Half Day Honda Bay Tour: A Desperate Move

We luckily booked a promo flight to Puerto Princesa last November and it was good for a 3days/2Nights vacation. We were greening upon successfully booking the flight – Php700 for a roundtrip Cebu-Palawan flight! Yep, it’s way cheaper than the regular rates. But little did we know that 3days is not really enough to enjoy the beautiful province of Palawan, or even Puerto Princesa at least.

Dilemma Moments
Came January and we were in dilemma. We started looking and planning for things we can do in Palawan. And obviously, the recently world renown new seven wonders of nature, the Underground River(PPUR), was a unanimous choice for us all. So since it’s located in Puerto Princesa, we research on tourist attraction around the area. El Nido and Dos Palmas attractions are out of the question, we would hopefully visit those places on our next Palawan trip or possibly trips?hahahahaha! (promo fares is our hope)

After some research, we narrowed our choices to the most well known tourist spot in Puerto Princesa – the Honda Bay, PPUR and the City tour. We checked our flight schedule and then aaaargh! All are mid day, 12:10nn arrival in Puerto and 12:40nn back to Cebu! There’s no way we can visit these three spots considering our flight schedules. We felt bad but there’s nothing we can do. We can book another one or reschedule it but the fare would cost a lot.

A Sprinkle of Hope
Given the time constraint, we need to choose between Honday Bay Tour or PPUR since both are whole day tours as per travel agencies and hotels. The city tour, which is only good for half a day, is doable. As PPUR is now very popular, we obviously chose it over Honda Bay. We then requested for quotes from several hotels and travel agencies, to at least get the cheapest deal.

Luck as it may seem, we received a quote with a half day or whole day option for Honda Bay tour. With a sprinkle of hope, I automatically even called the hotel who had given that quote but to my dismay, she informed me that they no longer cater that half day Honda Bay tour. But the phrase ‘no longer’ lingers in my mind, meaning it’s still possible to other tour provider, right?

Pandan Island

Kuya Danny is the man
We were desperate. We thoroughly researched online if Half Day Honda Bay Island Tour is possible, and then I came across the name ‘Kuya Danny’. He’s a local from Puerto Princesa who offers tour services. My friend Divi contacted him and thank God he agreed to take care of our Half Day Honda Bay Tour.

with Kuya Danny

This is it!
Thankfully our flight was on schedule and we arrived in Puerto around 12 in the afternoon. Kuya Danny picked us up at the airport to save time and immediately we proceeded to the wharf located at Purok Honda Bay, Barangay Sta. Lourdes. It’s a 20-30mins ride from the airport.

@ Honda Bay Wharf

We registered our names and paid the boat rental then waited for our boatman to call us.

A Taste of Honda Bay
Considering our limited time, Kuya Danny instructed our boatman to immediately proceed to Pandan Island as this is the most beautiful among the islands visited when doing Honda Bay tour. Since we only have few hours to do the tour, he initially planned to tour us to at least two islands, the Pandan and Snake Island. But sadly Snake island is temporarily closed during that time so we only got to visit one island :(

The Pandan Island

Isla Pandan

After about 30-45mins of rough boat ride from the wharf, we finally arrived at Pandan Island. The island is attractive with the colorful flags and a number of beautiful cottages. However, we only rented a table since all cottages were already occupied when we have arrived.

And since it’s already past 1PM, we ate our sumptuous lunch first, which was prepared by Kuya Danny, before enjoying the island.

Swim, Snorkel, Pose
Yes, don’t forget your Snorkeling gears when visiting the island. It’s my first time to do it and I struggled for some time to get used with the device..hahaha!

Getting ready

Really trying..hahahah!

But seeing those beautiful fishes was amazing and it was worth it! I was fascinated by the fact that they feel so secured in their environment. Secure in the sense that they are not afraid of humans; that they flocked in our hands when we did fish feeding. Yep, you can bring some bread or bread crumbs to attract more fishes. The site was really delightful.

And of course, besides snorkeling and swimming, we did a lot of posing for the camera!

The Jump Shot

with the Giant Starfish Shot

The Verdict
Though our Half Day Honda Bay tour did not turned out as expected, we were at least glad to have a taste of Honda Bay Island. I can say that it's a desperate move - we only got to visit one island with the same cost than having it whole day and visiting more islands. But the snorkeling experience made this trip truly memorable and worth it. And not to mention the lessons we have learned in this trip. As to what these lessons are? I guess I just have to save it for another post. :)

Posted in: Palawan,Puerto Princesa