Puerto Princesa: Honda Bay Island Hopping

Read our 1st day in Puerto Princesa here and here.

After spending our first day in Puerto Princesa touring the city, our second day is for Honda Bay Island Hopping. Again, this is included in our tour package. 

The Honda Bay Island Tour we had includes transportation to/from our pension house, lunch, entrance fees to the islands and a licensed tour guide. 

We began our day a little off: there was a little miscommunication between our agency and pension house about serving us breakfast before the van fetches us. But there wasn't enough time to cook us breakfast so we rode the van to Honda Bay Wharf a little hungry.

at Honda Bay Wharf

Luckily, we stopped by a convenience store to buy bottled water, chips and some bread (the store also has a bakery so I bought some pan de sal we munched on during the trip).

A few meters from the wharf, we again stopped by a snorkel rental shop. Since I am a killjoy, one person in our group rented snorkeling gear. But the store owner shared some scary stories about stepping on a stonefish (or Ursula or Squidward), she also got a pair of aqua shoes. Rent is a little more expensive than the regular, say Php 200 - Php 300.

Our group had to pay Php 40 per pax for the environmental fee since it wasn't included in our package. Not a big deal though. :P While waiting for our boat, we got some hot taho. Interestingly, their taho has condensed milk. I wasn't able to take a photo, I slurped it down immediately.

Here are the islands we visited:

1) Pandan Island

at Pandan Island

We started with the farthest point in our tour, Pandan Island. I was impressed on how well-maintained the island is. There is a sign for the swimming area, grilling area and even fish feeding has a schedule too. 

My friends and I had a great time feeding the fish with what was left from the pan de sal I bought earlier. After a while we were called by our tour guide for lunch. 

Here's what we had:

grilled squid

crabs

grilled unicorn fish

grilled liempo

As soon as we started eating, 2 resident dogs approached us. We willingly gave them food (and even played catch with them, they're really friendly).

friendly dogs in Pandan Island

2) Cowrie Island

After lunch, we went to Cowrie Island. It was getting really hot that we group didn't even go near the water. We just sat there, enjoyed the view and ate the chips we bought earlier. There's also a small bar at Cowrie Island where you could buy food  and drinks, but expect it to be a little expensive. I got Saba Con Hielo (Php 80) though, but the ice melted quickly.

Saba Con Hielo

While our fellow tourists (including blonde Swedish Barbies, much to my male friends' delight), snorkeled, we just took some photos of the island.

3) Pambato Reef

Our last stop was Pambato Reef, which is basically a snorkelling area. But our group is really lazy (in case you haven't noticed), we just told our guide that we'll be staying on the boat. Seriously, the sun and sea breeze can really make you sleepy. 

Our boat then went back to the Honda Bay Wharf, where our van was already waiting for us. We were dropped to our pension house later. It was a relaxing day at the beach. It was nice that the islands at Honda Bay are all well-maintained. I just wish that the tourists would do their part in helping maintain the cleanliness of the beach.

A special shout-out to the one who weren't able to join us for this trip (because he loooooooves his job so much!!!). HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON-ON!!!!! :)

Standard rate for Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour: Php 1100 / pax