Applauding Palawan: Part 4 - Honda Bay

Our our tour mates, the Cliffhangers told us that El Nido was THE BEST that they have seen so far. Even Ate Malou, our tour guide, agreed. She said Honda Bay is nothing compared to El Nido and we were all like “Definitely ANOTHER REASON TO COMEBACK TO PALAWAN!” on our heads. The next adventure was island hopping in Honda Bay. Our expectations were not so high because of all the things we’ve heard about El Nido, but we were excited nonetheless. We were the first to be picked up this time and we were able to choose better seats. There were only two groups, us and the a bunch of people from the DA(Dumbledore’s Army? Hekhekhek)

The travel from the city to the Wharf is just about 20 minutes. We made a stop at a Snorkeling Rental Shop. They have snorkeling gears, shoes, flippers and waterproof cases for cameras for rent. They also sell some souvenir shirts and shorts. The rental wasn't so badly price but they have very strict penalties for lost items. We also bought bread there for the fish feeding.

At the Warf, we transferred to a pump boat that was able to accommodate all of us, plus Vince our tour guide. We had to wear our life vests, the boatmen included, since the coast guards are very strict about this.

These are all Mangroves, a very looooong stretch of Mangroves! If I am not mistaken, there’s about 8 hectares of Mangroves in Honda Bay. That’s a LOT of breeding area for marine life. Another point for Palawan!

The water here is much calmer compared to yesterday’s ride. It took 20-30 minutes to get to the first island. We were so excited to finally swim! I was actually worried about sharks. I know the Philippines rarely have sharks but I wanted to make sure that my butt won’t be bitten off while I was swimming. Our boatmen, the driver and Vince assured me that there won’t be sharks where were going.

The first island that we visit is the Pandan Island. This is the biggest of the ones that we visited. It has a resto, it has vendors, Comfort and Shower rooms, tables and Buko for sale! We stayed here the longest

When we arrived, we were greeted by people selling seafood. They have lobsters and crabs and shellfishes

...and Rhea’s favorite swakee

The beach was clean and even if there are so many tourists, you won’t see litter anywhere.

The boatmen knew where to dock and the guides have already told us that we are only allowed to swim on a specific area since the rest of the area is protected. They also have life guards who are very very alert. They really know what they were doing.

 Me and the boyfriend were the last ones in the beach due to some longer prepping necessary to ensure no shark attacks.  An unfortunate coincidence led me to actually swim with my swimmies alone. My Lola would have been proud of me. She doesn't agree with swimsuit WITH shorts.

 We were surprised when our boatman said he will be guiding us. Again this is the first time we ever have people do things for us on a vacation. He told us to grab hold of his floater then he started paddling with his one legged wooden flipper. We were told we can already start fish feeding. Even before we started, there were already loads as in multiple schools of fishes! There were so many of them and there were so many kind! To think we were just very near the shore.

I felt a little guilty since we just ate their cousin the night before

 We were trying to get a photo of us with the fishes but it seems like they like to be in the limelight too.

 Another photo bomb!

ERMERGERD....fishes!

This  reminds me of my brother's fighting fish

So worthy of the B*tch Im Fabulous meme!

 Hello there too, Nemo!

 I usually only see them in our grills or already in the table.

 They're on the sand

 And you can see them on the surface too!

Another kind!

 Perfect beach weather!

 We took a break for lunch. This is one of the more decent shots. The rest you can literally see me stuffing my self with crabs. Vince also brought a delicacy they call Adobong Talong which looked delish! Too bad I don’t eat talong.

 Our next stop was Pambato Reef. You see the cute turtle floater? It’s totally made of painted screen. You get the shade without the unpleasant insulated heat under it.

 

 This is a protected area and we are required to wear or life vest. We only have a small area where we are allowed to swim and they are very strict with this. Our boatman once again guided us with his floater.

 The water here is deeper so we didn’t get to really “be with the fishes”.  There’s the occasional brave one who comes close to us like this tiny one.

 This is our boatman who is also an aspiring underwater photographer. He took some of those really great pictures above.

 They have a lot of really beautiful corals here and we even saw a giant clam which our boatman knocked so it will open.  We didn’t have a picture of that one because we didn’t have enough light

 The guardians of the reef were really strict on the corals. They are always monitoring the corals and making sure the shallow once which could be stepped on is not part of the open area. Sad to say when we were there, there was one coral that was stepped on. RIP coral.

 Here’s a last look of a school of fishes in the reef.

The last island that we visited is the Luli Island. Luli for LUlubog LIlitaw! Oh Palawaños sense of humor amazes me. It’s a sandbar that disappears when the tide is high. I apologize for the lack of better pictures of the island itself, I was too excited to be underwater again and the cam’s bat died on us. It has some cottages there where you can go for a picnic and several beach lounges.

We didn’t find any fish near the shore, which was kind of disappointing. We swan towards a floating shed and there we saw the biggest number of fishes so far.

 Ermergerd they are the big ones that we fry for lunch at home. The sheer number of them scared me a bit. This fishes are actually the same size of the ones sold on the market. This makes me wonder if they ever fish in this region! I know it may be protected but darn, they are ripe for the taking there just too many of them.

This island hopping is the best that I’ve been into so far and it has the healthiest underwater ecosystem and also the cleanest. If this is Honda bay and it is not even 2% of El Nido’s beauty, ewan ko nalang! I will definitely get my ass to El Nido before I die(My Bucket List is growing!). They say there are turtles swimming peacefully in El Nido’s waters and I can’t wait to go back to Palawan and conquer El Nido. It is definitely More Fun in the Philippines!