On our third day in Puerto Princesa Palawan, we had our Honda Bay island hopping tour.
We were picked up at 6:00 AM by the tour van from the fabulous inn we were staying ā Tres Pension Inn.
Honda Bay is just near Puerto Princesa so it wasnāt that a long trip in getting there.
The tour had a stopover first at a scuba rental place before proceeding to the docks.
Boyfie and I rented out one scuba gear, two pairs of beach shoes, and a pair of shorts (boyfie forgot his swimming shorts!)
The rental was quite expensive though so I would suggest you bring your own equipments prior to this tour.
About the beach shoes, it was really not quite necessary.
We regretted renting those.
Anyway, finally we were at the docks:
Here are the rates ā great for DIY island hopping:
honda bay island hopping rates
It took some time before the tour guide finally rented out a ābangkaā.
There were a lot of people already there before us.
Off we went some hours laterā¦
Our first stop was Pandan Island.
The beach is so fine.
The water so clear.
The sands glistening.
And boyfie is thrilled.
boyfie getting ready to dive in
We interacted closely with the fishies.
After dipping around the pristine waters, we had our YUMMY lunch!
And we bought some fresh buko!
(Forgive my exclamation marksā¦ I got excited by the pictures of the food!)
By the way, the buffet lunch is already included in the island hopping tour.
It makes it all worth it!
Also, boyfie and I were the only ones with a separated mini-cottage there.
The cottage rented by the tour was already crowded so we got a mini-cottage all by ourselves.
Ha! We were so lucky we felt like we were on a private tour.
I also took some pictures of some information and rates about Pandan Island:
pandan island wildlife info
pandan island scuba rates
pandan island activity rates
pandan island cottage rates
And then some free activity (if youāre man enough to pose like so):
funny poses at pandan island
We spent the whole morning and lunch in Pandan Island.
Our next stop was a reef called Pambato Reef.
There was a floating house in the middle of the sea with a turtle roof.
pambato reef floating house
My heart pounded at the sight that there will be no land in this pit stop.
And my heart almost fainted just by walking through the floating wood til reaching the house.
That was a great feat for me ā a non-swimmer.
It was also here that boyfie almost drowned who is also a non-swimmer.
In Pambato Reef, you are really going to dive in to see the corals.
There is a swimmer guide going with a group (at most 3 I think).
The group can cling on to a rickety life floater that the swimmer guide is going to pull round the reef.
Boyfie went in and I took the pictures.
boyfie diving in to pambato reef
I decided I cannot possibly do the diving.
When boyfie and group was almost to the edge of the house, I saw him clinging to a rope.
And it looked like he was wrapped around it.
I forget how exactly he looked by then and what happened but he told me he almost drowned that time.
And then I kinda felt adventurous so I risked it and went ahead to dive in.
I dived in with the love of my life (good guy he is even when he almost drowned moments ago).
pambato reef swimmer guide
I wasnāt able to really get some good pictures of the corals (mostly because the waters were cloudy and only a few fishes are around).
But I got this artsy picture of the swimmer guideās legs.
Our third and last stop was Luli Island.
The beach and stretch here was the most beautiful that I have ever seen.
The island was just a really teeny tiny place with a small cottage at the center.
You can only see this sand stretch during low tide:
There are also some floating cottages in the island:
luli island floating cottages
A man was going around the island selling some iced candies.
Boyfie and I tried some and we were super glad we did.
It was the best iced candy we have ever tasted!!!
I wished I could take some home!!!
Too bad we were so caught up eating that we werenāt able to take some pictures of it!
And there you have it!
So ends our Palawan tour.
Early the next day after our Honda Bay tour, we were on the plane back home to Cebu.
Puerto Princesa is a treasure.
Most definitely we will be back!
Next time to El Nido and Coron!
TRAVEL Palawan: HondaBay IslandĀ Hopping On our third day in Puerto Princesa Palawan, we had our Honda Bay island hopping tour.
