Dianne's Nook

A lot of us, when having a trip or vacation on a certain place, prefer to avail tour packages offered by various travel agencies. Definitely, this idea works for those who don't want to spend time researching and planning an itinerary and for those who have money to shell out. But there are times when tour packages don't work.

During our 3 days/2 nights vacation in Palawan just recently (September 9-11, 2011), we decided to plan our 1st and last days in Palawan on our own. Why? Because in package tours, the schedule is quite strict and you are not alone in the tour. There are also other tourists coming with you. Let's say your flight is delayed. You can't do anything but miss the trip unless the travel agency has a back-up plan for you. Just like our Honda Bay, Palawan Island Hopping Tour scheduled on our third and last day in Palawan. 



We decided to plan the tour ourselves because we need to be back to our hotel by 1pm. We need to check out our things and we still want to make last minute pasalubong shopping downtown. We don't want to cut other's trips short because we need to get back immediately. Bottomline is, we want to take hold of our time.

We woke up early, around 5 o' clock in the morning to prepare for our trip. We know that weekend's when tourists flock in different tourist attractions. We also want to start early so we can end on time. Good thing we did it since we realized a lot of its benefits.

We rented Mang Consel, the tricycle driver whom we also rented for our City Tour. He was very early, picked us up in our hotel at around 6:30 in the morning. Travel time to the Sta. Lourdes Wharf is 30 minutes. Sta. Lourdes Wharf is where the boats bound for the different islands are docked. This is also where the Honda Bay Tourist Assistance Center is located.


We reached the wharf early. We were actually the first ones there. So we signed up in a form and paid Php 1300 for the boat. The various islands have entrance fees which we need to pay when we get there.

The water is very calm during our travel to the different islands. This is a good thing since you don't need to worry if you are afraid of the waves. We reached Pandan Island, our first stop, after about 20-30 minutes I guess.


We were the second batch of tourists to reach the island. The first ones rode the boat minutes before us. What's nice about being early, again, is that you get to enjoy the island by yourselves. You can take pictures without other people obstructing the view.


Next stop is Snake Island. You can buy halo-halo and fresh buko juice at Php 40 and Php 30, respectively. However, we didn't see the snake-shaped island because the water level is quite high. But even so, we still enjoyed the relaxing feel of being in the island.





This time, there are more and more tourists coming in. So we were happy that by the time they came, we were already leaving.

The people in Snake Island said that Pandan Island and Snake Island are the best islands to see in Honda Bay. But still we want to visit the others. We visited Starfish Island and Luli Island. Luli Island is actually a term for "Lulubog-Lilitaw" which means the island appears and disappears depending on the water level.

Starfish Island

Luli Island

We reached the wharf around 11:00 am. We did a bit of pasalubong shopping in the stores around the wharf. Mang Consel was there waiting for us. We paid him Php 500. He also offered to pick us up and drop us to a restaurant for our lunch for FREE. He was so nice. We reached the hotel at 12:30 in the afternoon. We washed up and prepare for our things.

We though Mang Consel will not come back to pick us up but he did! It was very nice of him. That's it for our Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour. Happy trip!