The Coron Super Ultimate Tour is a full-day island-hopping trip that visits many of the area’s top attractions, including Kayangan Lake, Barracuda Lake, and Twin Lagoons.
Mine included hotel pick-up and drop-off, lunch, snacks, drinks, and entrance fees.
Different here was the kayak set-up. We rented our own at the start, later having 3 different locations to paddle.
My tour had 7 stops including an excellent seafood buffet lunch.
The 35th Stone Barrington novel takes the peripatetic New York lawyer, playboy, and investor to Rome, where the Arrington Group, of which he is a board member, is planning to build a palatial new hotel.
On Stone’s last-minute flight from JFK, he meets Hedy Kiesler, a beautiful artist, with whom he shares an upgrade to first class—and later a bed in Rome.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Casselli, a relocated New York Mafia don, makes it clear that the hotel won’t go up peacefully until he gets his share of the action.
Stone calls on old friends Dino Bacchetti of the NYPD and Mike Freeman of Strategic Services for aid in his fight with Casselli, who has plenty of goons at his disposal.
When Hedy becomes a pawn in the conflict, Stone devises a dangerous plan to infiltrate Casselli’s stronghold on the Amalfi coast.
The iconic landmark atop Mount Tapyas is a large, lighted crucifix.
I climbed the 721 concrete steps 4 times over 3 days. Kili conditioning. And ended up with some terrific photos.
One guide told me he had been up over 4000 times, training with his soccer team.
Here are some of my vista shots.
Best time of day is dusk / night — but that’s the most crowded.
Full moon while I was there.
Coron is the jumping off point for Coron Island Natural Biotic Area a short boat ride from the harbour.
It’s a bigger town and arguably slightly more organized than nearby El Nido at providing FUN boat tours to paradise coves. More expensive than El Nido, however.
Public transportation is non-existent. To get to excellent Maquinit Hot Springs outside of town, easiest was to sign up for a half day city tour.
Maquinit is both fresh and salt water, making you very buoyant.
And it’s HOT.
The Catholic cathedral.
It’s easy to complain about tourists, but look what happens when your town takes off as a destination.
Actually, a few different guides told me that Palawan province has had better governance than the rest of the corrupt nation.
Forbes Traveler Magazine’s included Coron on a list top 10 best scuba diving sites in the world — for the dozen sunken Japanese warships at depths between 10 and 40 meters.
Helen Mirren as Elizabeth Best, a retired MI6 officer
Pierce Brosnan as Ron Ritchie, a retired twice-divorced union leader
Ben Kingsley as Professor Ibrahim Arif, a retired psychiatrist
Celia Imrie as Joyce Meadowcroft, a retired trauma nurse
Ibrahim is my favourite, for sure.
Four pensioners, friends at a retirement village in Kent, England decide to solve murders as a retirement hobby.
This book is a little different. They investigate a crypto scheme. Not a bad plot.
In her Library Journal review, Liz French wrote, “The crime, though ingeniously plotted, with many red herrings, is not the main attraction. It’s the growing love and respect among the Thursdays and their kith and kin, including a few criminals and cops, that is the biggest draw.”
In the latest instalment, NAKED GREED (2016), the narrative begins when Stone helps a man who is being beaten up by two thugs who turn out to be former police officers. After the fight is over and the victim has a chance to talk, he and Stone become fast friends.
Stone learns that the man’s name is Jose Perado, but he wants to be called “Pepe.” He says he is a beer brewer from San Antonio, Texas, and wants to open a brewery, which would bring his business to New York City. …
A highlight of most tourists to the Philippines is one of these crazy fun boat tours.
There are a number to choose from. Exact itinerary seems to vary with the weather and time of year. BUT most include snorkelling, kayaking, swimming, beach buffet lunch, and … jumping off the boat.
This Italian guy’s Gainer was best of day from this judge.
White sand beaches in these limestone islands are a paradise.
I’d heard good things about the Haqqy Life company out of Friendz hostel — and it was fantastic.
I might have paid a bit more than some ➙ $35 USD. But that’s incredibly inexpensive for such a fun day. The lunch alone might cost you $15 in a waterfront restaurant.
People in our group shared video and photos to WhatsApp. My favourites are from one of the guys with a drone.
Kayaking in this unbelievable location made me infamous.
I somehow kicked my dry bag with phone off the kayak — dozens of people around stopped to search.
A couple of ladies turned it up. No damage. A new dry bag is quite waterproof.
NOW I was the old guy who nearly lost his phone. 😀
We stopped for a gourmet barbecue lunch at one beach. I liked best the grilled fish and tasty pork bites.
The guides are terrific. Almost everyone ends up singing and dancing. Without alcohol.
One unique aspect of our particular group was some fun Russians. I can almost always spot Russian tourists. BIG, GRUFF men with wife / mistress way out of their league. Neither ever smiling.
BUT the life of the party on our boat was a young, smiling (obese) Russian guy.
His companions were super fun, as well, proving Russians can laugh. Of course they were the group that pulled out a bottle of booze end of the afternoon — Rum, not Vodka, dispelling yet another stereotype.
Great trip. Second best of many tours that I signed on for in S.E. Asia over the past few months.
Here’s everyone from our boat.
At least half were sunburned by the end of the day.
El Nido is one of the most popular tourist traps in the Philippines.
El Nido town itself isn’t exactly charming. Crowded, kind of messy, and very touristy.
Dozens of feral dogs roam the streets at night, making me nervous.
The beach is no hell — but I liked it better in the evening with fewer tourists.
Public transit is non-existent. Cycling near impossible due to traffic. The only way to get around is by tricycle or “trike”. Most are crappy, rickety motorcycles with a sidecar somehow welded on.
With all the dollars coming in, I’m surprised El Nido’s not been improved. Boracay is modern, by comparison.
The love interest in this one is Pat Frank, a blond, slight and attractive young woman who is assigned to check whether he is ready to fly his new plane.
They fall into bed. All good — until her jealous former lover/partner shows up.
Two subplots unfold to move the story along.
The first is a search for Middle Eastern terrorists intent on launching a plot against the U.S. run by Holly and her enthusiastic young assistant, Millicent Martindale, with help from the FBI.
In Dead Aim, an unsuspecting man tries to help a young woman on the edge, and finds himself drawn into a lethal struggle with a deadly adversary–and then another, and another, and another.
The plot is driven by an ex-mercenary soldier who has set up a camp where he trains wealthy people (the only kind who can afford his fees) to hunt and kill other people. The body count is very high. The innocent hero becomes a target.
Translation of My Friends (2025) is excellent, so far as I can tell.
Always interesting and original, this time the author wrote mostly a philosophical look at friendship:
Ted and the painter(KimKim)
Louisa and Fish
Ted and Louisa
4 teenage friends (Ted, Joar, Ali, and KimKim)
It’s dark with far too many deaths. Poverty, abuse, hatred and ugliness of humanity. But very funny, as well.
Mouthy Louisa is an outrageous teenager. Very believable. I wonder if Backman modelled her on some young person he knows. 😀
A story that alternates between two timelines: the present-day journey of an 18-year-old named Louisa, who is grieving the loss of her best friend, and the past, 25 years earlier, when four teenage friends—Joar, Ted, Ali, and the artist C.J. Jat—spent a transformative summer together.
Their friendship and shared secrets lead to the creation of a world-famous painting, which Louisa discovers and becomes obsessed with. Louisa’s journey to learn the story behind the painting connects her own grief to the past lives of the four friends, exploring themes of friendship, loss, trauma, and the healing power of art and human connection.
A.I. summary
“This is Fredrik Backman at the height of his empathy and resonance. . . I frequently paused to marvel at the way Backman captured the rebellion of joy, the ferocity of devotion, and the cruelty of indifference. Every Backman book should come with the warning that your heart will be split in two, but also, more importantly, with the assurance that it will be repaired with restored faith in the small miracles of being human.” —NPR, Favorite Fiction Reads of 2025
Rick McCharles 