A few tips and tricks if you are flying to Busuanga/Coron (Philippines) for the first time
Setup
It’s been a while since me and my boyfriend went on a proper vacation (since 2019 to be precise!) so, together with two other friends we decided to venture and visit a few islands in the Philippines (November 2022).
The adventure began however before reaching our destination. We were supposed to fly with Etihad Airlines on the 4th of November at 21:00 from London. Arriving at the airport about an hour and 5 minutes in advance of our flight (late, I know!), we were informed that an One Health pass (also called eArrival Card) is required on top of the vaccination proof (which UK residents can download from the NHS app).
As we started filling in the details (e.g.: accommodation address, inclusive of province and county, flight number and others) we were communicated that the check-in is closing an hour in advance of the flight and that we could not fly on that day anymore 😢. Etihad was nice enough though to arrange a flight for the next day at no extra cost.
The flight was ok for the most part: no delays and average food as well as lower standards on the Etihad’s side who offered hand sanitisers and a mask (which we were asked to put on from Abu Dhabi to Manila) on top of headsets and blankets. Extra forms needed to be filled in before landing. Overall travelling time: about 19 hours inclusive of the period needed to change the flight.
Few things to keep in mind as you arrive in the Philippines
💡weather forecast is not accurate: we were supposed to have 12 days of rain, however we only experienced 2–3 days with precipitation, which didn’t deter us from pursuing our plans;
💡no smoking and/or drinking in public spaces: while you will see nationals smoking here and there, you could be fined, do community work or even be imprisoned if caught. We did drink on the beach unknowingly that this was a thing, however it’s probably for the best not to do it.
💡have cash with you as more often than not you will be facing situations when you cannot pay by card;
💡 get a bottle of water and some snacks for the road;
💡 internet is not great: wi-fi at hotel/resort/etc. was pretty slow, therefore if you intend to work from some island in the Philippines, this may not go as planned;
💡 get an e-sim to benefit from internet while you are on the move: there are multiple providers: I went for Holafly, paying €49 euro for 8GB while the rest of the group went for Airalo which charged $21.00 for 10GB of data (30 days offers). In retrospect — there was a single occasion where I had coverage with Holafly and everyone else did not, hence I would suggest the cheaper choice with more data.
From Manila to Busuanga
Losing this initial flight meant that we needed to book a night in Manila (since the one we had booked was for the 5th of November) and buy new tickets for Busuanga. Accommodation wise — we walked (7–8 minutes) to the Savoy hotel from the airport (Terminal 3). Booking and paying through Agoda we spent ₱2400 for the night, while at reception we were quoted ₱6000 — pretty good deal I would say😁 since this translated in savings in excees of £50.00. The hotel was not luxurious, however, it provided us with a cosy bed for the night and the staff was great.
A 15 minute ride is needed to commute to Terminal 2 where domestic flights are taking off from. You can either leverage the Grab app (we had no knowledge of this at the time) or ask the reception staff to order you a Taxi (unfortunately Uber walked out of the Philippine’s market a while back, so this was not an option). At the airport everything went smoothly. We flew to Coron with Philippines Airlines and had a good experience: journey took about 40 mins and water and biscuits were supplied.
Accommodation
In Coron we stayed at Bacau Bay which provided pick up and drop off to/from the airport. The staff was super friendly, polite, accommodating and genuine. Bacau Bay has a lovely pool, bar, restaurant, dry-cleaning facilities, a ping-pong table (which unfortunately I have not noticed until the last day😫!), a gym and allows their guests to take towels outside of the resort. As you come out at the back (past the pool + 1 minute walking), there is a ponton with a bar and a really interesting sitting area (on the outside you can sit on beanbags on top of what looks like a fishnet over the water, tied to wood pillars (being afraid that I could drop my phone in the water, I did not take any pictures of this but there is one on TripAdvisor).
We were meant to stay 4 full days in the Busuanga Island, however due to the mess with the flight we ended up only staying from the 7th of November up until mid-day on the 10th of November.
What did we do?
During this time we booked two tours with Millennial Island Travelmate, which was the tour company recommended by Bacau Bay. From what I can see they are not on TripAdvisor, but they have a Facebook page with reviews and pictures.
On the first day, we did a private tour (the Super Ultimate Tour) and paid ₱10,000 (4 people). Additionally, we rented two crystal kayaks 🛶🛶, each costing ₱1,600 and a snorkelling mask 🤿(₱150) as we had three others. Considering this was our first time in the Philippines and Coron was the first island we visited, we were not quite aware of prices. In hindsight, we were able to rent a kayak🛶 in Boracay for ₱300 so maybe try to get the price down if possible (it did not look like the Filipino people were very keen on negotiation but it’s worth a shot). While I know they are also trying to make a living, these prices seem very high when compared to their minimum remuneration of ₱570/day.
The tours included pick up and drop off to/from Bacau Bay as well as providing water and lunch. I would still recommend that you get your own water/carbonated drink/etc. or snacks as options are limited on the boat and on the islands visited during the tour.
Other than the kayak supercharge the tour was lovely, the food was good, the crew was super friendly and fun (our guide was Dante). Nontheless, the places we visited were beautiful (especially the Lagoon). Quoting my friend Laura: “the only thing that is missing from the boat is music” 🎶. As to the Coral Garden, unfortunately it was not as alive as it probably used to be.
The second tour we went for was the “Beach Escapade”. While we were told the evening before that we will be eleven people altogether, the next day proved us wrong as 24 people (including us) borded the ship. As expected, this was not as pleasant as the one we did the day before, especially since there was not that much space on the boat. At Malcapuya island there was a close-by location where we could go for snorkelling🤿 and we were encouraged to take the boat to get there, however a fee was expected (I believe this was ₱150/person), which was not disclosed in the beninging. The boat navigated to a swimming distance from the shore, therefore you can go by yourself if you don’t need a life jacket. On this tour there were some giant clams and giant star fish which were particularly interesting — aside from the coloured fish 🐠🐟🐡 obviously!
On the third day we decided to rent scooters and go to the Calauit Safari Park (a package which included the park along with the Busuanga town, a beach, and a cave was available from the Millennial Island Travelmate for about ₱10,000 for the 4 of us). By doing the journey ourselves, the total expenses arose to ₱6000. On the internet, the trip appeared to require about 3 hours of travel time. This information did not hold true however, as it took us in excess of two hours each way (could have been due to the low capacity of the scooters (110 cc) or because we were two people on each scooter).
The scooters 🛵🛵 were rented from the city as it was cheaper (₱500/ scooter as opposed to ₱700 from the resort). To enter the safari park, a fee needs to be paid in advance at the Tourism Office in the city of Coron (not the same as the environmental fee charged as you come out at the Busuanga airport). On the way, we stopped to see the Concepcion Fall. This is a nice place to cool down in a hot day and involves a 5 minute (ish) walk through the forest, which is very humid.
The safari park is situated on the Calauit island, hence a boat ride is needed to get there (if I well remember we paid ₱1000 for all of us for the ride). The park did not seem to be in great condition, however the giraffes and the zebras were really cute! We were picked up with the safari truck by our guide and were driven (about 3 minutes) to a fenced area where we fed the giraffes from. Leaves were brought, and the giraffes were led towards us. They were very gentle and ate nicely allowing us to pet them and take plenty of photos. The next stop was to see the zebras from close distance (we were advised not to get any closer than 3 meters as they could kick us) as well as the wild boars (they were in a courtyard). We jumped on the track again and made a final stop to see the rest of the animals who were kept in enclosures: porcupines, land turtles, a python, monkeys, crocodiles and the civet cats.
All in all we had a great time in Coron and thanks to our friends who were reproducing the pitch of a Coca-Cola seller on the beach and singing this song, we had quite the entertainment!
Considering our entire stay and the three islands that we visited during our stay in the Philippines, I would say Busuanga was a 8/10.
