11-Day Ultimate Palawan Paddle

Pick up from Busuanga Airport for 30 minute drive to Coron town, boarding expedition boat after a walk around town, purchasing an extras you feel you need for your 11-day expedition sea safari and paddle. Lunch on board. Kayaking starts from Kayangan Lake if we paddle anti-clockwise around Coron, or clockwise if we paddle from Twin Lagoon. Clockwise camp will be beach before Cabugao, a 3-hour paddle away. Anti-clockwise paddle will be a beach down the west coast, a 3-4 hour paddle away.

If clockwise. After breakfast, break camp and paddle into Cabugao, paying respects to village elders. Kayaking out, we search for an elusive hot spring and see Tagbanua fishing, growing seaweed and collecting birds' nests. We might see them scampering up precarious bamboo ladders/scaffolding. Respite comes when we enter a secret lagoon, so sacred the Tagbanua speak a separate dialect there. As we don't know it we stay silent and gasp at the sight of a species of rare slipper orchid on the walls of the lagoon. Paddling on into another lagoon, we find a narrow beach backing on to a limestone wall with lots of holes to secure our siesta hammocks to. We challenge all paddlers to better a sleep in this divine spot! With luck you'll wake with a cuppa tea or coffee before heading on to a campsite for the night near Calis Point, the southern tip of Coron Island. B,L,D.

If anti-clockwise, we continue to paddle the west side of Coron Island, visiting the lagoons near the tip, and camp either side of Calis Point, in or near one of its wondrous lagoons. B, L, D

After breaking camp and breakfast, we paddle across to the nearest island, a 1.5 hour paddle. Then we lazily explore the coast line of Bulalakao for a couple of hours, stopping for snorkeling, lunch. In the afternoon we paddle 1.5 hours across to our campsite for the night-windswept its sandbar has the vantage point of sunrise AND sunset. B, L, D

After breakfast and breaking camp those who wish to paddle will kayak down the coast of Culion to Dicabaito. Others may wish to hitch on the boat to Culion where we dock and re-provision. Join a walking tour of the town, once the largest leper colony in the world. Depart after lunch by kayak through a mangrove channel, being picked up the other side. Rejoin the boat and cruise down the Culion coast to the other kayakers. Camp on a beach off a drowned Caldera. B, L, D

If weather conditions and kayaker inclinations permit we paddle across to Binalabang Island, a crossing that may take up to 3 hours. Otherwise paddlers can opt to hitch. Camp on Binalabang Island or a beach at a nearby island. B, L, D

After breakfast and breaking camp we paddle between islands to Linapacan Island, snorkeling at whim, and ultimately finding an ideal campsite for the night. Might be Inakang Island. Might be another. The boat visits a fishing village to get water and ice today or tomorrow. B, L, D

After breakfast we wend our way between picture perfect tropical islands, dropping paddle at whim to swim, laze on beaches with a young coconut to sip, or snorkel exquisite reefs. Eventually we find an ideal island for the night close to the windswept channel separating the Linapacan chain from mainland Palawan. B, L, D

We launch our kayaks for a 3 hour paddle across to Dipnay, on the far north coast of Palawan. Boat follows, so paddlers may hitch if they wish. At Dipnay we resupply and decide if conditions allow us to press on with paddling to El Nido. Alternatively, we can go by road to El Nido, or if the captain allows, we may be able to take the boat there or we can paddle the other side of the coast towards Taytay. We camp along the coast out of Dipnay. B, L, D

After breaking camp, we kayak towards our destination, hugging the coast and exploring its environs, finding a campsite towards the end of the day. B, L, D

After breakfast and breaking camp we paddle on towards our destination, camping on a beach or on the boat, in an area within striking distance of El Nido/Taytay. B, L, D

Explore Bacuit Bay. Arrive El Nido. Or Explore Taytay and environs.