On the 16th, we jumped on a flight from Manila to the small island of Busuanga to stay in Coron town which is part of Northern Palawan. The plane was a 100 meter prop plane that gave us an amazing view flying low over the ocean and a crazy landing as the runway was a sharp left turn to avoid some mountains as you approached the island!

Coron was an amazing little town that has a very slow and relaxed pace of life. We stayed above corto dive shop in one of their apartments which was excellent and had a great terrace overlooking the sea which was perfect for relaxing and enjoying some beers at sunset. We had 4 nights in the town before heading to where we are now, El Nido.

The main reason we visited the island was to dive on some of the shipwrecks there. On 24th Sep 1944, the Americans sunk 22 Japanese ships around the island in 1 bombing run which has led to some of the best wreck diving in the world. Penetrating the darkness of the ships at 22m with your torch is an amazing experience. On one of the wrecks we even swam through the kitchen and shower rooms, complete with taps still on the walls. It was absolutely fantastic and one of my favourite days of diving so far. As well as the wrecks we also dived in a big lake on one of the neighbouring islands. The water had almost 30m visibility and loads of different thermoclines so the water temp ranged from 28 degrees at the top to 36 degrees towards the bottom. A very weird experience but a lot of fun. The lake was also full of cleaner shrimps who swarmed all over you looking for food when you stopped which was a really cool experience as well.
On one of our days off from diving we did an island hopping tour and enjoyed relaxing on secluded beaches, snorkelling and swimming in a different hidden lake. Today we left the island and took a very relaxing 8 hour boat trip to El Nido. The journey was full of spectacular views and passed so quickly. We are staying in a small cabin 50m from the beach just outside the main town in a lovely little spot which I think we will call home for the next 4-6 days.