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Island hopping and snorkeling at HONDA BAY

Honda Bay is another famous tourist destination off the coast of Puerto Princesa  Palawan  known for it's sand islands. According to our guide, it got its name from a Japanese word which means "sudden deep". That's a definition I never heard of before but I observed that it's true, the waters suddenly get deep only a few meters from shore so better wear those life jackets when you go here. At any rate, the Philippine coast guard maintains a heavy presence here so the guides would really require you to wear it whether on the boat or when snorkeling.

Honda bay is in the Sulu Sea side of Puerto Prinsesa City. It takes 20-30 minutes from the airport to Sta. Lourdes where there is a small port. From there, you will take the boat for another 15-30 minutes depending on your island of destination . Tour is for 1, 100php per head. That would include 3 areas.  It's up to you if you want to request for another island to hop in, comes with an additional charge of coarse. The guide told us that the islands are basically similar to each other so 3 destinations is okay. Since we had to fly back to Manila on the same day, we just stick to the itinerary.

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We were told that Honda bay is about snorkeling, 80% of it's beauty our guide said is underwater. Bad news for our friend Alex who is not into it. Good thing we were able to convince him to give it a try. He loved it since. We stopped momentarily in an area where they made a makeshift cottage for snorkeling. It's in the open sea so the thought of going down the water is kinda scary for beginners. Also my first. But  life vests really do a lot of wonders. You will never sink as long as you have one.

 After snorkeling for around 20 minutes, we finally hopped into one of the islands,  

Star Fish Island.......

I guess I need not to expound why it's called such. You might not notice it at first but there are really a lot of starfish here. This is maybe due to the fact that island is kinda rocky. It's not exactly rocks but there are a lot of corals washed ashore. The guides will advice you to put your sandals on should should you walk on the water. The sand is not very find but the water is really clear.  It is here where i took tons of photos. I am sorry if I will show so many in this post. Photo overload it is. lol


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We stayed in snake island for until 1pm. This is where we spent lunch. The food is covered by the tour fee so your hotel/ resort will be taking care of it. There are no stores in Starfish island so your accommodation would usually prepare the food before leaving for Honda Bay. If you are not a picky eater, you would really enjoy the combination of grilled fish, eggplant with bagoong and green mangoes, shrimps and the like. The usual things I love eating when I go back to my hometown. The experience was really memorable. As a city dweller, eating in a cottage near the beach is simply a refreshing experience.

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me, my wife Teresa and freinds Gema and Alex

Our next Honda bay destination was

Snake Island

--- named after its shape when seen from above. I thought of it as non-photogenic at first after being dazzled by the beauty of starfish island but this is the place in Honda bay where fish feeding is very popular. We really enjoyed the experience. It pays if you bring with you some bread to lure the fish, and when you do, they really come in numbers. Don't worry if you don't have one ready with you, there are a few makeshift sari-sari stores in the island where you can buy many things from chips to sodas to halo-halo. We even bought fresh crabs for 300 pesos a kilo.

Fish comes in different shapes, sizes and colors. Too bad we didn't have case for dslrs. Our friend Gema rented one for 250 pesos for her digital camera.

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my first to snorkel in open water....
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By the way, Honda bay is also home to Dos Palmas Island Resort  which you can visit on a day tour but on separate rate. I think it's at around 1,800 pesos per head and that's exclusively for Dos Palmas.

Honda Bay is really a must-see destination when in Puerto Princesa Palawan as your trip here will never be complete without it. I was personally impressed by the sand islands.If it true that much of the enjoyment lies under the sea, I would say it's a combination of of both above water and underwater view. Having said that, you will not fully enjoy Honda bay if you will not try snorkeling and walking trough the sand islands to simply appreciate the view.........

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for more info on Puerto Prinsesa and Palawan
you might like to visit the following website:

http://www.palawan.com/
http://www.palawan-resort.com/

Comments

  1. hohoho i love snorkelling... yeah luckily we have life jacket so even i cant swim, still can enjoying watching fishes swimming around me :) i had a great island hopping trip when i was in 100islands ya :) awwwww.... cant wait to be back to asia...brazil is still chilly ><

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  2. ung isang photo mo ginawa kong wallpaper sa laptop ko :D btw, so dito na pala sa pinas si islaman ah. magblog na kamo siya uli :D

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  3. ganda naman diyan! Ikaw na ang puro gala! hehehehehehe... Ingats!

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  4. namiss ko ang lugar na ito. :D sana makabalik ulit!

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  5. first o fall, your photos are vivid. very! and I like the angles. pang landscape ka!! =)

    pero hindi benta sakin yung island. walang WOW factor. maybe i need to see this myslef bago ko sya sabihiang dirty.. hehe

    or di ko nakita yung 80% beauty kasi nasa underwater world sila.. we'll see this july 2011. =)

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  6. hello, my first time here.. :-)

    wow, ang ganda nung place esp. the beach! ;-)

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  7. fufu--- hundred islands? that only a few kilometers from my hometown!!!! I frequent the islands and I think they are just so so, still so many beautiful places in the Philippines. in short 100 islands is just average.

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  8. Bino---anung photo yun? naks. pangwallpaper na pala mga photos ko. natuwa naman ako......

    si Junypong. kaya nga e. sandali ipi-pressure ko .lol

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  9. We were told that Honda bay is about snorkeling, 80% of it's beauty our guide said is underwater. >>> i must agree.

    we skipped starfish island but it seems like it's a nice place. i could have chosen that if ive seen this post ahead.

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  10. nang-iinggit si Pusang Kalye o! hehehe
    Ganda ng cloud formation...saka starfish shot mo...

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  11. Chyng---kaso natakot ako kasi di ako marunong mag-portraits. yun pamandin importante. huhuhu. verdict time next year. wag kasi amsyadong choosy.lol

    ReplyDelete
  12. len---welcome to my blog. feel free to hop in from time to time ha.

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  13. Hey, I can't view your site properly within Opera, I actually hope you look into fixing this.

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  14. dong ho--san kayo area nag-snorkel Dom? and anung pinalit nyo sa starfish island?

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  15. Mokong™-- salamat sa cpl. hehehe. at salamat di umulan that day. ang araw, parang summer lang.

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  16. Anonymous--works perfectly well in my opera mate. I think you need to update your browser.....

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  17. so you were in Palawan too. really nice!

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  18. envy is one of the deadly sins, i know. but i cannot help it for 2 reasons : (1) unlike you and the other blogggers i follow, i haven't been to palawan yet *shame on me* (2) your photos are just eye-candy. ang husay! =)

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  19. Nica---the week before we met sa Thunderbird Ms Nica. kaya dark skinned ako that time. sunog.hahaha

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  20. docgelo--mas well travalled kapa ata sa malaysia Doc. naku, magtatampo na ang Pinas nyan sayo. hehehe

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  21. wow... yun na.. ikaw na talaga.. wala na tatalo pa sayo.. inggit na inngit na ko sa yo.. ang gnda ng mga shoot mo hehehe.. sana sa susunod eh. manglibre ka naman sa travel heheh :D

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  22. Axl--basat ba magkasaYA KA SA MALETA KO EH---- para ma-check in kita. dika naman siguro lalampas ng 20kgs diba? hahaha.peace

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  23. Wow ang nice ng pix! naawa naman ako sa point and shoot ko. hahaha! now lang yata ako naka-visit sa site mo. Thank you for this post. sobrang informative. Wala pa kong plan mag puerto pero convincing ito. hmmm... =)

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  24. Kura---welcome to my site KURA. salamat. naku---go dslr na kasi. hehehe. go NIKON...then go Puerto Prinsesa.lol

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  25. nyahaha! kulang pa. underwater cam din. hindi maaaring wala. kakalunod lang nung isang cam na dala ko sa coron e. Namanginoon sa underwater case. hahaha! visiting your blog is becoming a habit. laging may inggit factor. ang galing. hahah! =)

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  26. Kura--naku--syang naman yung cam. di mo na ba narecover? thanks for the constant visit ha. nakita ko coron post mo. napa-coron na tuloy ako bigla. hehehe

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  27. nasa gawaan pa e. pag daw pala sea water damage, 1 araw pa lang na nalublob you have to rush it to the nearest service center kasi mabilis mangalawang. 3 days na ang nakalipas nun e. ang lala tuloy. ang classic dun, hiram lang sya. hahaha! trivia na rin to sa mga readers ng blog mo. =D

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  28. ang ganda ng weather!! sana ganyan din samin pag nagpunta kami! ang gandaaaaaa ng mga pics mo!!! clap clap clap!! :)

    ayayayay!! wala pala kong underwater camera hahaha!! :))

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  29. princess_dyanie---no worries---me nagpaparent ng case para yung digital cam mo pwede na underwater---250 php rent

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  30. Parang di nga namin napuntahan yan waaaa daya LELs, balik ulet ako jan haha!

    ReplyDelete
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