The Philippines - Travelling to Dimakya Island

We left Alona Beach, were taken to the Airport (don’t ask me to remember the name of it) and flew to Manila. In the flight magazine Paul noticed this ad. Check out the body sculpting T-shirt as well!

Even though we had two flights one after another we still had to grab our bags in Manila. When we left to check them in we saw a person holding Paul’s name. He gave us our documents to our next accommodation then casually gave me a heart attack. He said that as Coron is a small island and we will fly by a small plane we can only check in 10kg each. We had 33kg to check in! At the desk the lady told us we can check in 60kg. I turned back looking for our kind guy to start shouting his head off but by that time he was gone. Lucy for him!

After a 3 hour wait at the airport we got on our next flight and landed in Coron Airport. This is the smallest airport I’ve ever seen. It’s so oldschool that they don’t even have a conveyor belt! People put your luggage on the side and you have to take them.

 When we got out of the airport a taxi was waiting for us. I thought there will be more passengers as four people were standing there holding Paul’s name up. All the four of them came to pick us up! We needed a van to carry us to the pier. Wonder who they thought we were. That famous or that dangerous? Or maybe this is a standard procedure. A few minutes later we were happily driving on a dirt road full of huge puddles, casually stopping to allow a cow to pass in front of the car.

In the pier we said bye to two of our members (they needed 2 people to drive the van!?) and the rest filed on a little ferry. As soon as we got on the sky opened up again and it was raining like there’s no tomorrow, while we were carried through a mangrove forest. I learnt only then that we have to get on another boat as well!

By the time we got to our stop the rain stopped but was still very windy. We stopped at another resort that is the sister resort of the Club Paradise, our accommodation. We waited. And waited. And were offered a welcome drink that consisted of a yummy mango shake with a cocktail cherry stuck on the side of the glass. Don’t mind if I do! After a bit more waiting we were told that unfortunately the sea is too rough therefore we have to spend the night there. As this is their sister hotel it’s all good, we don’t have to pay any extra and can have dinner and breakfast there as well then go to Club Paradise the next morning. We only have to wait a few minutes to get our room ready.

We went exploring. It was a REALLY nice resort. Everything talked about money. There was a lovely infinity pool, a floating bar and you could have your spa experience indoor, outdoor or floating. After lounging around for a while we were told that our room is ready. We got our stuff and went to find our room. It wasn’t just a room, it was a cottage! Right at the seaside! It was beautiful!

When we stepped out of the room the girl who was looking after us sincerely apologised for the inconvenience. Putting us up in an amazing cottage like that? I didn’t even want to know how much it cost for a night. We graciously accepted their apologies.

The dinner was buffet style but very nice. We gorged ourselves with seafood and mango.

The tide was coming in and got very close to the cottage, the sea was literally lapping at our doorstep!

 We also acquired a pet in a form of a gecko while we were eating dinner. We’ve never seen a gecko as huge as this one. We weren’t very happy to share our cottage heaven but what can we do. We were just hoping it won’t crawl on us while we sleep!

 Finally a quote from the resort’s Environmental Regulations:

‘No animal from the wild may be kept as pets or eaten by guests or anyone affiliated with the resort’.

I wonder how many times this had to happen so that they felt they had to put it in their booklet.

Seems like we have to let our gecko off this time and can’t eat it for breakfast. What a shame.