Castaway in Coron

Pristine white sand, sparkling blue green waters and an intensely orange sunset. This is how I remember Coron, Palawan in my mind — a series of #nofiter beauty snaps that fill up my timeline.

Coming from the grand launch of 71 Gramercy the night before, I had been looking forward to my stay at Two Seasons Coron (I have heard too many good things about this island resort) to meet up with my friends, the “#CoronCastaways,” composed of my travel mates and a few new friends.

This group is all about new adventures and memorable experiences — a “yeah yeah brother and sisterhood of the traveling pants.” We like to go around the country, pick a hashtag and post away the beauty of it for all the world to see. Look at this fun caravan as our little contribution to the #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines campaign. “This is our way of promoting the beauty of our country,” says SkyJet ambassador Phoemela Baranda, who was at the helm of #CoronCastaways. All 27 of them flew SkyJet to Busuanga, the gateway to Coron.

Coron, in one word, is breathtaking. Sure, so many places in the country are, too. But Coron has a certain serenity and intensity that make it different. The serenity part is obvious, like when you island hop and discover new gems — virgin Islands with zero inhabitants just a kayak ride away. I say intense because the minute I arrived, I kayaked my way into a a sunset of burnt sienna, something that made me want to kayak back just to get my mobile phone camera to be able to take a snapshot of it, but it was too late. Just like some good things, the sun bade us farewell the minute our sunset cocktails started.

There was music by Globe Surf Spotify at the happy hour hosted by the happily glowing Ruffa Gutierrez, so everyone was in a good mood after the island hopping that happened earlier that day, with Belo Sun Expert and a pack of Vita Coco all neatly tucked into a Fila backpack that served as our adventure kits for this trip.

We time then Me time

I missed the “I Azure You” dinner hosted by Two Seasons with the youngest elected female mayor in the land, Mayor Pie Alvarez the night before, so my FOMO side made sure to catch up with everyone at the Fila Celebrity Dinner hosted by Cris Albert.

Cris is one person who never does anything half baked, so she went all the way and flew in baubles, bangles, beads and more to make sure her Fila- hosted dinner would turn out perfect. Colored lanterns, multi-colored bottles and glow-in-the-dark specs were all scattered around a long table that had print-on-print patterned fabric that matched the floral outfits of the guests, all in retro mood for the Fila night on that side of the island.

Shoe installations were the table’s centerpieces. “This is the Fila Grant Hill 1 and 2,” Cris proceeds to point out, and then proceeds to raffle out each one, to the delight of the names called out to win the prized pairs while we feasted on nachos, grilled lobsters and steaks. Did I mention that the food at Two Seasons is amazing? Chef Gino Gonzales and Ryan Patrick’s oyster and mussels sisig is to die for, and the four cheese pizza (like the one in their Boracay branch) is salivatingly good!

I spent the following day alone on the island (I woke up early) and its neighboring sandbar to take Instagram snaps. No matter how big a group I’m a part of, I make sure to have some me time to fully appreciate nature’s bounty.

So whenever city life gets the better of me, I have these images in my mind — places of serenity and calm and memories of crazy times at the beach. We are supremely blessed to have 7107 choices (and more) of wonderful islands to make beautiful memories. There’s not enough time — so let’s start now!

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More island hopping adventures @officialtimyap both on Twitter and Instagram.