What’s a trip to Puerto Princesa without the Honda Bay Island Hopping? According to Wikipedia, Honda Bay is a bay on the eastern shore of the island of Palawan. The name comes from the Spanish word “Bahia Honda”, which means “deep bay”.
From top left: the dispatch area, our assigned boat,
and on board with our life vests on
When we visited Puerto Princesa last February 2017, there are six islands that you can visit when doing island hopping – Cowrie Island, Pandan Island, Starfish Island, LuLi Island, Pambato Reef and Splash House. Each island has a corresponding entrance fee. You also need to pay an environmental fee of Php 150.00/person (for Honday Bay and Puerto Princesa Underground River), and a terminal fee of Php 5.00/person.
Starfish Island
If you want to enjoy the Honda Bay Island Hopping activity hassle-free, travel agencies and even your hotel can arrange an all-in package for you. Our hotel offered the tour for Php 1,340.00/person, inclusive of a tour guide, van transfer, boat ride, buffet lunch, entrance fees and permit. Our group decided to DIY the tour to have more flexibility.
Laura, holding a live starfish
To DIY, you may rent a tricycle to take you to Sta. Lourdes Wharf and to fetch you after the tour. The regular rate is Php 500.00/tricycle and it can accommodate 2-4 persons, depending on the passengers’ size and level of comfort (J). You may also commute your way to the wharf by riding a multicab with route going to Sta. Lourdes or with sign boards saying “Honda Bay”. The fare is Php 25.00/person.
Bottom picture: listening to an overview of the Pambato Reef
Since there are 11 of us in the group, we followed a local’s suggestion and rented an entire multicab to take us to the wharf and fetch us after the tour for Php 600.00. If you want to avoid the crowd, be at the wharf as early as possible. The tourism office opens at 8AM. Once you are at the wharf, go to the registration table and list your names on the manifesto. Then, go to the cashier who will assign a boat for you and pay for your boat. You will then be directed to pay for the environmental fee and the terminal fee. After that, you may proceed to the dispatching area to wait for your boat. If you didn't bring lunch, buffet is available at Cowrie Island for Php 200.00/person, which you can also settle in advance at their table.
Laura, afraid of the deep waters
Our first destination was the Starfish Island. It's approximately 35 minutes from the wharf, and the entrance fee was Php 50.00/person. As the name suggests, it's supposed to be where you can find a lot of starfishes. Unfortunately, due to the crowd, we were not able to enjoy the island, and we found just a couple of starfishes.
Having fun at LuLi Island
18 minutes from the Starfish Island is the Pambato Reef. Entrance fee was Php 50.00/person. It's easy to spot because of its turtle-designed roof. It's a sanctuary and/or breeding place of several fishes and where corals are rehabilitated. Before you can start swimming, a brief introduction is given to guests to inform them of the do's and don'ts.
From Pambato Reef, we went to LuLi Island, which is only 5 minutes away. Entrance fee to the island was Php 60.00/person. The name came from Tagalog words "lulubog, lilitaw", because the island seems to disappear during high tide. It's a nice place for swimming, it's just that the fishes here are very familiar with people that they tend to nibble on the swimmers' feet.
Our last stop was Cowrie Island, which was 8 minutes from LuLi. Entrance fee was Php 75.00/person, which we paid in advance at the wharf, together with the Php 200.00/person buffet lunch. It's the biggest of the islands we visited. It's also the most developed with several structures on the island. We expected to have a lot of seafood for lunch, being in an island, but the only seafood served in the buffet table was calamares. It would have been better had they served more seafood.
We skipped Pandan Island (though I heard it's really nice), because of the Php 800.00/person entrance fee, inclusive of buffet lunch and cottages, and Splash House because we were told it's just similar to Pambato Reef.
After having lunch and several pictures taken, we decided to go back to the wharf and rest for the day. It only took 8 minutes to get to the wharf. And here's a comparison of our total cost per person done DIY style:
Multicab Php 60.00
Environmental Fee Php 150.00
Terminal Fee Php 5.00
Boat Php 264.00 (Php 2,900.00 divided by 11 persons)
Starfish Island Php 50.00
Pambato Reef Php 50.00
LuLi Island Php 60.00
Cowrie Island Php 75.00
Buffet Lunch Php 200.00
Total Php 914.00
We saved Php 426.00/person. (Please message me if you need to get the multicab driver's contact #.)
Clear waters and sand castle at LuLi Island
From Pambato Reef, we went to LuLi Island, which is only 5 minutes away. Entrance fee to the island was Php 60.00/person. The name came from Tagalog words "lulubog, lilitaw", because the island seems to disappear during high tide. It's a nice place for swimming, it's just that the fishes here are very familiar with people that they tend to nibble on the swimmers' feet.
Welcome sign to LuLi Island and the sandbar
Our last stop was Cowrie Island, which was 8 minutes from LuLi. Entrance fee was Php 75.00/person, which we paid in advance at the wharf, together with the Php 200.00/person buffet lunch. It's the biggest of the islands we visited. It's also the most developed with several structures on the island. We expected to have a lot of seafood for lunch, being in an island, but the only seafood served in the buffet table was calamares. It would have been better had they served more seafood.
The vibrant colors of Cowrie Island
We skipped Pandan Island (though I heard it's really nice), because of the Php 800.00/person entrance fee, inclusive of buffet lunch and cottages, and Splash House because we were told it's just similar to Pambato Reef.
The other side of Cowrie Island
After having lunch and several pictures taken, we decided to go back to the wharf and rest for the day. It only took 8 minutes to get to the wharf. And here's a comparison of our total cost per person done DIY style:
Multicab Php 60.00
Environmental Fee Php 150.00
Terminal Fee Php 5.00
Boat Php 264.00 (Php 2,900.00 divided by 11 persons)
Starfish Island Php 50.00
Pambato Reef Php 50.00
LuLi Island Php 60.00
Cowrie Island Php 75.00
Buffet Lunch Php 200.00
Total Php 914.00
We saved Php 426.00/person. (Please message me if you need to get the multicab driver's contact #.)
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