Trip To Palawan Cheap Adventure Tips! (Island Hopping)

Let's move to my 6th day experience in Palawan. I really waited this day because we will do Island Hopping and in fact this is our first time. One of the most visited places in Palawan Puerto Princesa is Honda Bay, if you love beachin' and Island hoppin' this place suits to you.

Let me give you some idea about going to Honda bay, have you heard this place? Anyway Honda bay, is one of the best attractions in Palawan aside from the very famous "Palawan Underground River". This is an island hopping activity where in you can choose what islands you want to visit. There are seven islands in that tour, the Pambato Reef, Arreceffi Island, Bat Island, Cowrie Island, Pandan Island, Starfish Island and Luli Island. It's your choice if you want to complete it or just only go to wherever you want. 

Let me help you regarding to this part. If you have plan to do this activity, do it as early as you can. Better to go early in the morning so you can visit a lot of islands without suffering too much sun burns. Bring a lot of food para mas masaya wala kasing mga bilihan dun unless mag buffet kayo sa Pandan Island. You can do this activity by going to some tour agencies anywhere in Palawan so that you will not get hassles for your transportation. But if you want to make "tipid" and challenge yourself, I advice you to do it by your group mates without additional fees of travel agencies and tour guides because this is easy. Just plan day ahead,  If you are from Puerto Princesa Proper, It is probably 45 mins depending to what kind of transportation you have. You can rent tricycle cheaper than vans, just email me or comment below and I will help you to this tour. My best friend's father is a tricycle driver he can send you to Honda Bay back and fort with cheaper price ( for 6 seats only but can put a lot of bitbitins, just tell me :D ) you can rent him for all of your tours para makatipid kayo ng bonga kesa mag rerent kayo ng vans. Transportation in Palawan are limited, my whole stay parang 2 jeepneys, at iilan na bus lang ang nakita ko.. the rest are multi-cabs at isang katerbang tricycle. Tricycle ang mas useful sa kanila, mas convinient at kahit saan ka lumingon you can see it everywhere. 

Upon Honda Bay arrival, you have to fill-up some forms regarding to your tour. You have to declare how many islands are you going. Each of it has its own entrance fee some are 50's some are 60 per pax usually ganyan lang ang prices nila except Pandan Island which is 800 php. Yes, 800.. mahal talaga, dati daw 50 lang din yun. But they said, kaya mahal kasi may kasama na daw yun na lunch buffet. I don't really know if bukod sa buffet meron pa syang ibang inclusions, hindi na kasi namin yun isinama sa list namin since 800 each is too expensive para sa aming 6. After deciding your stops, you need to pay for your boat, 1500 php good thing if may kasama kayong senior kasi meron discount. We only paid 1200 kasi kasama si tatay. hehe. Then you also need to pay 40 pesos for (nakalimutan ko yung tawag dun, basta para sa nature or environmental ek ek yun. nakalimutan ko din kung per pax ang bayad or per group, bahala na kayo dun..haha ) Sa gilid nung bayaran nun, you can see swimming gears you can rent it 100 per gear. Magrent kayo so that makapag snorkeling kayo ng bongga, masaya yun promise!!! Upon completion of everything, you can go now to your boat, wear your life vest, sit, eat, selfie and relax. Let the adventures begin!

We just decided to go 3 Islands, The Starfish Island, Pambato Reef and Luli Island. Ang aming bangkero were super bait, and tour us very well. He explained a lot of things to us and answers our Palawan curiosities. Lagi syang nag oofer na maging photographer namin at maagaling sya sa mga camera tricks. But you know what, lahat nang bangkero dun ay halos ganun and they will hold your camera and teach you how to pose for their camera tricks like this. Palaweños are very kind and accommodating, dahil bukod sa pag giging photographer ni kuya, they will really tour you, para maexperience ang under water activities. Actually I'm afraid to swim lalo na pag di ko na abot ang sahig, at dahil malalim dun talagang nag effort si kuya iikot ako sa magandang underwater view ng hindi binibitawan ang kamay ko just for me to feel safe and to see those nice corals and different fish species. Salamat kay kuya at sa aking mahiwagang snorkeling gear... haha.

lets now talk about the islands we visited. Our first stop is Starfish Island (Entrance fee : 50 per pax), so word from itself, madami talagang starfish, maaaliw ka talaga ng bongga. May malaki, may maliit. First time ko nakakita ng starfish shells, at ang pinaka nawindang ako is sa underwater, kinuha ni kuya yung mala-bolang starfish shell at pinahawak nya sakin. Ang laki nun at at super nakakatuwa. Pero syempre binalik din agad. Bawal kasi yun kuhain at iuwi, mas syado silang protected sa dagat dun, they are also not allowed to do fishing to those places or else may parusa ofcourse. He looked for nemo and dory, and showed them to us. The activity that you can do here is to swim, snorkel, fish feeding and mag picture ng wantusawa. Cottages here is only 50 pesos, good thing here is maraming mga naka nakalagay for your camera tricks. Don't forget to take pictures sa malaking frame that's one of their good ideas and always bring kahit anong tinapay para sa fish feeding super enjoy talaga yun. I swear. This part I wore shorts, kaya lang nung inikot ako ni kuya, ayun kinagat ako ng isda. napadaan kasi kami sa base nung territorial na isda kaya ayun. Hindi naman masakit masyado nakakagulat lang..hehe. So I decided to change outfit sa next na pupuntahan namin baka kasi maubos ung hita ko.. :)

This is the view of starfish Island, from this part tanaw yung Underground River, sya ung faded na parangpatusok tusok na mountain behind the clouds. I really want to go there actually, medyo kinapos lang sa budget kaya hindi kami natuloy jan. But why we go Palawan is that because of Underground River, napurnada lang talaga.. haha Anyway, sabi kasi dun.. gagastos ka ng 1000-1500 per head. But my bestfriend's sister gave us tip, go to Palawan on September (whole month) because during this month free ang underground to anyone. Tribute daw nila to sa mga can't afford mag Underground River especially sa mga taga palawan mismo. Parang anniversary yun mula nung nahirang sya na one of the seven wonders of the world. Kaya babalik nalang kami..if not this year probably next year! hehe

After starfish Island, we visited Pambato Reef.  (Entrance fee : 50 per pax), No cottage here. Its not an island, but they made something in the middle of the sea. Gumawa sila ng daungan, daanan ng mga tourists. Actually, meron tong malaking pawikan na nakabubong as its tourists cover for init kaya lang nung nagpunta kami sabi tinangal daw muna kasi aayusin ulit. Anyway, this place is nice too. The activity that you can do here is to snorkeling lang and fish feeding.

This is super lalim talaga, at first ayaw na ayaw ko lumangoy kasi malalim sya as in wala manlang seashore para mag streaching muna haha.. but then no choice I have to be brave so that I can witness the real beauty of the sea at masulit ko naman ung entrance fee ko haha.  I jumped (I had vest) and still hold the salbabida takot lang mamatay. haha Nag snorkel kami paikot, I really enjoyed it. I really saw it was super lalim, salamat sa vest that I'm still alive. I saw big clams, nice corals, small and big fish. I regret I don't have underwater camera. This spot is the best daw for snorkeling kasi andito yung super daming isda and that's true naman talaga. Nung nag fifish feeding ako, dinudumog ako ng isda kaya super aliw kahit ung malalaking isda lumalapit din. Ok naman kasi wala naman kumagat sakin this time. Siguro kasi cover galore na yung suot ko this time.. hehehe. We didn't spent too much time here, after makalibot dumiretcho na agad kami sa aming final destination.
 (horror? haha)


Now let's move to our very last island visit. The ''Luli Island" name came from the word itself "LU" lulubog and "LI" lilitaw.  Yes, lulubog lilitaw nga ang island na to every high tide and low tide.(Entrance Fee: 60) I really love this place, nainlove talaga ako sa ganda nya. Super clear ng tubig, white sand and super the best and view kaya lang super inet kasi ala una na yan as in tirik na tirik na ang araw pero ayaw nilang magpaawat lumangoy.

You can also do fish feeding here. Make sure marami ka pang tinapay kasi mga gutom ang isda dito. hehe. May mga cottages dito pero I dont know how much, hindi na kasi kami nagcottage.  One nice thing here is kuya didn't stop capturing us nice camera tricks until the end. This is actually maliit lang na sand castle, magaling lang talaga si kuya sa mga angulo-angulo kaya the #BestPicEver ang peg namin dito.

 I really enjoyed all the places, but for me I super enjoyed LULI. While I was there, I keep on thinking na sana pag balik ko I can bring my family so that they can also enjoy the beauty of Palawan. That time I really promised myself to go back and to do more activities. I will plan my next travel in Palawan and try El Nido naman.

Sa sobrang enjoy ko, this is what I got after. Ok lang maging nognog sunog basta nasulit naman namin ang Island Hopping. Sun marks my hand, but Palawan marks my mind and heart. :)

Well, I hope you learned anything from my travel diaries, let this be your guide and just in case you have questions, just comment below and I'll try to answer you as fast as possible. See you in my last  activity in my Trip To Palawan Cheap Adventure Tips! Keep on reading !