Two for one, as Coron did not have much to photograph.
Palawan is a group of islands south-west of Manila (and the Philippine main island of Luzon). We docked in Coron, which is on the northern-most island.
I remember stopping at many small islands while crossing the South Pacific or Indian Oceans. For Coron, I wonder if the Philippine government required us to stop in a certain number of ports to get a discounted dock rate of something. The area is very pretty to look at, but that’s about it.
One thing that caught everyone’s eyes were how all the small boats had outriggers. I understand the added stability, but is it worth the weight and drag?
Our tour was a two-hour trip around a local island. There were some pretty views.
Puerto Princesa is the capital of the Palawan province, and far more urbanized than Coron. Our tour began with the local cathedral, where we bumped into the high school graduation ceremony.
It was a traditional white-plastered cathedral, with slightly complicated arch supports.
Something different were the solo portraits on the ceiling between each arch.
We visited a “Local Cultural Museum”, which to me seemed an obvious “we got a national government grant to make a museum” affair (five guides for three rooms – really?), but then toured a WW2 museum made with all locally donated items. I worry about the old hand grenades on the shelves, but they had some classic Jeeps.
Here is a great time to introduce something I have never seen before – motorcycle with sidecar cabs. Sounds easy, until you add a car body to the mix.
Some of them were fancy, with body kits designed for the platform.
We finished the day at the Butterfly Eco Garden. It did not compare to Kuranda, Austrailia, but it was fun. They also had a ground insect collection.
But they had butterflies too.
Here are some of the flowers that caught my attention.
And a really ugly butterfly.
