From Tokyo we hopped on a plane to Manilla and we were looking forward to some sun.
The Philippines is made up of over 7000 Islands and broadly split into 3 main zones. Luzon is basically anything in the North, the Visayas (the Islands in the middle) and Mindanao down South. It is advised by the government not to visit the southernmost area so we had planned an itiniery that focused around Palawan (the long thin island in the West of the map below) and the Visayas.
We spent two nights in Manilla. We didn't fall in love but it's not supposed to be a tourist highlight so weren't surprised. However we did visit the Mall of Asia (largest Mall in Asia), had a great massage and saw Interstellar at IMAX!
After two days in Manilla we were keen to see more of the Philippines and from Manilla Port we hopped on an overnight ferry to Coron, a small island just North of the larger Palawan. The boat was pretty scary for various reasons (and I would suggest that if anyone reading takes a 2go ferry from Manilla to Coron to pay more to get a private room) but so worth it when we arrived the next morning in Coron. It looked amazing, beautiful waters surround forested islands and as the boat came into port we caught sight of secret coves and fishing boats. The sun was shining and suddenly we could understand all we had heard about the beauty of the Philippines.
We had booked accomodation on a remote adjoining island at a place called Majika's island Dive resort. One of her employees met us off the boat and drove us to her office in Coron town. Here she joined us and accompanied us to the island via car and then boat. The trip to the island was great; through Mangrove forests and across a calm cove of water almost like a pond. Majika explained that it was safe to swim, snorkel and canoe around this region and there were no sharks etc to worry about.
So we got straight to it taking out one of the canoes and going snorkelling (Chris canoed in the below boat) while I snorkelled and vice versa. There were amazing starfish and colourful corals and it was a great start. After a few hours Chris persuaded me it would be a great idea for me to swim back to shore from the pontoon. It was about three quarters of a mile and scary as the sea shelf dropped off and I couldn't see what was under me but quite fun once I got closer to shore.
We had prawns for dinner and watched the sunset over the island. We had ordered lobster.
The next morning we were told that the dive master wasn't going to be around for a week or so, so no diving for us! Coron is world famous for its wreck diving, so making the best of it we took a boat to a local Japanese ship wreck so we could go snorkelling. This was really fun and the fish were absolutely stunning.
Coming back into the resort after the snorkelling Chris wanted to do the same swim I did yesterday so he hopped off and started swimming back. He was looking good so I headed into the resort to put down our stuff (diligent lifeguard).
Within five minutes I heard people running to the beach and returned quickly to find Chris hanging off the side of the moored boat with three staff members around him pulling jellyfish tentacles off his arms, legs and hands. The tentacles were everywhere...in between his toes, stuck to the hairs on his legs, down the side of his toenails and fingernails and on his board shorts. As we carefully removed the tentacles and doused his stings with vinegar it was clear Chris was in shock and we had to move him onto the beach where he could sit down.
At this point the members of staff left us to it. I moved Chris back up into the resort and sat him down and watched over the next few hours as his hands and feet became increasingly more swollen and puffy. His foot was covered in black marks from the tentacles and he wasn't feeling great.
Unfortunately we had finished our painkillers and only had Lempsip left over...the staff at Majika's had nothing. After I had asked three people they provided me with an anti-irritant....We did our best putting Chris' foot in cold water and raising it but he was still in a lot of pain.
This is the jellyfish (dead).
This is Chris' foot.
One of the lash marks on his arm.
And his hand almost two weeks later.
Chris was in a LOT of pain so even though I had made him promise not to do his model until he got home, he spent the entire afternoon playing with his toy. He didn't moan once. Apart from the jellyfish I think it was one of the best afternoons of his life.
That night we ordered the lovely prawns again... We got fish.
However getting off the island was a bit of a challenge... We had the normal 20 minute boat ride, but there was no car on the other side, so we were left for 3 hours by the side of the road in a tiny village. Chris taught the local kids how to make paper airplanes, while I desperately tried to call the owner to sort it all out! After a 5 hour trip, we weren't in the best of moods when we reached the owner to pay, and that might have come across. We ended up paying about 10pc of what we should have, as the owner told us to pay "what we thought we should".
Jane
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