Departing Sabang, Puerto Galera
Having to get all the way from the north of Mindoro to the south from Sabang, Puerto Galera, we woke up early and walked down the hill from our place to the street to where we had been told the jeepneys leave, potentially straight to Calapan. After a lot of confusion and asking various people including shopkeepers, we decided there were no jeepneys straight to Calapan, so we hopped on a tricycle to Poblacion. From there we had the choice of a van or jeepney. Technically the vans are faster, but both modes of transport have to wait til full before departing, so we opted for the jeepney which looked closer to leaving. It was still early but already very hot, so we understood when a backpacker on a bicycle hopped on, bike on top, to avoid the hilly route to Calapan. She chatted up the locals to try and figure out the best bike routes with the least traffic and hills to continue her journey. She was the only cycle tourist we would meet in six weeks, understandable!
Bible and Bathroom Break
We were dropped off at the main intersection of the town of Calapan, from where we were hoping to get on a bus or minivan straight to San Jose, but figured we would probably have to change again. While an official looking man (official of what, I’m not quite sure) was trying to flag one down for us, two police officers came over and introduced themselves. We told them we were from Canada and then one asked what religion we were. Knowing we were in Catholic country, Marieke looked over at me and I mouthed “Christian”. That turned out to be the right answer as they were delighted. Of course this also meant that they thought we would be interested in having a Bible verse dictated to us, so they waved over our official bus flagger and asked him to read to us. He didn’t actually speak much English, so that idea ended quickly. We’ll never know what verse we would have gotten to hear. The police officers grabbed some photos instead, thanked us and told us if we needed anything the station was very near. With a long bus ride coming up, we jumped at the chance and asked to use their bathroom. They obligingly escorted us to the station, so that was a win!
A few minutes later our representative found us a relatively full bus heading in the direction of San Jose. We ended up on the extra folding seats they pull out in the middle of the aisle when it’s full and are about as comfy as you would expect temporary seats to be, but luckily people got off after 30 minutes and we crammed into slightly more comfortable seats with very little leg room. We were dropped off only about an hour from San Jose and it was only about 3pm, so we were in good shape. In short order a van came by and stopped for us, but realized it didn’t have room for three people and bags. We decided to grab a late lunch before heading back to wait.
And wait we did. Van after van passed us by. One stopped at the gas station across the road and had room, with only a couple of backpackers inside, but we think it must have been private transport, as after a brief glimmer of hope, the van driver said no and drove on without us. The last bus was scheduled for 5pm, which had not turned up at 5:30pm. We took turns keeping an eye on traffic for anything that could be a bus or van or anything that might take us to San Jose. Jeepneys and tricycles and taxis did not seem to exist here, so we didn’t have much of a back up.
Finally, an empty van showed up and we were on our way. By the time we got into San Jose and grabbed dinner, it was dark and we were exhausted. We found the one hotel right beside the port and went to bed straight away.
Ferrying to Coron
The next morning we headed to the port, where we found the ferry was already two hours late. Pretty standard. Although we had already bought our tickets online, we had to stand in a very hot line to exchange them. Once we got on the ferry though, things were looking up. We each got our own bunk, lunch was served, and the sea breeze kept it cool. It was a far cry from yesterday’s cramped bus ride. I had a nap, read a ton and enjoyed the journey. Marieke and Jon chatted with the couple we had met in line for tickets. We pulled into Coron just as the sun was setting and headed out immediately for the dive shop that had been recommended to us from Chu Divers in Puerto Galera.
Immediately we found the Coron traffic on the main road intense. With no sidewalks, lots of motorbikes and Tuk tuks/tricycle and pedestrians, it was not an enjoyable experience. Turns out, it was like this every day. We grabbed one final tricycle to the dive shop, arranged our diving for the next day, and walked to our hotel.
