The Coron Ultimate Tour visits Kayangan Lake, Twin Lagoon, Siete Pecados Marine Park, and one or two other spots (usually a beach for lunchtime) depending on the tour operator you have booked your tour with.
What has changed over the years? The number of tourists!! It has definitely increased and I have noticed a good number of foreign tourists in this part of Palawan. (In Coron town, many hostels/guesthouses/pension houses and restaurants have also popped up.)
The path to Kayangan Lake is now made of concrete steps (it used to be just steps fashioned from rocks and soil). The viewdeck is still there but with a long tail of people queueing to have their photo taken. In Kayangan Lake itself, the boardwalk is longer, the lake still clear, but dotted with so many people forced to wear lifejackets (mandatory after two Czech tourists drowned while free diving in Kayangan Lake in March 2017) within the area allowed for swimming (no swimming beyond the roped area!).
The Twin Lagoon is still a fun place to swim as the area is wide. On one end is the sea where your boat can pick you up if you're too tired to go back to where you entered AND if you're willing to pay another fee! (Apparently you're only allowed to enter and exit where you had paid the entrance fee; in our case it was at the section where we either had to climb the steep wooden stairs or swim through the small opening to get to the other lagoon.)
Other than that, the water is still crystal clear and the spots still breathtaking (literally from all that swimming, and figuratively from its awesome beauty).
Private Tour or Join In Tour? Since we were just five in the group, a private tour (Php 2100 per person) would be more expensive than a join-in tour (Php 1500 per person). But still we opted for a private tour because we planned to leave early and go to Kayangan Lake first to avoid the crowds.
Where did we book our private Coron Ultimate Tour? Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours.
Would I recommend this tour operator? No. N–O, NO! We booked the tour a day prior and made a 50% downpayment. They told us pick up time would be from 8AM to 830AM. We were already waiting by 8AM (we wanted to start early). After sending some text messages and making some calls, the van arrived at 830AM. Fine, it was still within the time frame they had set. The van took us to the port (a 5-minute walk from where we were staying!) where, when the van driver finally found the right boatman, the boatman asked us for the itinerary. We didn't have it. It's the tour operator's responsibility to inform and hand over the itinerary to the boatman, not us. We boarded the boat and were made to wait because the tour operator still had not delivered the food for lunch and the snorkeling gear. 10 minutes of waiting...20...30...more text messages sent and calls made. When one of our friends have had enough, she took over the call and talked to the owner of Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours. My friend's anger fired up when the owner herself did not sound concerned and gave a lame reason that they had so many guests to attend to. (If they could not handle many guests they could have just declined the day we made the booking and we could have just booked through another tour operator–there are so many in Coron.) Many tour boats have already left and we were still at the port simmering. We left the port at around 930AM, after an hour of waiting.
Again, N–O, NO! Here's another tour group (two days after us) that had a terrible experience with Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours (when I checked their facebook page again, they had already disabled and deleted all reviews).
Do go on the Coron Ultimate Tour, just NOT with Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours. N–O, NO!
Coron 2017
Coron Accommodation: Centro Coron
Starry Starry Night at Kingfisher Park
Coron Ultimate Tour with Calamianes Expeditions and Ecotours (DON'T!) (you're here!)
Coron Island Escapade Tour (soon)
Culion Historic Walking Tour and Snorkeling with Kawil Tours (soon)
Coron Accommodation: Zuric Pension House (soon)