TBK Travels to the Philippines- part nine a- Honda bay revisited - 2020

One of the tour boats at Starfish Island

This was the trip I always hoped to make and at one point never thought I would. I offered to hire a boat and visit 3 islands and take my friends for free- but they could not agree a date.

"I have college on that day Tatay"

"I have an exam then po"

"Jullytot has college that day Tatay"

Kobe

Time was running out! Then Ritchelle arrived with her boys from El Nido , by Trike, and having promised them a road trip I decided to change it to a boat trip. Sadly Jhoanna was ill but Drew managed to find time to escort us and we met at Robertson's Mall and headed off to the Honda bay wharf in my hire car. As usual Drew fixed a parking place ( its a very congested area but he knew someone who lived there who moved the bollards outside his house so we could par there. Then he arranged our boat registration, translated for me, agreed the route the boat would take, bought bread to feed the fish and Tatay TBK Neil ( or ATM for short ) just paid for everything.

The weather was great. 30 degrees and sunny. The sea was calm, and we found a life jacket that fitted Tatay!. Having learnt my lesson from 2013 where I got soaked at the first island and then was wet and cold for the rest of the day I wore my speedos this time ( and got sun-burnt!) . As I had to leave at 7.30 am from the farm I missed breakfast so we bought meryenda at the wharf which the crew and my guests ate along the way.

Drew finds a starfish- I made him put it back in the sea after he tried to give it to me1

Our first stop was at our favourite Starfish Island . It did not take long for Drew to find a Starfish while the two boys, Kobe and JP went snorkeling. After a walk on the sandy beach and feeding the fish with the bread we bought with us we headed off to our next stop, Luli Island. When I looked back at the photos of my 2013 trip I realised how commercialized this had become. The original boat feeding platform was out of use but the safety had been improved with a life guard on duty, roped off areas for boats, snorkeling . swimming etc., and many photo opportunities which the mainly Pinoy visitors took full advantage of.

Drew and I try some Lakad lakad on the warm white sand

After Starfish and Luli Islands we headed to Cowrie Island. This is the biggest and most commercially developed of all the islands in Honda bay with a Bar, shop, restaurant etc. . Whilst each boat may have between 5 and 20 people on it, and not all the boats visit all the islands, I would estimate they serve between 500 and 1000 lunches a day here . There are always 10- 20 boats tied up at any one time from 7 am to 6 pm.

Kobe , Ritchelle and JP enjoy their lunch on Cowrie island

A beautiful sand sculpture that will be in so many Instagram pictures

Honda Bay is big business now with the boat crews, the owners of the islands, coastguard patrols, security on each island, lifeguards etc. Then you have to pay for the boat crew, environmental fees, entrance to each island, parking and tips. There are additional costs like snorkeling equipment, towels, shaded cabanas ( that Corleen calls cottages) on the islands . These are great if you are Maarte and don't want to eat in the communal areas!

Obviously it is cheaper if you take one of the normal boats, but then it is much more crowded. The thing I hate about the big boats is that you have no choice over where you go or how long you stay there and so on.

One of the public boats passes us - looks like 12 people on board

The kids had great fun feeding the fish and snorkeling while Ate Ritchelle took thousands of photos and videos . I even stripped down to my speedos and swam for the first time this vacation. The water was warm but not as clean as I remembered it from 2013. The good news is there was no plastic pollution but the sea had been rougher a few days previously so there was some seaweed etc. The fish were beautiful and very tame and came to the surface to take the bread as the boys snorkeled underneath the water to get a better view.

Drew and I preferred walking on the warm white sand just as we used to in years gone by

The boats are always well maintained and beautifully decorated

The good news in 2020 year was that due to concerns about the environment and damage to the coral by the large number of visitors to the Honda Bay , some of the islands were closed to let them recover. I was saying to Drew that the area has more islands than most and surely it would not be too difficult to allocate boats to islands so that each island gets a maximum number of tourists per day.

Maybe they could also use a time slot system like the Underground river so that not all the boats leave at the same time . This would also create a better experience for the tourists with less people on each island. The problem is that many people come here in vans on organised tours , so have long drives before the boat trip. The hotels that arrange the trips want them to have breakfast before they go and be back for dinner to maximize their revenues. Most people don't have the luxury of 21 days in Puerto like me- they fly in, do the Underground river trip. The next day they do Honda Bay . On day 3 they get the van to El Nido and do tour A, B and C and then return home and never really see what this beautiful island has to offer.

I am so glad I avoided El Nido for most of this trip and enjoyed experiencing Sabang, Port Barton, St Vicente, Aborlan and Puerto.