First Sunset Watching In Coron

sunset taken from Seadive Resorton May 27, 2007 with then, a cabana

A couple of years ago, when Coron was not as popular as now, I had my first island hopping tour with friends Beatriz and Nancy, accompanied by an islander, a kind and nice guy named Orlando who, along with a Tagbanuan tour guide Dodong brought us to lovely places I have seen for the first time. I was awed by such beauty and promised myself to come back, join the academe and do someting special in my own little way to make a difference on the lives of the islanders who have been very kind to me since the day I arrived at the Francisco Reyes Airport. And since island hopping, snorkeling, some diving and of course taking photos have successfully taken my pains away, I thought it would be best for me to relocate in Coron town for at least a year. Seeing a rainbow on the day of my flight back to Manila, I promised myself that any circumstance/s outside of my control would never be the source of my unhappiness again- ever. If I was true to such promise is a nice subject for an interesting blog.

In May 27, 2007, I wanted to go to the island where the boatman excitedly told me would be the best place to watch the sunset. But we are just on our fourth day and we needed to go to places unexplored- racing against time. We had to go back to Coron town within the day and had dinner at the seafront restaurant of the Seadive Resort. Bringing a cup of tea, I went up to the open terrace in the second floor and joined others, mostly European visitors as they are waiting for the sunset.

I ran out of battery taking pictures during the whole duration of the day tour. And remembering what my filmmaker friend, a documentarian told me when I watched one eclipse sans any camera, sometimes best moments have to be kept in my heart. The memory of watching how the colours of the sky have changed in minutes in a strange place, in the company of strangers is magical. The place is quiet and everybody, aside from taking photos, probably relished in that wonderful moment which became very memourable for me. Yet I resolved to go back as soon as I can to catch a glimpse of the sunset, and hopefully to finally take more photos. It's quite ironic because I traveled to this island and spent two afternoons waiting for a lovely sunset in the same terrace during my most recent visit but the joy of watching sunset- has been, like other wonderful matters in life- elusive.

But I always remember to look forward to another day, another sunrise and thereafter, the sunset.

I missed watching the sunset during the few times that I visited and stayed in Coron so it served as an inspiration for me to keep on coming back. During my must recent, a middle aged woman who has practically spent most of her life in the island told me when is the best time of the year to do island hopping and probably that would be the time for me to enjoy more sunsets.

MarieAntoinette