Island Escapade Tour

Philippines Day 3 - Island Escapade 

Our 3rd day thankfully started a little later in the morning (I think we made it till about 5 this time haha) otherwise much the same. We killed time in the room until coffee shops opened at 7 and we headed out in search for sustenance. This time we tried a place called Tea & Shake which we liked much better as far as cost/ service/ and atmosphere.

Tea and Shakes for breakfast 

Then it was back to our room this time getting picked up shortly after 8 for the short trike ride back to the tour shack to pay and then onto our boat for the Island Escapade tour!
This time we were on the boat for like 30 minutes with just one couple so at least we weren't crammed in waiting... but we still didn't leave until almost 10. (*eye roll) It takes forever.

We were 3 boats back and had to cross the first 2 to get to ours

About the Tour

So today we picked the Island Escapade tour which would take us to 3 amazing beaches/ islands. (one of which I'd read was the best beach in the entire Coron area) Ordinarily the tour cost 1500 pisos (even with other tour companies) but since we booked both tours with the same company they discounted it to 1300 pisos or $25. The one thing none of the tour companies pointed out... was that these islands were 90 minutes by boat away. That was a pretty long, hot ride I'm not gonna lie but when you see the amazing beaches... you'll probably agree with me that it was worth it. It included entry to all of the sites (3 island beaches), a full lunch at one stop with coke to drink, a snack after the last stop, and water all day aboard. For this tour, the first stop was 90 minutes away but then all of the stops after that were only 4-10 minutes apart so there is plenty of time to enjoy the scenery on the boat. Group numbers range from 15-20 but we easily had 20 people on both our tours. You have one tour guide and several boat men that operate the boat to accompany you. For a great price, this was a great tour! But know you have private options that started around 2700 pesos for 2-4 people for a full day. This cost however did NOT cover lunch OR your entry fees to all of the sites (which are around 100-200 pisos)

Maps of where our stops are in relation to everything else

  

Up first:

Bulog Island

Famous for it's sand bar and next door to the most expensive resort in Coron (a couple thousand dollars a night... quite the change from our $25 a night rooms haha) The views were amazing and the color of the water.. perfection. You can snorkel, play in the shallow water, swim out a little deeper, or wander the small island. We had a little over an hour in this haven with the last 20 minutes being the only boat there. But then it was onto our lunch stop and next beach...

 Photo from our journey around the giant island of Coron

 Bulog Island's sand bar 

 1 side of the island... 

 The other side of the small island 

 Our boat floating out on the amazing water 

 Trying to catch some air out on the sandbar that was already sinking beneath the water 

 Crystal clear water 

 Mermaiding out on art of the sandbar 

 Another mermaid photo without my crazy sun screen haha 

 A secret beach on the other side of the island

Bulog Island :D 

Our boat and the sandbar behind me

Gotta have my "bow of the boat" photo

Cocoa Beach
Picnic tables, coconuts for sale, beach volleyball, hammocks, and most importantly: SWINGS This beach may not have been the most scenic but it was still great to hang out on the swings and not to mention eat another fantastic lunch. (pretty much the same as the day before minus the clams)

The "Swinging" Tree

Honestly the best part of this beach 

We had extra long tables on this day for lunch.

No clams, but we had pork, fish, and chicken plus Chop Suey 

Photo Op with the Cocoa Beach sign 

Pulling away from the beach and leaving the palms behind. 

After cleaning up we headed to the most beautiful of all....

Malcapuya Island
Our favorite and last stop of the day, this beach had the best and largest sandy beach, while still having coral and places to snorkel within range. There were more beautiful palm trees, the perfect depth of water, and the views from the beach of surrounding islands wasn't too bad either. The boats park on a different side of the island, meaning you have a short 5 minute sandy walk to the actual beach (nothing that can't easily be done in flip flops) There's also little canoe boat men that for 100 pisos (about $2) you can hold onto as they pull you along over all the best coral spots to snorkel. This takes roughly 30 minutes and since only one of us brought goggles this day, we didn't opt in for that but we heard it was really beautiful. Instead we spent our hour or so lounging in the shallow water and meandering amidst the palms. All in all, a great beach to visit if you have time when visiting Coron.

Loved all the colorful beach signs 

Paradise 

The side beach no one really swam at 

The main beach with perfecttt sand! 

And more crystal clear water of course 

Walking back to the boats 

On the way back we again had to travel around 80 minutes, this time taking a detour around part of an island and through waters so shallow, they had to kill the engines for part of it. As we glided through the shallow water, Tippe and I were lucky enough to be on the front of the boat where you could look down and there were DOZENS of giant star fish! They ranged in size but the biggest we saw must have been 10in x 10 in. It was a really cool spot to see and really ended the day on a high note... which was good since the ride back was bumpy, windy, and VERY wet. We were soaked by waves coming up and over the box, But it was worth it to see the star fish better than anyone else on the boat.
So fair warning, I recommend sitting on the front if you can but you're more likely to get wet from waves and sunburned from sun exposure. Plan accordingly.

More views of Coron Island as we headed back to town

Did I just fall into the film Moana or what? 

Day 2 Boat selfie! 

Our boat dropped us off around 5:30 and we headed to our hotel to try to wash all the salt water from 2 days out of our hair. (it was a process for me, I probably conditioned at least 3 times.) Once we were all cleaned up, we headed back out our favorite restaurant, Island Boys Grill, for some more bbq pork. We had to be pretty economical with our dinner as both of us were running out of cash fast and the ATMs in rural towns didn't like our debit cards, but I still splurged on two sticks this time. This restaurant's BBQ was the best of the entire trip by far, maybe that I've ever had. Anyways the sun had already set on our walk over so we missed any opportunity to hike Tapyas for a sunset but I don't think we'd have much energy after the long boating days to do it anyways. We headed back to the hotel, packed up our stuff, and prepared for an early morning rising to get back to the aiport and move onto our next island.

Day 3 Costs
Banana Bread and drink for breakfast $4.75
Island Escapade Tour- $25
Dinner- $3.60

Lodging
Luis Bay Lodge - $12.50 pp

Day 3 Total Costs: $45.85