Review: The Super Ultimate Tour, Coron
When you’re looking up what there is to do in Coron, Google recommends lakes, lagoons, beaches, island hopping… it makes it seem like you’ll never have enough time to do it all. But when we got here we realised that there are a number of tours that take you to a combination of these sites in one day. And the Super Ultimate Tour covers the most.
Why choose the Super Ultimate Tour?
We chose the Super Ultimate Tour with Millennial Island Travel Mate because for PHP 1,699 per person (about £24) we could see seven different sites rather than picking which ones we didn’t mind missing out on with the smaller tours. Our second choice would have been Tour B.
I was definitely happy we chose this tour and would recommend it to anyone who has a short time in Coron and wants to see as much as possible in one trip.
What happens on the Coron Super Ultimate Tour?
Millennial Island Travelmate picks you up from your accommodation between 8-9am. Then they’ll take you to the port where hundreds of other people are waiting to start their tours. It’s overwhelming and is hard to believe that anyone has it under control. But they do, and after about 20 minutes we were on our boat and ready to go.
It’s at this point that you can also hire snorkels, fins, kayaks, and GoPro cameras for the trip. We hired snorkels for PHP 150 (£2) and PHP 1000 (£14) for a kayak, both of which we used multiple times throughout the day.
The longest boat ride is out to the first stop which takes 20-30 minutes. Getting between each stop takes no more than about 15 minutes with a couple of stops being only 5 minutes or so apart. You might want to prepare for sea sickness if you’re very sensitive but we didn’t find that to be a problem on our boat.
Kayangan Lake
Our first stop was Kayangan Lake where we had 1.5 hours to swim in the clear blue water. The lake is surrounded by cliffs and you have to walk up and then down a whole lot of steps to get there but it’s worth the sweat.
The views from the peak are incredible and jumping into the water at the end of it feels even better. The regulations say that you have to wear a life vest here but that actually turned out to be quite nice as it meant we could float around without treading water. This was one of my favourite stops on the tour and really reminded me of the cenotes in Mexico.
Barracuda Lake
So named because of the apparent presence of Barracuda fish, Barracuda Lake is a quieter and more secluded stop on the Super Ultimate Tour that not all the different trip variations stop at. It was definitely less busy than Kayangan. It was also sold as a better place to snorkel but we only saw two fish (which we also saw from the surface before we got in!).
Despite the lack of marine life on the day we visited it was still a great place to see. Free diving is allowed here and there’s some great rock and reef formations around the edges to explore. We were here for about 40 minutes, which was plenty as although the lake is huge, the area allocated for swimmers isn’t that big.
Twin Lagoon
This might be my favourite spot on the Super Ultimate Tour. As you arrive by boat into the first of the twin lagoons it looks a lot like all the scenery that you’ve experienced before on the trip. But as you enter the second lagoon it becomes exactly what I had imagined The Philippines to look like.
To start, you enter the lagoon by either climbing some very steep steps or going through a ‘tunnel’ which you probably wouldn’t even if it weren’t full of people coming in and out. You can swim through. But we were on a canoe, so we had to lie flat and use the rocks above us to guide the boat through. Probably not great if you’re claustrophobic but it only takes a minute and is actually pretty fun.
Once you’re through, the incredible crystal clear lagoon is walled by imposing limestone cliffs. You can snorkel here as there are plenty of reefs full of fish around the edges. But if you just want to relax and float around in your life jacket it’s on of the most relaxing places to do that.
Millennial Cove
If you’re not sure what this is on the tour list, it’s the spot where you’ll have lunch. It’s named for the company – Millennial Island Travel Mate – and is basically a shack in the sea with a long table and seating.
Here they bring out a huge feast of adobo chicken and grilled fish for meat eaters, and rice, noodles, aubergine, and Ginataang pampaganda (pumpkin, green beans, and okra). The food was delicious and there was plenty for everyone. We finished the meal with fresh watermelon.
Skeleton Wreck
Next we went to the wreckage site of a Japanese WWII ship. Honestly I wouldn’t even have known where to find it if it weren’t other people snorkelling above it. But if you free dive, it’s possible to touch one edge of it which is only 5m from the surface. One member of our group was able to dive right into the wreck.
The best thing about this spot was the sheer number of fish. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was like being in an aquarium. There are hundreds of zebra fish and other bright blue and yellow fish all swimming together in huge groups. They’re not bothered by humans at all and come so close as they swim past.
There are tiny and very minor marine stingers here which might make it a good place to wear a rash vest. But I actually just thought it was my salty skin feeling a bit irritated before someone else pointed out what it was – so it’s really not that painful or problematic at all.
Coral Garden
The Coral Garden is one of the spots on the list that is an either/or spot with ditawolong sea clam. I don’t know what that is, and Google wasn’t very helpful!
To be honest, having snorkelled at the Great Barrier Reef just a few days earlier, this coral garden was never going to feel that exciting to us. We did see some cool fish. But the 25 minute stop here was plenty.
Apparently it’s a spot where people often see sea turtles but we didn’t. We did see one on our way into Twin Lagoon though!
CyC Beach
The final stop was at CyC Beach which apparently stands for Coron Youth Club as it’s a place where younger locals come to party. There was a family with a sound system on the beach. But we were there at the end of the day with only one other boat so it was more chilled than party vibes.
We decided to canoe around a little bit and saw a huge starfish amongst the reeds. The beach is nice enough – not the most beautiful in the area by any means. And the water is shallow enough that you can walk to shore from your boat.
We left and sailed back to the port during the sunset and were back for about 6pm. A bus was waiting to take us back to the hostel, where we ate dinner and crashed after a pretty long and busy day!
What to pack for the Coron Super Ultimate Tour
Comfy clothes you don’t mind getting wet
Swimwear (you’ll probably want to wear it under your clothes)
Sea shoes or sandals that you can wear in the water
A sun hat and sunglasses
Sun cream
A towel
A snack and plenty of water. There are places to buy coconuts and snacks like crisps at a couple of the lakes
A waterproof phone case if you use one
A GoPro or waterproof camera if you have one
A snorkel and fins if you have one to save the rental price (although it’s only £2)
Coron private island tours
You can book a private tour that is only for your group, if you’d prefer not to be with about 15 strangers. Although honestly it was quite fun to have more people around during the boat rides.
The prices for private tours used to be quite cheap. And from what we heard you can go down to the port the day before and find boat owners who will do their own deal with you. But with Millennial Island Travel Mate it’s about PHP 5,000 per person for a private tour which we didn’t think was worth it.
Find out more about what to do in Coron here.