The island can be reached via ferry. The airstrip is still functional but rarely if ever used nowadays. Sun Cruises offer ferry services and day tours, plus an option to stay at the island overnight at the only hotel in Corregidor. Their published rates are posted at their website. The ferry leaves at 8AM but you need to get to the dock at the back of PICC at least an hour before to get your boarding pass.The trip takes an hour and a half to two depending on how calm or rough the waters are.
For our Corregidor trip, we took the day tour and opted to stay overnight. We arrived at the island at around 9:30AM and proceeded to our assigned tramvias. Each tramvia has an assigned tour guide and I can say that they are really good,it's like listening to your history book about World War II accompanied by the beautiful scenery around the island.
Even though the buildings are like concrete skeletons with walls, doors and windows blasted off, one can still marvel at the engineering marvel at how sturdy the building foundations were made. We even visited one site where there was a big pockmark on where a bomb fell but the structure was still intact.
The lunch buffet served at the restaurant was good. I wasn't able to take pictures, but the spread had good choices from fish to beef. For dessert, there was traditional kakanin or sweet rice cakes.
The finale of our day tour was a trip to Malinta tunnel with it's Lights and sound show.
Since we opted to stay overnight, we were shuttled back to the hotel while the day tour guests were brought back to the North dock to be ferried back to Manila. This gave us time to freshen up and rest a bit before heading out to explore the island.
One thing I love about Corregidor is that after the day tour crowd is gone, the island is literally quiet. It's like deserted since the only hotel there can only accommodate a few guests so we had the entire island to ourselves. I wanted to wade at the beach but the waves were too rough so we contented ourselves to just taking in the peace brought by the serene surroundings. The only sound that we could hear was the crash of waves and the chirping of birds.
Around 5PM we headed back to the hotel for the sunset viewing and Night Lateral tour. Since it was raining, we weren't able to view the sunset. Also, none of us were brave enough to explore the hospital ruins which is said to be the most haunted building in Corregidor. The Night Lateral tour is also an experience to remember since we were brought inside Malinta tunnel again and brought to places where a lot of soldiers perished.
We had dinner at the hotel's restaurant, La Playa. The menu is a bit pricey, but the servings are generous. You can actually bring food and drinks to the island. Bear in mind that this is an island and there are no convenience stores, so if you are like us wanderlust friends who are scared of going hungry, better to bring extra food.
We started early the next day for the sunrise viewing and Japanese tunnel tour. Again, like our sunset there was no sunrise because of the clouds. The Japanese tunnel tour is a little physical since one has to climb steep stairs and crawl low tunnels.
For the remainder of our trip, we hung out at the beach after breakfast while waiting for the day tour to end for our ferry ride back to Manila. I'd definitely go back again. Corregidor is one of those places that leaves a lasting impression on you.It's a nice place to relax and relive our history.
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