By Kaye Estoista-Koo

What if you only had three days and two nights to get away and take a break?

Well, booking a flight to Busuanga and experiencing Coron, Palawan is totally worth it and within schedule. After my last Coron trip in August, I didn’t think another one during the off-peak season was in my horizon. With a little help from Skyjet Airlines, after a short 30-minute flight on the 90-seater BAE-146 aircraft, I found myself in island paradise again.

For a frequent flier, I am deathly afraid of turbo propeller aircrafts. Thankfully, Skyjet Airlines has the fastest jet service to Busuanga with the largest aircraft that can land in Busuanga’s Francisco B. Reyes domestic airport—and the plane is not a turbo prop. Would you believe that there is leg room, too?

After a quick snack on the plane (yes, Skyjet Airlines serves food and drinks!), I am back on familiar ground. Since the airport only serves three airlines, the luggage area is not so much a conveyor belt as it is a point-and-pick kind of operation. The bags are manually taken off the plane, manually placed in front of a luggage belt made of wood, and with the aid of three guys (sometimes a girl is there, too), you point to your luggage. At no time can you step over and pick it up yourself, the luggage guys have to hand it to you. It is one of the provincial charms that make you fall in love with Coron.

It is now my third time in Coron, yet I always feel there is still so much to be explored. I was not wrong.

Sophia’s Garden Resort sent over their marketing and front of house personnel to assist us at the airport. While other resorts and hotels offer the airport shuttle service, it was nice to be fetched by people instead of just seeing your names on a signboard.

This is my second stay at Sophia’s Garden Resort yet I was still looking forward to staying there. Where else can you unplug and just detox from the busy-ness? At Sophia’s—not sure if this is intentional—mobile network service is only really available under two specific trees in the garden. While the resort has Wi-Fi, that coverage is limited to the garden, pool, and restaurant areas—once you’re in the rooms, it’s back to pre-internet era living. It’s quite the perfect hideaway for anyone who needs to take a break from the constant beck and call of the digital life.

So what can you do with three days and two nights?

A lot.

Take in the city and buy your souvenirs as soon as you check in. Skyjet Airlines has a flight that lands right before lunch. The distance from the airport to Sophia’s is 20 minutes, depending on the weather. Arriving right after lunch gives you time to check in, have lunch at Sophia’s, and book a tour with Amika Travel and Tours. Tip: Amika is an accredited affiliate of Sophia’s. If you’re booking several tours, request that you have the same tour guide, if possible, even if it’s on a different day, especially if you’re traveling with new people or joining tours that have other people in it. One less adjustment per day helps promote relaxation.

Sophia’s in-house restaurant, El Comidor, headed by executive chef Francis Christian “Janjie” Ocoma, whipped up a veritable lunch spread for us. From the slow cooked pork pot roast to the surprising cashew sauce on fish fillet, flavor-filled aglio olio con lamayo (a local delicacy), and Chef Janjie’s take on Hainanese chicken, it was a welcome fit for a king. We finished with yema squares con gelato, with just about everyone asking for seconds. Tip: Since Sophia’s is also a wedding and events venue, ask for wedding or special banquet dishes like this since they won’t always appear on the regular menu.

The Coron town proper tour, which covers Lualhati Park and Reclamation Area, Coron Town Plaza, Saint Augustine Parish Church, Mount Tapyas View Deck, and Maquinit Hot Spring, also includes a stop at a souvenir shop and a cashew factory. If you’re not keen on getting your souvenirs that day, you can just come back on the day of your departure as the shop is five minutes away from Sophia’s. The tricycle ride will cost you no more than R30.

Don’t miss out on the cashew factory, which is not so much a factory as it is a mom-and-pop place owned by Nanay Lita Escarda. Escarda’s is synonymous with cashew nut pasalubong from Coron. With free tastes for every kind of cashew flavor (garlic, baked, classic, brittle, and more), you can get good deals on cashew nuts like 100g for R100. Over the past two visits, I have started to favor the baked and brittle variants.

Mount Tapyas is best visited either at sunset or sunrise, so time your arrival at the peak to coincide with those times. Since the climb is 721 steps, with some steps being steeper and higher than others, this is not to be undertaken lightly, especially if you’re not prepared. A typhoon welcomed us on the first day, so we had to postpone the trip to another day. But on a clear sunny day, the views of Coron from the top are not to be missed. And they make for excellent profile or cover pictures to boot. Tip: Go to the back once you arrive on top for a different background (the rolling hills there remind you of Bohol or New Zealand).

Since Maquinit Hot Spring does not allow entry beyond 8 p.m., make sure you arrive at least an hour beforehand so you have enough time to enjoy the free flowing hot mineral pool, rich in salt water. The volcanically heated water goes up to 40 celsius (it springs from the ground) and if you know where to sit, makes for an excellent back or foot massage. For optimal results, stay 15 minutes at a time before coming back into the water. You can bring in food and drinks and enjoy a relaxed time with friends in the covered cottages.

Saint Augustine Parish Church has a different feel when night falls because the colorful ceiling and front of the church are simply breathtaking. Schedule your stop here as soon as night falls so that you catch it at the best time. Use the front camera on your phone, shoot a selfie of the ceiling.

On my last Coron visit, Sophia’s Garden Resort partner restaurant in the city had not opened yet. This time, I finally got to try Viewdeck Grill House. Located on the third floor, it offers the best views of any restaurant in Coron. It’s outdoor area lends you the perfect island dining vibe. The menu, once again prepared by Chef Janjie who is also known as “Lakwatserong Kusinero,” is a good mix of Western, Continental, and Asian dishes. We had pastry-covered tomato, herb and cream cheese soup and cream of mushroom cheese soup, classic style buffalo wings, baked shepherd’s pie, wrapped signature chicken ensiladas, country-style fried chicken, assorted grilled platter of meats and seafood, topped off with cheesecake and tiramisu for dessert.

Go on a safari. We had to set aside at least half a day for the Calauit Sanctuary tour, but in order to maximize our stay, this meant leaving at the crack of dawn. El Comidor prepares breakfast that you can take with you and eat at the docking pier going to Calauit. It’s the perfect arrangement since travel by land in a shuttle van from Sophia’s takes at least two hours.

Amika’s tour guide, in this case, Jonel Vergara, helps arrange everything up to the crossing via motorized bangka to the sanctuary where an in-house guide associated with the sanctuary takes over. The crossing takes 15 minutes and unless you absolutely need it, leave your bag behind or stuff everything into a waterproof bag.

That’s because when you are in Calauit, you have to be prepared to get wet and step on a lot of animal poop. There are no enclosures for the animals that are herbivores so their poop is basically everywhere. I highly recommend wearing sneakers or FitFlops. We got a quick briefing before we walked into the sanctuary proper. Within minutes, we had our first giraffe encounter. Our guide pointed out that giraffes are among the most elegant animals. As they glide past me, meters away, I could not agree more.

Calauit used to host animals that came from the plains of Africa in the ’70s. Once the caretakers figured out how to get the animals to mate (you have to have your guide explain this), the island started getting populated by what is known as island-born animals descended from the first crop of African animals. All of the original animals from Africa have died and only island-born ones remain. Essentially, Calauit is your slice of Africa in the Philippines.

Giraffes in all sizes and of all ages start walking past us. It is best to keep your distance because a kick from a giraffe can cause serious bodily harm. All of the giraffes have names and you’ll soon learn the difference between male and female giraffes based on their neck patterns.

Calauit is probably the only area in the country where you can safely feed a giraffe in its most natural setting. There is a designated area for feeding. This is as close as you can get to a giraffe and with some patience, you can snap photos that look like you are hugging the giraffe, even giving it a kiss.

They are known as browsers, that is, they like to snap tree branches using their powerful tongues, drop these to the ground as they spread their legs, and start to eat. Their eating behavior is also the reason the trees are shaped the way they are.

Among the giraffes, zebras, which are grazers, roam the grasslands. By this time, you will quickly spot the difference between giraffe and zebra poop. Again, it’s best to keep a safe distance from the zebras, although we were able to get within a foot or so with nothing major happening.  Zebras are black colored animals with white stripes, as our guide points out. The blacker zebras are males while the less black ones are females.

While salt in the African desert is plentiful, the Calauit grasslands don’t have that luxury. Instead, the caretakers put out Himalayan Pink Salt blocks which the zebras lap up every so often. We also learn that zebras are very clique-ish, as they don’t tend to mix well even among themselves.

While there are more animals inside the sanctuary—an 18-foot python that is in a cage, elands, waterbucks, bearcat, Calamian deer, Palawan bearded pig, crocodiles, porcupines, mouse deer, monkeys, and an eagle—we spent most of our time with the zebras and giraffes.

After half a day with the animals, and just soaking in the landscape and nature, you are guaranteed to have a renewed respect for Mother Earth. Because of the typhoon—it was zero visibility—we had to cut short the island explorations to Black Island, Sangat Coral Garden, and Islusong Gunboat for snorkeling and swimming, which were part of the tour package.

That left us with time to enjoy Sophia’s pool and jacuzzi amenities instead. Swimming as well as enjoying a hot tub in the pouring rain has a different and unique appeal all in its own and we are glad we got to experience that.

Chef Janjie has traveled to all but three of the 81 Philippine provinces so his finale dinner feast, served gourmet boodle-style, was something we were all looking forward to because we knew it would be influenced by that. He did not disappoint and left us all wanting to come back, soon. His take on seafood kare-kare is best enjoyed with a generous helping of the kare-kare sauce and lots of rice. If you are on a diet, forget it. Like the first trip, where I first tried Chef Janjie’s special bagoong sauce cooked in coconut (it’s so good, you want to bring it with you), this not-so-secret sauce was now part of the dinner.

Because the rains basically kept at it, the sinabawang manok sa tanglad proved to be a comfort dish. The roasted beef caldereta was cooked to the right tenderness as well. A Filipino feast is never truly complete without grilled liempo and instead of the usual canton, we were served crispy canton. We had some vegetables, too: ensaladang talong and okra with salted egg, which also went really well with chef’s bagoong sauce cooked in coconut.

Of the two desserts—fried turon ala mode topped with cashews and maja blanca—the latter proved to be everyone’s favorite. You can eat up to five and still not have enough.

So the next time you find yourself with three days and two nights vacation, Coron should definitely be top of your list. It’s an island paradise with so much to offer and whether you like beaches, mountains, animals, the sea, or just nature in all its virgin glory, Coron really has it all. And while you may want to capture all of its colors and beauty with your camera, your best memories of it are kept in your mind and heart.