Ty had booked for us the Coron Island tour. So we got up by 7 to meet our ride by 7:30. Breakfast in the hotel was pretty basic but it worked. Our boat held 20 passengers, and it appeared to be almost split between locals and foreigners. The staff were good, and we were upsold for everything from water, to water shoes, waterproof phone cases, snorkel masks, and kayaks for the day. We’re getting used to the last minute up-sale.
Our first stop was Barracuda Lagoon, it was a fresh water lake. The fresh water lakes were like 70% fresh and 30% salt from what our guide told us. It made for warmer water down low. It was really interesting, but not much sea life to see.
From the lake we drove like 15 minutes to the coral garden. There were spots of colorful coral but most of it was brown and dying. It was sad and beautiful at the same time.
After coral garden we went to another fresh water lake, Kayangan I believe. This was nice because the swim area was larger so we could get some space from everyone else. Ty did some fun free diving, Ryder enjoyed floating in the middle, and Linc just swims like a manic little fish. After getting out of the lake they have a photo spot at the top of the hill between the lake and your drop off point. Linc was itchy or something was bothering him by this point so the pained smile in the family photos is fun.
We stopped at a tiny beach with some covered huts for lunch. They cook it on the back of our boat over charcoal and then bring it ashore for everyone. There was chicken, grilled fish, garlic shrimp, rice, cucumbers, and watermelon. Linc had maybe a bit of watermelon and that was it.
Once lunch was done, if you rented a kayak you could take it around the point into a cove. They had a neat little cave you could explore and tiny beaches. Ryder stayed on the boat to read, but we convinced Linc to come with.
The next stop was another coral site, and the wind was blowing like crazy. I was feeling a bit cold, and Linc had changed out of his suit so including reading Ryder we stayed on the boat this time while Ty went out for a snorkel. This site had a little floating bamboo hut that someone had made with a few nails and mostly twine. It was crazy rickety but allowed Linc to get off the boat and run around a bit. We watched the chaos in the sea from safety. One couple never make it further than 10 feet from the boat due to the strong current and their lack of fins. They did say they saw some giant clams though. Ty had a great snorkel going all over the area. Meanwhile everyone else from our boat that actually got in the water was being towed around by staff members. One guy just sent staff in with his phone for pictures! We saw a guy from another ship have to get dragged back to his boat. It seemed like if you weren’t a good swimmer or in good shape you were going to be in trouble out there. Ty did see some giant clams, and said there were colorful portions but again it seemed mostly brown. Also the captain mentioned the weather and the seas were not typical for this time of year.
The captain tried to take us to 1 of the 2 public beaches in the area, but we took a pool of the ship and no one was interested in going. The weather was overcast, and blowing quite strongly. Not great to go sit out on a beach. Instead we headed to our last destination, which was Twin Lagoon. Typically you can kayak through a tunnel between the lagoons, but we were there at high tide and so we paddled to one lagoon, rushed out after 5 minutes and paddled around to the other lagoon. The nice thing was these have high walls around them so we were protected from the wind. The swimming was warm, and Ty and Linc swam the tunnel between the lagoons. Then they had a jump off the boat competition. It was a nice easy way to end the tour.
They had grilled bananas coated in brown sugar for us to eat on our way back. They were incredible, I think Ty fell in love. Back in the van everyone was pretty tuckered, till Linc started mentioning feeling queasy. Then it became, he’s going to vomit. well I had nothing but the rental towels so we laid that across his lap. He did such a good job holding it off till we got back to our hotel. The moment we got into the rooms, he immediately vomited, and continued to do so off and on all night.
Ty had been looking forward to going to this lobster restaurant for dinner since he started researching this place. So instead of taking the whole family we ordered some room service for the kids, burger for Ryder and toast for Lincoln, and took off for a quite hour date night.
Well the lobster was a bust, American prices on small little guys, so we opted for calamari and shrimp.
Back to the hotel, and tucked both kids into bed. Ty and I scheduled one more massage, and I think we got too greedy. My lady was a beast! She beat me up and I am actually more sore then when she started. So lesson learned maybe multiple days of massages in a row isn’t a good idea, no matter how cheap they are!
Fingers crossed Linc has a good nights sleep and feels better in the morning… but spoiler alert, he doesn’t!
