Pinoy Roadtrip: Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour with Kids

January 26, 2011

Honda Bay Island Hopping Tour with Kids

What Kids Will Learn

1. This is where my kids first experienced snorkeling. The advantage of snorkeling in the islands of Honda Bay is that the snorkeling site is very near the shore. Unlike snorkeling at Balicasag island, the snorkeling site at Honda Bay is deep and undercurrents are strong.

2. Aside from learning to snorkel, we discovered that swimming in the sea/bay is very different from swimming in the pool. Knowing how to swim in the pool does not guarantee your safety at sea/bay. Because of the strong undercurrents in deeper parts of Honda Bay, the technique that our boatman used to move from one point to another is to use a walking motion with his legs underneath the water rather than staying horizontally on the water and kicking with your legs on the surface of the water. You stay in the same place when you use this technique at sea.

Word of Warning

Do not allow your kids to take off their life jackets while wading in water in the islands of Honda Bay. There are parts of the of the islands that suddenly deepens just a few meters from the shore. The undercurrents are strong and could easily pull you into the deep parts of the bay. As I mentioned above, the swimming technique learned at the pool is not very helpful when swimming at sea with strong undercurrents.

Our Itinerary

6:00 AM

Wakeup

what to bring to the island hopping:

waterproof backpacks, extra change of clothes, cellphone, swimsuit, sunblock, off lotion, coconut oil, hand sanitizer, underwater camera case, underwater plastic case for gadgets, cellphones, wallet, toilet paper, emergency medicines, slippers, bottled water, cookies or biscuits

My tip: for feeding fish, tear the white bread in small pieces and place it inside an empty mineral water bottle. Then while snorkeling, fill the mineral water bottle filled with bread then feed the fish so you can see them up close. It's easier to hold the mineral water bottle than the plastic bag containing a loaf of bread. See pictures below:

Mineral water bottle filled with bread for fish feeding

This is how it is used to feed fish

7:00 AM
We were picked up at Casa Linda Inn by Wildrock Tours. Before proceeding to Sta. Lourdes wharf, we made a stop to pick up the cooked food that we were supposed to bring with us during our island hopping. Our lunch was included in the fees we paid Wildrock Tours

8:00 AM
Arrival at Sta. Lourdes Wharf. Sta. Lourdes Wharf is the place where we take the boat to go island hopping at Honda Bay.

Customer service center at Sta. Lourdes Wharf.

Waiting for our turn to board the boat

This is the boat we used.
Note the orange lifejackets ready to be used. Palawan is strict on the use of lifejackets.

Boarding the outrigger boat

8:30 AM
Arrival at Pandan Island

11:00 AM-1:00 PM
Buffet lunch at Pandan Island

This is where we ate lunch at Pandan Island. A tent was reserved for our use.

2:00 PM
Arrival at Starfish Island for more snorkeling.

3:00 PM
Arrival at Snake Island

Approaching Snake Island

Huts at Snake Island

Walking the sandbar of Snake Island

This is what a sandbar looks like

4:00 PM
Leave Snake Island and head back to the wharf

5:30 PM
The Vietville restaurant is along the route going back to Puerto Princesa city. So we requested our guide to stop over at Vietville restaurant to take out Vietnamese food and view what used to be the refugee center of the Vietnamese boat people in Palawan.