Busuanga & Calamianes resorts

What you should know before you book

• Francisco B. Reyes Airport carries the IATA code USU and the ICAO code RPVV. It is commonly called Busuanga Airport, it stands within the municipality of Coron on Busuanga Island, and it is shared with the neighbouring municipality of Busuanga — so “Busuanga Airport”, “Coron Airport” and “USU” all name the same single terminal.
• The airport is named after Francisco B. Reyes, Mayor of Coron from 1936 to 1939, who donated the land the airport complex stands on.
• The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines classes it as a Class 2 principal (minor domestic) airport, with one concrete runway of 1,225 metres. It is a domestic gateway, so an international visitor connects through a Philippine hub before flying in.
• The Calamian Islands are a group, not a single place: Busuanga, Coron, Culion and Linapacan, plus numerous smaller islands, spread over roughly 1,800 km² of sea.
• Busuanga Island is the largest island in the Calamian group and the second-largest in Palawan province after Palawan island itself, at about 890 km². Its western part is the municipality of Busuanga and its eastern part the municipality of Coron.
• Coron town sits on Busuanga Island. Coron Island is a different island — the third-largest in the group, ringed by limestone cliffs and karst and holding eleven inland lakes, among them Kayangan and Barracuda. It is reached by boat, never by road.
• Coron municipality covers 689.10 km² across 23 barangays, had a population of 69,439 at the 2024 census, and uses postal code 5316. Giving a driver the barangay as well as the resort name is what turns “Coron” into an address.
• Culion is a separate island municipality — Culion Island plus 41 smaller islands, 499.59 km², population 23,985 at the 2024 census, postal code 5315. A Culion resort always needs a boat leg after the airport road transfer.
• Culion was a leprosarium from 1906 under the American colonial administration and was declared leprosy-free by the World Health Organization in 2006. Its heritage town is a destination in its own right, not only a transfer stop.
• The Japanese wrecks that made Coron Bay a diving destination were sunk there by a United States Navy air attack on 24 September 1944. The bay is a natural anchorage beside Coron town, so wreck days run from the town side of Busuanga Island.
• Calauit Island, at the far western end of the group, holds a wildlife sanctuary established in the 1970s with African species including giraffes and zebras, alongside endemic Philippine wildlife such as hornbills, sea turtles and dugongs. It is a full land-and-boat day from Coron town, not a short hop.
• The Calamian Tagbanwa are an indigenous people distinct from the Tagbanwa of mainland Palawan. They hold a Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title granted in 2004 covering 24,520 hectares, which includes Coron Island — so access there follows the community’s rules, not a resort’s.

We do not run this boat, so we will not pretend we can refund someone else’s sailing — but we will not leave you paying for a vehicle that has nowhere to be either. If the crossing is suspended or your boat does not go, the transfer we quoted is re-timed or rebooked for when it does.

Arriving or leaving by boat? Tell us in the notes which crossing you are booked on and the vehicle is timed to meet it rather than to a clock, with the pickup point and time named on the written confirmation we send before you travel. We do not track a sailing the way we track a flight, so if the boat runs late or you are moved to another one, message us while it is happening and we re-time the driver rather than leaving you to sort it out at the pier.

Travelling with dive kit, a board bag or other bulky equipment? Say so on the quote form — it travels inside the vehicle with you, so it is the load rather than the head count that decides which vehicle we send.

Airport pickups are met in the arrivals area with a name board rather than at the kerb, and the written confirmation sent before you travel carries the driver and vehicle details.

The departure leg is quoted the same way: send the flight you are catching and the pickup is worked back from it rather than guessed, and where the timing is tight we will say plainly whether it works.

If the name board is not there when you land, stay in the arrivals area and message us rather than leaving the terminal or taking a taxi — the written confirmation sent before you travel carries the driver and vehicle details, so save it offline and use it. We would rather sort it out while you are standing there than hear about it afterwards.

Everything we arrange is in English, and we are the English-speaking end of it on the day as well as before it — if something moves, message us rather than trying to settle it at the roadside. We do not promise a particular driver’s fluency; instead the written confirmation carries the pickup, the driver and vehicle details and the shape of the day, so it is settled in writing rather than negotiated at a kerb.

If you are the one running late — a slow checkout, a breakfast that ran on — message us while it is happening rather than afterwards, using the reply path on the written confirmation sent before you travel: on the morning it is something we can relay to the driver and re-time around where the day allows, and afterwards it is not. We publish no waiting window and nothing is settled in cash at the kerb, but we will not pretend a delay is free of consequence either: a leg somebody else holds — a permit slot, a ferry, a flight — keeps its own clock, and a long hold can re-price the day, which we would tell you rather than spring on you.

The vehicle is sized around the whole load, not the head count alone, so send the real bag count with the group size: where the luggage is what one vehicle cannot comfortably take we go up a class, or run more than one vehicle kept together on a single booking, rather than finding out at the kerb.

Not booked your accommodation yet? Ask anyway — the town or the area you are aiming for is enough for us to quote the leg and tell you whether it works. The exact property belongs to the confirmation, not the enquiry: send it by reply as soon as you have it, and if the final address changes the trip materially we re-quote it rather than finding out on the day.

Stopping somewhere on the way is normal here, not a separate booking: the vehicle and driver stay with you through the stop and your luggage stays aboard, so list the stops in order on the quote form and we plan the day around them rather than leaving it to the roadside.

This is a long run on the road, and stopping on the way is a normal part of one: the vehicle is yours for the leg rather than a shared van on its own turnaround, so the driver can pull over where it is safe for a toilet, for food or just to get out of the seat, with your bags staying aboard. If anyone travelling needs to stop more often, needs to eat at a set time, or travels badly on winding roads, say so in the notes on the quote form and we plan the leg around it.

A private transfer has no second van behind it, so it is fair to ask what happens if this one fails on the road: it stays ours to sort out rather than becoming yours — the driver reports it to us rather than leaving you to work it out, nothing is settled at the roadside, and where part of the trip did not happen the rebook-or-refund position on our terms applies for our reason exactly as it does for the weather.

We publish facts, not fares. Prices depend on the vehicle or boat, your group size, waiting time and the season, so every trip is quoted individually — free and with no obligation.

Busuanga & Calamianes resorts: common questions

Anything specific to your dates, group or pickup point is answered on the quote — that is where the actual vehicle, timing and fixed all-in price come from.

Ask us on the quote form