Half Day Honda Bay Tour - Possible!

I had a trip to Puerto Princesa with my bestfriend and her boyfriend. Our flight was morning of December 8, 2012 and our return was 1PM of December 10, 2012. That leaves December 9 reserved for the Underground River Tour. So now with our dilemma. Our departure time from Manila was around 10 in the morning and our estimated arrival at the Puerto Princesa airport is around 11:30. To maximize our stay in PP, we decided to have a half day Honda Bay tour. I contacted the hotel where we were supposed to stay and other agencies and got the same message, the Honda Bay is intended for a whole day tour. I had to do a lot of research and found out from other blogs that it's still possible to have a half day Honda Bay - Do it yourself style.

And came December 8 - flight going to PP. It was a good thing that our flight was early. We landed in PP 5 minutes ahead of schedule. Haha. Anyways, when we got out of the airport, I saw my name in one of the welcome greetings. It was our "sundo" from our hotel. We immediately noticed that most of the hotels in PP has their own van to pick up and drop off visitors from and to the airport.

Welcome to Puerto Princesa!

We booked at Tres Pension. It was just 10-15 minutes away from the airport and near the town. When we got there, we were impressed. The place was exactly like the pictures from their site, except for the room that looked bigger from the photos. The rooms was nice and clean though. We were glad we chose this place. 

Tres Pension garden

Panoramic view of the other side of Tres Pension

We then asked the reception lady to call a tricycle to bring us to Honda Bay. We unpacked and changed clothes and when we got out, the Kuya Gil, our tricycle driver, was already waiting for us. Since it was lunch time, we asked Kuya Gil to drop us at Robinsons to get some food before heading to the bay. The trip from town to the bay took around 30 minutes. During the trip, Kuya Gil tried to convince us to stop over at some of the stores to rent snorkeling gears. Since we already read from the blogs that the gears are cheaper at the bay, we humbly refused the offer and just told him that we'll need to secure our boat first at the bay.

Meet our super nice tricycle driver - Kuya Gil with his brand new tricycle

We got at the port around 1PM and there was a Taiwanese couple who were trying to negotiate with one of the personnel in the terminal. The personnel then recommended that they join our group to be able to save on the cost of the boat since we can divide the boat rental. They were hesitant at first because they just wanted to stay in one island and be back at the port as soon as possible. But since that would be more expensive, they decided to join our group. The boat rental was Php1300.00, so we had to divide that by 5. And we (three of us) had to pay a total of Php 120.00 for the environment fee and Php 21.00 as terminal fee. Another cash out for this trip was the gear rental. We only rented the snorkeling gears for Php100.00 each. But they also offer fins and bootlegs for Php100.00 each.

Usual payments for a Honda Bay tour

 And so the tour begins. Our first stop was Pandan island. It was around 20 minutes from the port. We initially planned to eat our lunch at the island. However, when we got there, they were charging Php300.00 per table. So instead of paying for the rent, we decided to just eat our lunch at the boat, which was okay with our boatmen. After our quick lunch, we headed out to explore the island. Even after visiting a few of the most beautiful beaches in the Philippines, I am still in awe to the fact that the water here is clean.

A view of Pandan Island

After taking a dip at the crystal clear water and taking some pictures, we decided to move to the next island which was Starfish Island. Before leaving, our boatman collected the entrance fee - Php100.00 each. From the name itself and from what I read from other blogs, there were a lot of starfish here. So that was what we expected. However, when we got to the island, we were disappointed to see that not only was the sand not fine, but there were no star fish to be seen!!! The boatman then said that IF we really do not spot a starfish, we'll just have to tell him and he'll be the one to look for one. When he asked around, he found out that the starfishes were moved from near the docking area to the end of the island where we did not go. haha.

So with a bit of hope, we went to the end of the island and yes! The starfishes were there indeed. We were however reminded by our boatman that the starfishes should be returned to the water within 5 minutes of taking them or else they will die.

We saw them!

Picture at the bamboo frame

"Shell" camera trick of our boatman

After satisfying ourselves with the starfish and some picture taking at the island, we then headed to the Pandacan reef where we would maximize our snorkeling gears. Again. before leaving, our boatman collected the entrance fee - Php50.00 each. When we got to the Pandacan reef, we were asked to pay the Php50.00 entrance fee before we were allowed to go to the snorkeling area. Our boatman was there to guide us. He asked us to hold on to the his round floater while he tour us around the area to see the corals and fishes. We were disappointed at the sight since the water was not that clear anymore. The boatman said that the water was usually not clear in the afternoon. *Sigh* Too bad for us. Atleast we were still able to see some of the sea creatures though not that clear.

Pandacan Reef

Since the Pandacan Reef was our last stop, we then headed back to the port. It was almost 5PM when we got back at the port. Kuya Gil was patiently waiting for us. When he saw us, he immediately approached us and offered to take our pictures before we head back to out hotel. We arrived at the hotel after around 30 minutes. We then handed Kuya Gil our payment - Php500.00 thanked him and waived him goodbye.

Though the tour was not perfect, we still enjoyed it. Now it's time to rest before dinner time.