Dive Link is on Uson Island, north of Busuanga, the main island of the Calamianes group. Dive Link Resorts sits on 6.5-hectares in Uson Island, 10 minutes by boat from Coron town.
The Philippines is a scuba diving country. There are a dozen scuba diving operators offering diving trips on 10 Japanese wrecks sunk during World War II.
Half an hour by banga to the east of Coron are the limestone cliffs of Coron Island. Nearby are Makinit hot springs and a volcanic lake. Dive Link makes the perfect base. It offers a three-day tour package for P7,000 per person (minimum of 2 persons) including a day of island hopping in Coron Bay, roundtrip land and boat transfers to and from the resort, two-night accommodation with meals, use of resort facilities, and activities like snorkeling, swimming, trekking and mangroves expedition. With the same tour inclusions is a five-day package for P21,000 per person (minimum of 4) but with two-night full board stay at Dive Link Resort and two nights at Kalipayan in Popototan Island. And there’s standard massage-wellness services.
Rooms are in a detached thatched roof native hut furnished with aircon, foam mattress beds, clean ensuite toilet and shower, a veranda looking out to the channel that is part of Coron Bay, bamboo chair and table, a big hot-water flask, cups and saucers, coffee, teaspoons, and sugar sachets. Being able to make your own coffee first thing in the morning at the privacy of your room is a luxury.
There is cellphone signal and internet is available.
Vegans are guaranteed a field day in Dive Link Resort. But even carnivores won’t be disappointed by the resort’s fresh and affordable sea food. Steamed, deep fried, or kilawin, fresh seafood at Dive Link range from Php 300 to Php 500 per meal, complete with fruit in season for dessert.
Divers can enjoy wreck dives in various sites. A wreck dive includes passing an underwater caldera which is the breeding ground of barracudas. For experienced divers, try the group of seven rocky outcrops Siete Pecados. It shelters narrow coral reef corridors between them where coral seems to be thriving.
For non-divers, off-the-beaten-path island hops are offered. The first is Twin Lagoons on Coron Island, a pair of exotic, roughly symmetrical coves accessible through several entrances at high tide and features a rock pedestal which, at a certain time in the afternoon, allows a single beam of sunlight to fall on it. Behind this rock pedestal is a narrow passage — that submerges at high tide — leading to yet another hidden lake. Still on Coron Island is Kayangan Lake, a fresh water jewel of a pond that, through a crack on its side, allows at high tide salt water to seep in and mix with the freshwater, giving it a sweet, brackish taste that nurtures a unique ecology. Coron Island all the way to Calice Point is a tiny paradise island blessed with five white-sand beaches.
Dive Link is a must visit in Busuanga for divers and their family. Non diving activities including a day at the resort pool and massage treatments are available.
The no-frills resort is also a good first stop-over point for a night or two for those who want to explore Coron and its surroundings and later on move on to other remote island resorts.
The head of Dive Link’s scuba instruction and exploration arm, John Hardcastle, is certified by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) and has a qualification and experience rating higher than a dive master.