Early dip
As usual on a tour day, we were up early at 7am. Today’s tour was to be snorkelling around Coron. For breakfast, we had complimentary cornsilog (corned beef, rice, and a fried egg). A tricycle picked us up from the hostel and took us to the harbour. From here we were in a messy group of tourists who eventually got sorted into boats. We got talking to a brother and sister from London, and a couple from the Netherlands. In total, we were going to 8 spots throughout the day, that seemed like a good amount for variety.
Check out one of the best boat tours we did, it was in Vietnam.
The first few spots were splendid. Crystal clear water, varied terrain (coral, mangrove, seaweed), and also dropped into the deep ocean. So deep that I couldn’t even see the bottom, pretty cool. Due to the diverse habitats, there was a huge variation in the fish and marine life we saw. There was just an unbelievable amount of coral and colour, there really was no end to it at all. Couldn’t believe how good the snorkelling in Coron is. At one point, there was a sunken Japanese vessel, everyone seemed to be swimming down 5 metres to touch it and come back up. There were also a few schools of fish with perhaps over 1,000 fish in, creating an impenetrable wall of fluid fish.
Beach buffet
Just after noon, they set up a buffet on a beach again. Pretty similar to last time, there was fish, rice, noodles, veggies, and plenty more to choose from. In the afternoon, we swapped the open ocean for some closed lagoons and lakes, most of which were fresh water. Not as much marine life, nor any corals, but at least I didn’t get the taste of a heart attack in my mouth when I swallowed water by accident. It was refreshing not having salty sea water to contend with, but also meant you sank easier because of less salt. My judgment is that the snorkelling in Coron is fantastic.
Mat and I had a competition to see who could dive deepest as we couldn’t see a bottom to the lagoons. The walls were made of jagged stalactite-like rocks, pretty damn sharp. I cut the sole of my foot a little on one occasion, and it felt awful walking back to the boat because of all the muck I imagined getting into the wound. We got back to town in the evening, around sunset, and we went back to the hostel to chill out. You don’t always realise how much swimming and physical activities you do, so it often knackers you out more than you think. I also had to clean the cuts on my feet to get any dirt out.
A familiar dinner
After I cleaned my wounds, we decided to go out for some dinner. Several places were closed, so we walked about half an hour and got to good old familiar McDonald’s. The safety food. It was fairly busy, but it was well worth it and it didn’t let us down, despite it being on an island. After eating, we had a slow walk back to town and the hostel, but stopped off at a scuba shop first. We’d initially just planned to stay for a couple of days, but after hearing how good diving is here, we decided to extend.
It turned out we’d be diving tomorrow, at a place just across from our hostel, nice and convenient. Coron in particular seems to be renowned for shipwreck diving which is always interesting. We were told we’d be diving deep to some wrecks and even swimming inside of them too, which would be an experience. I’d highly recommend anyone to get their Advanced Open Water as soon as possible to unlock these awesome fun dives. Once we’d booked the dives for tomorrow, we went back to the hostel and turned in for the night.
