Coron Part 1: Dive Link Resort

Coron is on the northern part of Palawan Island, famous for its rock formations, beaches and for divers, shipwrecks and rich marine life.

Our flight from Manila, although scheduled for an hour, landed in Busuanga airport 30 minutes earlier. Upon exiting the small arrival area, you'd see a number of tables outside, where different resorts have setup to welcome guests. It is highly advisable to make your reservations before arriving in Busuanga because I noticed the area was almost deserted once all the tourists have met up with their resort. Another reason is I don't think there's any public transportation from the airport to Coron town.

We went straight to Dive Link's table, where a friendly staff welcomed us and patiently answered some of our curious tourist's questions. The ride to Coron town, where most of the hotels and inns are, is 30 minutes from the airport. From the port, there's a 10-minute boat ride to get to Dive Link.


Busuanga Airport to Dive Link Resort

The 30-minute car ride was bumpy. There were 13 people in the van, including the driver and Dive Link's staff. On the way, you'd mostly see grass lands, mountains and a few cows. Despite the number of tourists coming to this town, the road is still not yet that developed. We passed by a couple of short bridges, some of which were being constructed. In the meantime, they've built wooden bridges.

Upon arriving at the resort, we were given drinks and asked to sit in the reception area while we check-in. While waiting, we arranged to go around the town after having lunch. It was nice that the resort was able to arrange it for us.

Room

We stayed in the Mangga hut, which has two rooms, sharing one bathroom. Because the room is made of mostly natural materials, the walls are not sound-proof. I'd actually just speak louder if I want to ask something to my friend on the next room. There's a sink for each of the room, outside the bathroom. I think the overall cleanliness and upkeep of the room needs improvement.

Both rooms are airconditioned and there's a fridge in one of the rooms. Since we arrived early in the afternoon, there's no electricity in the entire resort. Power is only up from 5pm to 9am. It wasn't the peak of summer yet when we were there, so the temperature inside the room was tolerable. What I liked most with our hut is the view of the beach and the hush sound of waves.

Beach
Dive link's beach is not suitable for swimming. The staff said it's muddy and there might be sea urchins and jelly fish because of the marine plants. The only use of Dive Link's beach is for kayaking and fishing, which they offer to guests.

Restaurant and Bar
They have one restaurant which serves mostly Filipino dishes. The Spicy Spareribs (Php280), Pork Salpicao (Php250) and Adobong Kangkong (Php80) had rave reviews. We wanted to try their Chili Crab (Php350), but it wasn't available when we wanted to order it. The serving can be good for two if both people are not that hungry. The breakfast that is included when booking their room is also served in the restaurant. It was buffet style with bread, rice, egg, hotdog, danggit (dried fish), longganisa (Filipino sausage), butter and jam and for drinks, you can choose from coffee or chocolate. The longganisa was good, the rest are nothing special, but it's enough to keep you going for your morning activities.

The bar is off on another small island. They built a narrow walkway that only has a soft pipe railing on one side. I don't advice to heavily drink and walk back alone to the main resort at night, you might find yourself in the water with jelly fish and sea urchin stings all over you! The main bar is small. There's only one long table that can probably fit 12 people comfortably. If you're the first here, you can use their karaoke machine for free. There are more tables and chairs outside overlooking the beach.

Facilities
The resort offers free boat service to town for free until 5pm. After 5pm, the fee is Php100 per person. This can be a negative if you want to have dinner in town. They have a good sized pool that needs frequent cleaning because of the trees and plants around the area.

As I have mentioned above, power in the resort is only available from 5pm to 9am, which is okay if you'll be going around the island most of the time anyway. We had intermittent water supply in our room for the last 2 days of our stay. The management said they were having problems with the motor on our side of the resort (we had friends on the other side and they didn't have any problems at all, very strong water with hot and cold shower). They gave us another room where we can shower, good thing the resort was not fully-booked then.

When we were settling our account before leaving, we asked a discount for the hassle of not having water in our room, and the manager gave us 50% discount on our food and drinks! I really wasn't expecting they would give any discount. We greatly appreciate that they did as it showed they take responsibility and that they know how to take care of their customers.


Dive Link Resort
Address: Uson Island, Coron, Northern Palawan
http://www.divelink.com.ph/