron: Mt. Tapyas and Hidden Lakes

Whenever I hear friends talk about Coron, they have this certain sparkle in their eyes like they’ve been to a magical place. And when they start talking about the places they saw and the memories they have of the place, they somehow get lost at the middle of their sharing like they're transported back in time. When you encounter friends like these from time to time you would be very curious and you automatically plan the trip.

aerial view of Busuanga, Palawan

And that’s what we did.

But before we discovered the beauty of Coron, we first had to be stressed out by Cebu Pacific’s overbooking Policy. Only 2 out of 5 were able to get into the scheduled (delayed) flight, the other 3 were moved to the 12nn flight. If we did not make a scene in the check-in counter, we wouldn’t have left Manila that day. Anyways, we got separated and our flights were delayed.

We weren’t able to start our island hopping that afternoon, so we just decided to eat lunch, rest, and hike Mt. Tapyas. Tapyas in English means ‘chipped off’. A young boy told us that half of the top of the mountain was chipped off from the US bombing of Japanese troops who were allegedly there. The hike with 718 steps is fairly easy with a few stops along the way. It was quite tiring but the view is definitely worth it.

Mt. Tapyas Sunset

Our second day started with snorkeling in Siete Pecados, having lunch in one of the small white beaches, and swimming in the hidden lakes of Coron Island – Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, and Barracuda Lake. We weren’t able to visit the other white beaches and the ship wreck since it was high tide. So we just spent most of our time swimming in Kayangan Lake and Barracuda Lake.

Kayangan Lake

Barracuda Lake, we had it to ourselves. :)