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Description and is it worth a visit
Almost every traveler on Palawan necessarily tries to visit the famous island tours from El-Nido. This is not surprising, because these boat tours on the islands, beaches and lagoons are perhaps the main business card of the whole of Palawan. However, in addition to them, there are also island tours in Honda Bay from Puerto Princesa. We have visited both tours, and we can definitely recommend Honda Bay as an alternative to tours from El Nido, if the latter for some reason does not fall into your travel itinerary. And even if you have visited El Nido, it doesn't hurt to visit Honda Bay in addition.
The islands in Honda Bay are quite different from the islands in El Nido. Here the islands and beaches are more sandy, the water is warmer, and, as it seemed to us, even more transparent (but perhaps it's all about the weather at a particular moment). During the tours, you will be taken to several beautiful private islands with rest on magnificent sandy beaches, snorkeling from a floating platform in the sea will also be on the program, and, of course, you will be well fed in a restaurant on one of the islands.
How to visit Honda Bay
There are two options: buy a ready-made tour in hotels or travel agencies in Puerto Princesa, or online on sites like Klook, or come to the marina yourself. Where the pier is located and how to get to it, we tell you at the end of the article, but for now about the process of visiting and buying tours.
The sale of tours to the Honda Bay islands takes place centrally at the ticket offices, or rather at the information center at the marina. If you buy a ready-made excursion from a travel agency, then the organizers will do everything for you. If you come to the pier yourself, then you buy everything yourself. Here you can choose an individual boat tour to individual islands, or choose one of the options for ready-made group tours with other tourists, which is much cheaper.
From personal experience, we arrived here early in the morning, and chose one of the options for group tours. I had to wait about 20 minutes for the full group to get into the boat, and after that we went on an excursion. The reviews read that someone had to wait longer, but in any case it's not more than an hour.
At the time when we visited Honda Bay, there were two options for inexpensive group tours: one included three islands of Luli, Cowrie and Fishing + snorkeling from the platform; two islands of Luli, Cowrie + snorkeling were a little cheaper. There is also fishing, diving, visiting individual islands. Group tours to individual islands are extremely rare, so the choice is usually one of two options for 2 or 3 islands. And more often there is not even a choice, and you will simply be offered to the nearest one, which has already formed an almost complete group.
Here are the prices and options for tours at the time of our visit:
The cost of the tours includes the rental of a mask and snorkel for snorkeling on the reef and a good lunch. However, in addition to the cost of the tour, you will have to pay an eco-collection (155 pesos) and an entrance fee to the Cowrie islands – 100 pesos, Luli - 70 pesos, Pambato Reef snorkeling - 50 pesos, Starfish – 50 pesos. You will also have to pay extra for using a chaise longue, a canopy or a bungalow on individual islands, but this is optional.
There is also a difference in price depending on the type of boat that you can choose when buying a tour at the marina: there are 3-cylinder (slow) and 4-cylinder (faster).
By the way, here you can save a little on eco-collection. To visit Honda Bay, you must pay an Environmental fee of 155 pesos per person. If you have previously visited the underground river in Sabange, then you have already paid this fee and you just need to present a receipt here, and then you don't need to pay it again. It also works the other way around: you can pay the fee here, and then you don't have to pay in Sabang. It is only important that you have this receipt, so keep everything. Well, if you visit these places with a tour from the hotel, then ask the guide for receipts or at least take a photo of them.
After paying for the tour, you will only have to wait for it to start, after that you will be put on a boat and guides will accompany you along the entire route almost by the hand. However, when disembarking on the islands, carefully listen to the instructions about the time and place of departure, and remember the number or name of your boat.
🕐 Working hours
Tours depart from 07:00 to 15:30 seven days a week.
💵Entrance fee / ticket price
The price for tours starts from 1800 pesos/person. (32.23 rub.) + additional fees, see all prices above.
🚶 How to get there
Honda Bay is visited from Puerto Princesa, and from El Nido it is impractical to do this because of the long road. The marina for sending tours is located a little more than 10 kilometers from the center of Puerto Princesa, it is a 30-minute drive (Honda Bay marina on the map). The easiest way to get here is with ready-made excursions, which are sold in hotels and travel agencies on the streets of Puerto Princesa, you can also buy them online on the sites Klook, Viator, Expedia, etc., prices from 2000 pesos / person. If you rent a car or a motorbike, you can come to the pier on your own, and leave the transport here for the duration of the tour in the free parking of the pier. And finally, you can take a taxi or a tricycle, the trip will cost about 300 pesos.
We also recommend to see the possible options for other excursions on Palawan, which can be booked online:
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