May 27 - Get a tuk-tuk to the port. First stop at the Bunso Ferry ticket office to generate paper tickets from my online reservation. Then to the coast guard station to sign a paper and get some tiny tickets, for what reason I do not know. Finally, to the port terminal, where we pay 30 pesos (Odette is free) to sit in a room with a fan.
The departure time is meant to be 9:00 but it is 10:00 before we are instructed to make our way to the clunky ferry, and 10:30 before we cast off.
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I talked to a traveler in San Jose last night who said this ferry reminded him of being in the army. I could see what he meant when we boarded. We were assigned simple bunks to lay in on the upper deck, covered but with sides open.
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The sea is like glass today, a welcome peacefulness. I am told it may not be like this in a few days, due to an incoming typhoon (named Mawar). I was looking at the weather last night but saw that Mawar’s course is going north, barely touching the north end of Luzon. Hope that continues to be the route.
At about 13:00 we are all summoned to our free lunch. It is a mixture of meat, potatoes, carrots, and the mandatory lump of rice. It is more than I was expecting, which was nothing. We approach Busuanga Island, and for the first time I begin seeing the beauty of wild landscapes in Philippines.
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Disembark at Coron port. Exit is orderly and there is an official organizer on the street to get everyone to a tuk-tuk for the ten-minute ride into town. Our homestay is on a tiny street, and the manager has to shout above the sound of a nearby generator.
“We have no electricity in town today. Maybe tonight it comes back!”
We head out to eat at a fancy place by the ocean, next to a vast empty lot of mud puddles. It has been raining here a lot. Eat a tasty kangkong salad, which is a local vegetable, sauteed in garlic.
Heavy rain periodically in the night.
Philippines