CORAL GARDEN will make you love Coron over El Nido

Cash, Goods, Manpower, let's continue helping our countrymen in Central Philippines devastated by Super typhoon Yolanda in whatever way we can.  ---- Globe users can donate to #YolandaPH victims thru @PhilRedCross. Text RED to 2899. Denoms. in 5, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 and 1000. Also, Text REDAMOUNT to 4143 (Smart)

Also, once it is already safe to visit these places, let's travel there so as to help the local community recover from the tragedy. Remember, tourism means jobs to local people. We don't just travel, we help.

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We actually missed it on our 1st day Island Hopping Tour but since our boatman was kind enough, we included it in our 2nd day itinerary---the advantage of hiring a private boat for two consecutive days.

We should have missed it again the 2nd day but thanks to a fellow travel blogger, Marx of http://www.marxtermind.com, he replied on my Facebook shout that seeing Coral Garden will change my verdict that El Nido is still better than Coron.

CORAL GARDEN will make you love Coron over El Nido

The name perfectly describes the place, a garden of corals. I have never seen this many corals in my life. The best part is, you don't have to SCUBA DIVE to see it. On low tide, the corals are less than a meter deep underwater. A snorkel is all you need to enjoy it and a lot of skill in keeping yourself in lateral positing while snorkeling because there's a big chance of stepping on the corals when you stay in upright position while above the coral garden. That proved to be quite a feat for most people (including myself) coz it's a bit hard tk always stay on lateral position despite wearing life jackets. Good thing there are a few spaces with nothing but sand where I stepped to rest at times.

I have never seen so many kinds of corals in a natural setting ---and so many shapes and colors too! I noticed that some of the corals were damaged, probably because other visitors accidentally stepped on them, but I also noticed how they grow back and the interesting part is that the tips that have grown back are of different hue with their many body. That adds to the color variation. I love the blue corals. Really nice. And this was one of those moments when I hated myself for not having an underwater camera. :)

It was almost 5 pm when we dropped by the place and it was still overcast but the corals are very visible thanks to the clear water of Coron. I can't imagine how nice it would have been should it be sunny. I am sure even kids will enjoy this place.

Totoo ang sabi ni Chyng Reyes of www.chyngreyes.com --- "walang sinabi ang El Nido sa underwater ng Coron". This place really convinced me that Coron can give El Nido a run for the money!

CORON vs EL NIDO?
I will write about my views in detail soon :)

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