From Singapore, we flew to Manila and met up with our friend Andrew, who took two weeks of vacation to come meet us. He made a great choice, since the next two weeks we spent in the Philippines turned out to be some of the best of our entire trip so far!

We met Andy five years ago in Denver and have always had fun together, whether we were spearfishing in the Florida Keys or camping in Moab, so we knew we were going to have a blast.

After an airport reunion celebration catered by Cinnabon, we boarded an hour-long flight to Coron.

Coron is a province of Palawan, Philippines. The largest city is Coron Town, where we stayed in a lovely apartment for next to nothing. Hallelujah. Originally a small fishing village, Coron City now caters to the many tourists attracted by quiet beaches, island hopping and more.   

The primary reason that we were drawn to Coron was scuba diving. Specifically, wreck diving in Japanese cargo ships, still laying where they sunk during an attack by the Americans during WWII. 

Upon arrival, we found a local dive shop and signed up to go out the next morning. 

Our first dive of six in Coron was Barracuda Lake, a brackish lake on Coron Island open to foreigners (many of Coron's lakes are only for natives). The coolest part about this dive was that you descend through about 5 meters of fresh water before hitting the thermocline, and then, because salt water is pumped into the lake by a thermal spring, the second layer of water is nearly 40 degrees celsius (that's 100 degrees F!).

Later, we found out that the dive was a test. The instructors were watching us to see if we were confident in the water and able to control our buoyancy before they took us into the wrecks.  

Now, there are wreck dives and then there are real wreck dives. We had seen a wreck in Koh Tao but, as is common when you dive most wrecks as an Open Water or Advanced Open Water diver, we hadn't been allowed to go inside. We only swam around the outside of the ship and peered in through windows. Imagine our surprise and delight (for Mike; I was terrified at first) when they said we'd be swimming inside the massive ships. 

It's hard to describe how insane the entire experience was. (Maybe not something you should write on your travel blog... but it's true!) All of the tops of the wrecks were between 5 and 15 meters deep, and then the bottoms sat anywhere from 20 to 40 meters. In groups of five to six people, including the guide, we'd enter the wreck single file and swim through rooms, hallways and other passageways before exiting back into open water.

At some points during the dive, the wreck became so dark we only had the tiny beam from our small flashlights to guide us. In other places, the entry or exit point was a hole 1-2 meters wide, usually where there was once a pipe or where a bomb went through a wall during the attack. 

The reason wreck dives give some people anxiety is everything that could go wrong. You could get snagged on something. Your equipment or limb could get cut on a sharp piece of metal. You could panic. However, after a few wreck dives with our very skilled and attentive instructor, we realized that if you remain calm, swim slowly and trust your guide, wreck diving isn't as nerve-wracking as it can seem. That said, swimming inside a massive metal structure when you're relying on a small hose and single tank of oxygen to stay alive is still pretty intense. 

In total, we went inside five wrecks, including the Okikawa Maru, Akitsushima, and Teru Kaze Maru. 

Overall, it was insane, scary, amazing, adrenaline-inducing fun. Especially for Andy, who had only finished his open water certification course a mere five (yes, five) days earlier. 

After three amazing days in Coron, we boarded a boat with 21 incredible strangers to set off on a four-night journey to El Nido. Read about that journey here.