“Carlos will take you to get your kayak and snorkeling gear.” He told me, executing some impressive turns. 

The dive shop was just on the other side of the inlet, about fifty meters away from my window. It was fun setting off right from my hotel. It was also money saving, as I didn’t have to pay for transportation over land. A whole day of kayaking only cost me about 600 pesos for equipment rental. That got me a two-man kayak and a set of mask, snorkel, and fins. 

Rannie lead the way in his single kayak, which was enclosed. The enclosed kayak has a storage compartment which will keep your gear relatively dry. It is extremely fast and maneuverable on the ocean, but it requires a lot of skill to use. Carlos and I followed along in a sit-on-top kayak. It was much slower, but better for the novice kayaker. If you flip a sit-on-top it is much easier to turn it right-side-up out at sea. 

We paddled right out into the harbor, where the ships and boats come into Coron. The water around Coron is extremely shallow in places. From high to low tide there is only a variance of two feet. The coral reefs were visible just beneath the water surface, and you had to be careful with the paddles for fear of damaging them. If you want to see exotic marine life, simply glance over the side. Whole schools of fish were visible and occasionally an unusual flying fish which was a cousin of the barracuda. These amazing fish would jump through the air, looking like a shiny silver missile. In some cases they 

Kayaking is kinder to the environment, than a motor boat, and it is a huge adventure, not to mention a great exercise. In kayaking your shoulders, back, and arms get a huge workout. You also burn a ton of calories. 

The first leg of the journey was pretty easy, across a flat sea. Kayaking in the open sea, you experience an incredible feeling of freedom. We were alone on the sea, completely in control of our movement this wasn’t Disneyland and there were no trail to follow. We simply went where we wanted to. After a half hour, the place I wanted to go was anyplace we could rest. 

We paddled to a nearby island. Which is another advantage of kayaking in Coron, you are never far from a beautiful island where you can take a rest. Two of the islands, within a days kayaking distance, contained old Spanish forts which would be fun to explore. On most of the islands there are multiple beaches, white sandy areas secluded by large stones. You can land your kayak and take a rest or go diving. After a brief rest and some photos, we set out again, to visit the Tagbanua tribal community. 

The name Coron can be a bit confusing. Coron lies in the Calamian Island group. The center of the Tagbanua community is a large island called Coron Island. Generally, the several small islands near Coron city are referred to as Coron. The capital is Coron City, which is not located on Coron Island. 

“Coron Island is a limestone island, which studies have shown to be an old, shallow coral reef uplifted by titanic plates, thirty million years ago.” Explained Rannie.

Apart from the breathtaking natural wonders, one of the most fascinating aspects of the Philippines is the ethnic diversity. A report said that there were 113 tribes in the Philippines. According to anthropologists the number could be much higher depending upon how you divide them. 

There are about 1,800 Tagbanua on Coron Island. The Tagbanua are thought to have said to Coron from Borneo, which is about 500 miles away. With simple seafaring technology, tribal people probably could not have sailed 500 miles in one shot. Most likely, they hopped from island to island. 
The Tagbanua tribe of Coron speak a different languages than the Tagbanua of Puerto Princesa, on Palawan Island. They have a very different way of life, not the least of all because those on Coron are coastal dwellers. Those in Palawan are upland rice farmers. The Tagnbanua of Coron established themselves as a foundation, include all of the Tagbanua from the surrounding Calamian islands but not Palawan. The association was called Sarak Punta, which means, “Gather Together.” Once they had their association, they applied, as one, for land rights, under the Philippine government’s ancestral domain program. 

“Before, they had no control over the land where they lived.” Explained Rannie. “Tourists would go there, and the tribe had no say. Not only did the tourists make the island dirty, but they were not sensitive to the tribal culture. For the tribe, this was their home, and they couldn’t control who came in. Also, they got no money from the visitors at that time. But, since they have ancestral domain rights, they impose an entrance fee, and the tribe gets to keep that money.”

Visiting tribes in Palawan or Coron is not a as much of an ethical question of exploitation as it would be in Thailand because in these two island groups, all of the money paid to the tribes stays in the tribes. In Palawan, the tribes simply ask for donations. In the case of Coron Island, the tribe actually has a pretty sophisticated mechanism in place to collect entrance fees. 

Rannie continued telling about the island. “There is only one portion of the island which is allowed for tourists, the northern part. There are two lakes there, Kayanang Lake which has been entered into the hall of fame for the cleanest lake in the Philippines, and also Barracuda Lake which is the current winner of cleanest lake in the Philippines. The lakes are thermal lakes. If you go down below 40 meters, it is like a hot springs. It is not actually a volcano. It is similar to a hole in the Earth’s crust, a vent, with exposed lava. The top layers of water are fresh water, or brackish, and the lower levels are salt. The mix is about 70% fresh and 30% salt water. The lake is located in a hollow place in the Earth. Constant raining for many years filled it up. For this reason, the water level went up, and the water at the bottom has a higher salt concentration.”

“You are only allowed to dive in Barracuda Lake. Before, they allowed diving in both lakes, but there are some caves in Kayanang Lake which have tribal artifacts from ancient times. Apparently, there were settlements there, and later the water level raised. The caves are now under water.”

“The rest of the lakes are sacred. They even call these the sacrificial lakes, and because of ancestral domain, the tribe is permitted to keep people from going there.”

I asked about endangered species on the island. 

“The most unique aquatic life are the barracuda.” Said Rannie. He also told me that many people believe there is a species of Philippine kangaroo. “They are very small kangaroos with the face of a goat.”

To date, no legitimate biologist has seen one or captured one. 

John “the Cave Man” Gray, a natural historian based out of Phuket, had originally set up the kayak exploration company which Rannie now worked for. John gave it to the locals as a means of creating jobs and entrepreneurship. While he was in Coron, he learned about the plight of the Tagbanua, and their inability to protect their own island. He was instrumental in helping them get their ancestral domain rights. 

“He helped them with connections, introducing them to the right people.” Said Rannie. 

A fight for land rights easily turns bloody 

“One of the lawyers helping the tribe was shot and almost died in the hospital.” Rannie told me. “A family of businessmen run the local politics. They have interest in the island, so they don’t want the tribe to get the ancestral domain. For example, another island, El Nido, the permits to gather birds’ nests is run by the municipal government. People have to bid for the right to harvest the nests and sell them. But here in Coron, only the Tagbanua have the right to gather bird’s nests.”

“In Coron, one ounce of birds nest goes for between 800-1200 pesos. From Coron, they are sold to Manila, where they are sold to Hong Kong and eventually to Japan and China.”

Every step of the way, the price goes up geometrically. Birds nest gathering is big business. 

“They make soup out of the nests, which they claim has an ingredient that makes you strong.” Possibly they use the nests as a male aphrodisiac. “Here, locally they give birds nest soup to a woman after she has given birth. Or, if you get sick and recover and get sick again, a chronic illness, they give you the soup. It is like an old home remedy.”

“The Tagbanua have a system of gathering bird’s nests. They harvest them from November to June. After the eggs hatch, the Tagbanua gather the first nest, and if they do it properly, the bird builds a new nest on the same spot by using saliva. If you don’t know how to harvest properly, the bird will not come back. They can harvest one nest three times on the same spot.”

John Gray, who runs a sea kayak exploration company in Phuket, was also instrumental stopping the harvesting of birds nests in the protected marine zones on Thailand’s coasts. One of his boat operators was shot and killed by bird’s nest poachers. Saving the environment can be dangerous business. 

“The other businesses the Tagbanua engage in are backyard farming, which is only for the family’s consumption. They do some limited slash and burn farming (swiden agriculture). The Tagbanua engage in fishing, but fish is too expensive to eat, so they sell it in town. The family retains and eats only the lowest quality fish of the catch. They also gather Korot, a root crop which is poisonous if you don’t know how to prepare it properly.”

I had eaten it on a previous expedition. The Batak tribe cooked it and beat it till it formed a thick mush, like mash potatoes mixed with sawdust. It tasted like absolutely nothing. 

“Nowadays, there is very little hunting going on, because there is nothing left to hunt. They still set some traps for small animals. Occasionally they use pig bombs (hollowed out fruit filled with explosives. When the animal bites it, his head explodes.)”
“This is the time of year when they catch octopus and sell it in town. They go out on a raft, traditionally it only had one paddle, but today they use two paddles. They have a wooden ring, with twenty or so hooks on it, attached to a line. They put their face under the water and look for octopus. When they see one, they put the wooden disk in the water and dangle it so the octopus attacks it. When he strikes, the octopus gets stuck on the hooks.” 

Many tribes are living in desperate poverty. From Rannie’s description, it sounded like the Tagbanua weren’t doing to badly. 

“Are they well off?” I asked him. 

“It depends on your point of view.” He began. “For me, I look at them as rich. They have the islands which are really beautiful, and they have the bird’s nests to gather, but they don’t have computers and cars and things. They have some generators and solar on the island. Some people have TV, but not all of them.”

“In my opinion, they are doing well. Of course they lack what we have here in town, like a health center and complete education facilities, which they don’t have on the island. There is now a university in Coron, which opened about five years ago. A few Tagbanua go there, but very few.” 

Unfortunately, the tribal elders were not able to convene a meeting in time to grant me permission to enter the tribal village on Coron. Luckily, however, Rannie arranged for me to meet the chief of the village on Uson island, when he was in Coron. The Chief gave me permission to visit his island. 

When we arrived at Uson Island, we went straight to the home of the Barankay Captain, the village headman, who we had met the previous day, in town. 

The village looked no different from any other, rural Philippine village. Some of the houses were made of concrete block. Some were made of woven bamboo. The house of the chief, also Barankay Captain, was two-stories tall, concrete below and wood up above. Many villagers had electricity, provided by generators or solar panels. The Chairman had a TV in his house.

“But there is no reception out here. That is why we have all of those DVDS.” He said, pointing at a massive pile of pirated American movies. All of the latest Hollywood blockbusters were there, plus some I had never heard of like Mission Impossible 5. I wasn’t sure if anyone had told Tom Cruise about that one. He also had Gandhi 3, which I can’t imagine was very interesting, since Gandhi died in the first one. Maybe he comes back as a pro-democracy zombie and leads his country to victory over the British, from the grave. 

The captain was changing the diaper of his small baby. When he finished, he set the baby in a papoose, which hung from a hook on the ceiling. The baby slept quietly, while we drank strong coffee, extra sweet.

According to the Captain, most of the villagers were either Catholic or protestant. So, the main festivals of the village were the foundation day of the Barangay (legal designation for a village) and the village Saint’s Day. In this particular village St. Peter was the patron saint, so the feast day was June 29. The chairman assured us that both Protestants and Catholics participated. This, of course, raised the question, just how converted are they? Normally, the Protestants don’t recognize the saints.

Other elements of the ancient animist belief in spirits had also survived the conversion. 

The captain explained. “When we are walking on the trail, if we feel the hair stand up on our arm, then we know there is a spirit on the trail ahead of us. So we say in Filipino, excuse me, can I pass?”

I asked what special ceremonies the Tagbanua had, for example when a baby was born. 

“We go to the city and register the birth.” Said the captain.

“I see.” I said disappointed. “That doesn’t really count as a festival.”

“We used to have our own traditional festivals, but now, because of the law, we have to register the birth or else the child can’t go to school.”

“Do you have other tribal rituals?” I asked, hoping to hear about human heads on sticks or slinging chicken blood

“Yes, we have to take the baby to be vaccinated.” 

I am fascinated. 

The captain explained that even the weddings now, although still performed in the village, are not as culturally unique as they once were, because the couples have to go to town and marry again in a civil ceremony for the marriage to be legally recognized. 

There was a protestant missionary living in the village. Apparently, he moved in before the Ancestral Domain land rights were granted. Now the tribe can keep new people from moving in, but it is hard to kick someone out. 

Rannie said, “The conversion to Protestantism has effected the tribe’s animist beliefs. A missionary came in and translated the Bible into Tagbanua language, using the Latin alphabet Although most have converted, many of them still believe in the old beliefs, like they believe there are gods of the sea, gods of the forest, and gods of farming. They still practice a kind of sacrifice or offerings to these gods.”

This was in keeping with my experience with rural people in general. They tended to follow certain superstitions, particularly related to harvest and to sea faring. 

“They have a legend about a giant octopus in the sea, and they are fearful of the places where it dwells.” Rannie said. “Before they plant they make offerings of food in the area.”

When I asked about outside cultural influences the chairman shocked me by brining up the Chinese. “We used to trade with Chinese seamen, and that bought a lot of changes to the way our tribe lived.”

“But that was six hundred years ago.” I said, remembering the book, “1423, the Year China Discovered the world.”

Rannie explained that before the Tagbnanua converted to Christianity they buried their dead in accordance with Chinese custom. They were buried in a cave, with their artifacts and gold. 

“My friend and I were exploring some caves, and we found shards of pottery in an old Tagbanua grave. We took the shards to some Japanese archeologists who were able to positively date it to the seventh century.” Said Rannie.

As amazing as this fact was, the next answer stunned me. “I can’t imagine there are any descendants of these Chinese here today.”

“No, said Rannie, the last one moved to Coron city and runs the hardware store.”

Once again, during my work in South East Asia I was amazed at the long reaching influence of the Chinese local culture, as well as their ability to retain their culture and language for generations. And, of course, this Chinese man Rannie spoke of was not a farmer. He was a vendor, which is in keeping with the traditional role of ethnic Chinese living in foreign cultures. 

In most south east Asian countries, the tribal people are among the poorest and least educated ethnic group. It is important to note, however, that rural farmers, regardless of race tend to fall into this category. In general the Chinese minority tend to be among the richest and best educated.

The Chinese value education so highly that they often open their own schools, which are much better than the local government schools. In fact, there were Chinese schools on several of the larger islands near Coron. A university professor told me, “Many non Chinese families, in the Philippines, send their children to Chinese schools to get a good education.”

The Tagbanua of Coron couldn’t afford to build their own schools. The government had built a single school on the island, but it only ran through fifth grade. If the parents wanted the children to study beyond that point, they had to send them to Coron City. 

“I could count on one hand the number of children from the village who finished high school and went to college.” Said the Chairman. “It is too expensive. Once the kids finish fifth grade they need to go to town to continue their studies. If they travel every day, it takes a long time.” Nearly two hours, mostly by boat, each way. “It is also very expensive.”

They also wind up missing a lot of days because bad weather may prevent them from attending. The other option is that the parents send them to live with relatives in the city which is also expensive. 

“A few kids made it to the second year of high school and had to quit because the family had no money.”

When we left the island, the second part of the journey, we were headed into the wind. The sea was against us and the paddling was grueling. All the while, I just concentrated on the benefits to my muscles and how many calories I was burning. 

We passed countless islands, and they were re all beautiful. If you wanted to take it slow, you could island hop, taking a rest on each island, exploring and moving on to your destination. The scenery was decorated with craggy limestone peaks. The cliffs jutted up into the sky and I could imagine climbing them would be a thrill. 

We paddled on to a small beach on a corner of Coron Island which is more or less open to tourists. The beach is, however, strictly controlled and littering or damage to the natural environment is prohibited. 

We beached the kayaks and donned our snorkeling gear. Rannie lead me out over the coral reefs which looked like endless gardens of brightly colored fish and plants. I saw sea anemones, sea cucumbers, and all manner of tubular plants that pulsed with the movement of the tides. We swam through a school of yellow and blue fish, and for a split second the air around us turned to crayons. 

Water was heavily salinated and you could float effortlessly, while taking in the amazing show below you. At some points, the water was so shallow I could barely swim over the coral, trying desperately not to brush against it. 

There are several Japanese wrecks in the waters around Coron. According to research, they were sunk in 1944 by American bombers. Most are in divable depth and some can be done with just snorkeling gear. The deepest wreck is at 42 meters. Others are at 36, 28, and 18 meters. 

“The Japanese were hiding here during the war. They covered the ships with foliage and hid, like moving islands.” Explained Rannie. “But when the Americans got the report that there was a fleet here, they came and sank them. There are also rumors that there is a lot of treasure here, because the Japanese looted a lot of Asian counties before they came to the Philippines.”

Apparently, local people spent a lot of time diving and digging for gold. 

When we reached the wreck, I was excited. I had never dived on a wreck before and it felt like diving into a piece of history. The war with Japan was one more event which linked the Americans with the Filipinos. The US and Filipinos fought side by side in the Spanish American War, which the local people call the war for independence. After the war, the Philippines remained under American administration until the Japanese invaded. 

Under Spanish colonial rule, Filipinos were excluded from education. In fact, they were even discouraged from learning the Spanish language. During the less than fifty years of US colonial administration, a system of education, including mandatory primary school, was instituted. The US built a network of universities, including the first universities to serve the tribal communities. In just fifty years, nearly everyone learned to speak English. When Douglas McCarther was forced to abandon the Philippines, in the face of an overwhelming Japanese invasion, he spoke his famous line, “I shall return.” 

He did, and the Allied Forces, along with Filipino freedom fighters, defeated the Japanese. When the Filipinos saw the American soldiers, they made the victory sign with the hand and shouted, “Victory Joe!” Today, I get a major kick out of hearing shouts of “Hey Joe, when I walk down the street in the rural Philippines.  Soon after the war, the Philippines was made a republic and given full independence. The special relationship between the Philippines and the US continues to today. The Philippines sent to troops to aid the Americans in both the Korean and the Vietnam War. 

When I served in the US Merchant Marines we found that nearly 20% of the crews on US ships were Filipinos. I found that as many of the Filipino men were named Antonio or Joseph as in my own family. We shared a common religion, and their language was about twenty percent Spanish, which is pretty much how English is spoken back in New York. 

And now, here I was, completely dependent on my Filipino guide and friend, Rannie, swimming around a war ship, which served as one more reminder of the connection between the Philippines and the US. 

On the way home, the wind and current were at our backs, and we glided effortlessly over the waves. In all, we had paddled between 16 and 19 km. I was happy to have a shower and a hot meal, but I wished I could do it again the next day. Kayaking, tribes, snorkeling, and wreck diving all in one day, it had been one of the most adventure filled days of my career. 

About the Author:  Antonio Graceffo, BA, Dip Lic, AAMS, CMFC, CTC, RFC Born to Italian parents, Antonio is originally from New York City . He spent seven years in the United States Military, in both the Army NG and the US Merchant Marines. Antonio is fluent in German, Spanish, Italian, and Mandarin Chinese, and speaks Thai and Khmer conversationally. He holds diplomas from Tennessee State University , University of Mainz , Germany , Trinity College , England , Heriot Watt University , Scotland , Universidad Latina , Costa Rica , as well as advanced degrees in business and Taxation from various universities in the United States . Antonio has studied and competed in martial arts and boxing for over twenty-five years, and has studied at the Shaolin Temple, in Mainland China and a Muay Thai (boxing) temple, in Thailand. He works as a full time adventurer, writer, and film star. He currently lives in Cambodia, where he is staring in Kung Fu films, and boxing professionally. Visit www.speakingadventure.com/ for more information and amazing stories and photos.