Palawan - Honda Bay Day 1

[FlyAway]

January 1,2015 wife and I were in Puerto Princesa Palawan. Having never been there we decided to try booking a tour package online. We found a place called Boris Travel online. After going back and forth we decided on their Under ground river and Honda Bay day tours. They offered us hotel accommodations but we did some online research and found the same hotel offered to us at a better rate online. The Legend Palawan is a really nice hotel. The staff is great and very helpful.

 

The Honda Bay island hopping tour cost P1,340 per person. A van will pick you up at your hotel. Expect the van to be filled up. You will first be driven to a place that rents snorkel gear and foot wear. Prices were P150 for a snorkel and mask. Fins and boots were not overly expensive to rent. We had our own goggles so it was not needed by us. The whole group is then taken to the bay docks. I do not think they have a prearranged boat as we had to wait a bit to board one.

 

 

First stop was Star Fish Island. This is a swimming tour, so do not think you will not get wet one way or another. The boats cannot drop you off on dry land. You have to step into the water and walk a few feet to the beach. We were here for about an hour.

And this is the reason it is called Star Fish Island. I Took these with a water proof action camera made by Foscam.

Everyone was afraid of the monkey they had leashed to the tree. They were tossing it food and it was not to fast at catching it. I picked up the dropped food and handed it to the monkey.

 

Next Island was Lu Li. We just walked around here for a bit. They allotted us 45 minutes.

 

Last island was Cowrie Island. this is where we were given the lunch included in the tour package. Nothing spectacular just a simple buffet with warm ice tea. We just walked around here for a few hours and did not go swimming. This island felt like sort of a touristy trap to us. It is nice though.

Some extra scenery for our presently absent Jake......

There was also a decent well stocked bar as well.

All in all, not a bad day tour. No complaints from us or anyone else in the group. In our group was a Japanese family and a Filipino family. all the kids had a great time as well.

The tour guide was exceptional! Very knowledgeable lady and very friendly. The price we paid for the tour was money well spent to me. Could we have found it cheaper? Of course but we are on vacation and not having to worry or negotiate things is OK with me.

 

Originally the Honda Bay tour was to be the Second day. January 1 was supposed to be the Underground River. Unfortunately the River Park was closed that day due to the passing of the typhoon. The Philippine Coast Guard would not allow tourist travel on the ocean there that day. Water waves were to high.

 

Day 2 is the Underground River..... to be continued.

 

[earthdome]

If you like ziplines there is a nice one starting at a rock spire somewhere on the road to the underground river. Our tour asked if the group wanted to stop for the zipline on the way, and we did. Nice ride.

 

We also did Honda Bay but only went to Cowrie Island.

 

In the evenings we enjoyed drinks and a good band from Manila at the Tiki Bar.

[MacBubba]

The tour guide was exceptional! Very knowledgeable lady and very friendly. The price we paid for the tour was money well spent to me.

 

That's been our Palawan experience by and large.  Palawan takes tourism seriously.  If the rest of the country could emulate them, they would be raking in more tourist dollars.

[FlyAway]

If you like ziplines there is a nice one starting at a rock spire somewhere on the road to the underground river. Our tour asked if the group wanted to stop for the zipline on the way, and we did. Nice ride.

 

We also did Honda Bay but only went to Cowrie Island.

 

In the evenings we enjoyed drinks and a good band from Manila at the Tiki Bar.

We really wanted to do the zip lines but a few in our group had to catch a van to El Nido. That killed it because everyone would have had to agree to it.

[Guy F.]

The wife & I visited Puerto Princesa in 2013 and I loved it. "The City In A Forest" because they don't allow buildings over 3 stories high. Littering will get you a fine for the 1st offense and jail for the 2nd. Our guide for the city tour was Aissa (pronounced eye-sah) who was truly great. The snorkeling in Honda Bay was excellent, I thought.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Guy F.

[GregZ]

We did Honda Bay in 2013 and found it nice, but a bit murky in the water and there was no storm around the stir things up.  You could not see much sea life at all.  We, unfortunately I suppose, snorkeled at Moalboal, Cebu island first.  That was clear and beautiful with LOTS of colorful sea life to check out.  It is a bit out of the way though and nothing much else around it... so that is all you'd be going for.

 

Honda Bay positives were the boat ride, seeing the different islands (we went to 4), nice lunch that someone else put the effort into and lots of good photo session spots above water. :thumbsup:   We had an underwater camera available, but the murky water killed the pics.  :th_unfair: