After two days of island hopping, our desire to go to Malcapuya Island – one of the best islands in Coron crashed to the shore. Duit habis! Alternatively, I wanted to do Kaluit Safari Tour. Again, the car tour and boat tour was beyond our means. The only way to go to Kaluit affordably was by riding a bike through the jagged mountain. Not to mention the dusty roads leading north. First thing that morning was to feed my forever hungry stomach at my favorite stall; the one that sells mango juice and pancakes. Then we bumped into Mr. Ricardo who helped us renting a bike for the day. Most of the tourists went for motorcross bikes much to our wonder.
30 minutes later, the red soil, so barren which looked like the path less travelled revealed itself. By then it was already too late for us to opt for the more adventurous bike; we had to make do with the scooter. The more we went, the greener were the fields. There were hardly any vehicles on the road. The road signs were very few, at times we thought we were lost. Once in awhile we passed by hardworking farmers working during the day light, school children finishing school and young couples flirtatiously walking together. The rest were beautiful landscape with wooden houses in it, the opposite of which was a stretch of beaches.
We had the radio connected to the ipod playing throughout the journey, a way to amuse ourselves during the hot journey in search of Kaluit.
And boy, it was so far than expected.
The idea of going back through the same road at night was not favourable, at least to yours truly. At one point after lunch over mushroom soup and home made french fries at Conception – exorbitant price, we agreed to forego Kaluit Safari Tour and turned back heading to Coron town. We still have Kingfisher National Park, I told B.
That was how we ended up with mangrove kayak adventure at Kingfisher National Park.
Poor signage to Kingfisher National Park led us to miss the junction for few times until we had to ask a local boy to direct us to the location. No tourist was there except for some locals whom I believe run the national park. The man who greeted us spoke fluent English, impressed with us being Malaysians. Just when we heaved a relief that we would be getting a friendly English speaking kayak guide, he left us with his friend who spoke very little throughout the kayaking trip. Thank God, I had companion otherwise it would be a mute kayaking trip.
We paid for PHP400 each person for the experience.
Previously, I had kayaking experience with zero kayaking techniques. I did not know what is forward stroke or reverse stroke. All I know is paddling right and left would eventually make the kayak move. And the front rower had to resist the paddle to manouvre the kayak. When asked if I had done kayaking, I quickly replied, “yes”.
As the kayak took off from the shore, we paddled to the left side of the sea into the mangroves of Malboto. We were astonished by the channels and inlets. It was one of the peaceful yet eerie evening passing through the channels with kayak. Because I stumbled a lot with paddling the kayak, our kayak was moving very slow as compared to our guide. We could barely catch up. There were times when the kayak was brought to the edge of the groves unmoved! Thanks to yours truly. That was it I failed miserably with kayaking.
Interestingly our guide’s kayak was yellow in colour. The yellow reflection on the water added up to the picturesque lanscape of the shadowy groves.
Oh Happy Boy!
And finally, after 1 1/2 hours we were done with awesome mangroves kayaking.
Tips:-
- Kayak during the morning when the birds are out looking for food;
- Wear your sunblocks and mosquito repellant;
- Waterproof bag to store your belongings;
- Bring extra clothes;
- Negotiate the price;
- Also, consider the fireflies tour.
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HOW MUCH THE RATE OF MANGROVE KAYAKING