Honda Bay (Esteban in Palawan Day 2)

The first time I went to Puerto Princesa, the highlight for me was not the Underground River. The first moment I donned my snorkeling gear and looked at Palawan beaches' treasure, I fell in love and thanked God about the beauty of His creation. This is not an exaggeration.

When we visited again last August, I can’t wait to show my family what I experienced before. And they too were captivated.

Since we were staying at The Legend Hotel, we booked our trip via their Legendary Tours the afternoon before. Normal price is P1,400 per person and the requirement is to fill the 8 slots. Since we were only 4, and we want to enjoy the tour fully, we opted to get the exclusive tour. We just need to pay additional. That means P1,800 per person . This includes lunch and snorkeling gear.

We were fetched at exactly 8 am. The tour guide assigned to us was Joseph, which we later found was known as “Piolo of Puerto Princesa”. (See his picture below and judge for yourself hehe!)

Our driver asked us to pose beside the van
before boarding the boat to Snake Island

The Honda Bay tour comprised of 2 islands: Snake and Pandan Island. Unfortunately, Starfish Island was not included.

Our guide Joseph aka "Piolo"

We arrived at Snake Island around 9am and snorkel agad !

Between Pandan and Snake, I could say that Snake is the better snorkeling area. I think the fish were a little spoiled given that they were fed a lot. They were not even afraid to go and eat from your hand. I even experienced a little "bite" from an over eager fish. =)

Biglang lalim

Around 11 AM, Joseph called us back and informed us that it was time to move to Pandan Island where we will have our lunch. This was also good for us as, by this time, Snake Island had become a little over crowded due to arrival of several batches of tourists.

Upon arriving at Pandan, Joseph selected a hut for us and arranged for the delivery of our lunch. A lady also happened to stop by and sold us rock lobsters. It was the first time for all of us to taste that. And wow!

After that hearty meal, my Mother and Junjie arranged for massage on one of the huts. My brother and I decided to go snorkeling again though we were so sleepy after that full meal.

Rock lobsters. Can you see the aligui?

Convincing us to buy. We bought 4 for P700. It was more than a kilo.

Our meal: shrimp, blue marlin, squid and rock lobsters,
pork and chicken. Fresh buco on the side. Yum!
Oh and our rice was also as big as the first platter :D

The view while eating

Pandan Island has longer shallow areas and fish were fewer. But the Island has its corals to boast of. Unfortunately my camera already ran out of battery by this time so I was not able to get any pictures of the fantastic corals. We had to swim far tho to be able to see most of it though. Good thing Joseph was a great guide.

At about 4:30 pm, our skin were already toasted from the sun but our eyes still could not get enough of looking. Sadly we need to go back to land J

My brother's turn to feed the fish

There's "grass" on the sea bed

Me "resting" from snorkeling

One of Pandan's huts

The view of the pier going back.