Finally, we pushed through with our Palawan trip. We were supposed to go last 2011, we were booked and everything but we decided not to go since it was before our board exam. So that there will be no finger pointing if our board result is bad haha.
We booked our Palawan trip 7 months earlier via the Cebu Pacific 12 pesos fare. We were there from February 27, 2013 to March 2, 2013. Since we consider ourselves "budget travelers", we did not avail of those tour packages. Except for 2 tours. We researched on every blogs and write ups about the "do-it-yourself" Palawan travel. So, a big huge thank you to the writers of those travel blogs! One of the "best find" that we saw on those blogs is Kuya Romeo, a tricycle driver in Puerto Princesa. He gave us helpful tips during our trip and served as our tour guide/driver. He is also connected with a travel and tour agency which gave us a 1200php/person price for the underground river tour. A cheap price considering it was a peak season and all other tours are offering 1500php/person.
We arrived at PPS at 9:30 am. Kuya Romeo picked us up at the airport and brought us to our super budget accommodation, the Duchess Pension to drop our bags, and then we headed straight to Sta. Lourdes for our Honda Bay Tour. We chose Duchess Pension since it is the cheapest accomodation. We got a double room for 350php/night for 2 persons. We did not bother to get an aircon room since we will not be sleeping there due to our El Nido trip. The room served as our storage for our bags.
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We arrived at Honda Bay at around 10:30 am, a bit late since most tourist start their tour at 7-8am. On the way there, we stopped by a gear rental shop to rent some snorkeling gears. The rent for 1 set of goggles and snorkeling gear is 150php. If ever you misplace it, they will charge you 1500php per piece, so better be careful. We also rented an underwater iphone protector for 200php which they say will allow you to take pictures under water. But we were too scared to try it haha so we wasted 200php for that. At the wharf, we shared a boat with a chinese family. We split the 1300php per boat and paid 40php per person for the terminal fee.
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We first went to Cowrie Island which was OK. By the way, each island has an entrance fee. For Cowrie it's 75php per person. The beach was nice and very clean but we did not stayed that long since we wanted to visit other islands as well with our limited time. It was a small island with 1 restaurant which sells over-priced food and drinks haha. There were just a few people when we got there, probably because there weren't any activities to do, just swimming at the beach.
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After that we went to Pandan Island where we had our lunch. Entrance fee was 125php per person. There are a lot of seafoods you can buy at the island and you can have it cooked also. We bought a 1/2 kilo of crabs for 150php, 1/2 kilo of rice for 50php, mango shake for 75php, and 1 San Mig Light for 110php. And yes, they sell kilos of rice, not by cups haha so be prepared! That food by the way was just for the 2 of us. Katakawan! Tha mango shake was amazing! Probably the best mango shake we ever had, no kidding. Pandan island is also the snorkeling site but there weren't much fish, just a few. There are also some other activities in the beach but we weren't able to explore it because of the limited time. So a tip for Honda Bay tour, start early!
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After that we passed by Starfish Island but didn't docked since you would also see the same thing and the chinese couple are so excited to see the "weef" which turns out to be reef. As the name implies, the island is full of Starfish.
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We then headed straight to Pambato Reef and the entrance fee for this was 50php per person. It's in the middle of the sea surrounded by a lot of reefs and fishes where you could look at it underwater. What they did was the guide would pull you while you snorkel all around the reef area. It was an amazing experience! There were so many colorful reefs and fishes and the guide even dived down to touch some of the reefs that closes when you touched them. I really really enjoyed it which was a surprise because I don't know how to swim and I'm a bit scared of deep waters.
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After that we passed by Luli Island, unfortunately we didn't go down as well due to lack of time. A bit of knowledge info, Luli means "Lulubog-Lilitaw" since the island literally disappears when it's high tide, the only thing you would be able to see are the kubos in the island floating in the middle of the sea. Anyway, we got back to PPS at around 4:30 pm and Kuya Romeo picked us up again.
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Our original plan was to go to El Nido via RoRo at 6:30 pm, but Kuya Romeo told us to take the van instead since it's faster. He was kind enough to bring us first to Fort Wally terminal to reserve our seats before bringing us back to Duchess Pension. We took a really quick bath and fixed our things and then headed to straight to Fort Wally terminal. We arrived there at 5:50pm to wait for our van. Fast and furious ang storya namin hahaha. We paid 500php to Kuya Romeo for the whole day that he drove us around which was worth it.
At 6:30pm we left PPS for El Nido. There were 8 of us in a 14-seater van. It was a 6 hour travel to El Nido so we slept the entire trip. The van fare was 600php per person. There was 1 stopover at Roxas where you can eat dinner but they do not offer much. Our dinner total was 120php. We arrived at El Nido at 11:45pm, hailed a tricycle (50php) to bring us to our 2nd budget accomodation, Tay Miloys Inn (480php per night). It is just a house with 3 rooms and a common bathroom on the 2nd floor which they offer for tourists. It's a very simple room with 2 beds, electric fan, and really thin walls between the rooms so you could literally hear every movement in the next room. It is an OK room if you plan on staying one night since most of the day you will be out on a tour anyway. Also, electricity in El Nido runs from 2pm to 6am only so we didn't bother to get an aircon room. In our case, the electricity ran out around 6am but didn't return at 2pm. There was still no electricity when we left El Nido at around 6pm. Anyway, that concludes our first day and Honda Bay Tour in Palawan!
Summary of Expenses for Day 1
Hotdog at Airport - 300php
Water at Airport - 25php
Duchess Pension - 350php/night
Snorkeling Gears - 150php
Iphone Waterproof Case - 200php
Boat for Island Hopping - 750php
Cowrie Island Entrance Fee - 75php/person
Pandan Island Entrance Fee - 125php/person
Crabs for Lunch - 150php
Rice for Lunch - 50php
Mango Shake - 75php
San Mig Light - 110php
Pambato Reef Entrance Fee - 50php/person
Kuya Romeo Tricycle - 500php
Van to El Nido - 600php/person
Dinner at Stopover - 120php
Tricycle to Tay Miloys - 50php
Tay Miloys Inn - 480php/night
TOTAL for Day 1: 5,010php for 2 persons
Contact Persons:
Duchess Pension House
Contact No: (048)4332873
Mobile Nos: 0917-5530605, 0919-9929360 Email Address: info@duchesspensionpalawan.com
Kuya Romeo
Mobile No: 0912-2536921
Up next: El Nido Tour!
Read more:
The Palawan Trip: El Nido Tour
The Palawan Trip: Puerto Princesa Underground River
The Palawan Trip: Baker's Hill and Mitra's Ranch
The Palawan Trip: Crocodile Farm, Binuatan Creation, and Balinsasayaw Restaurant
The Palawan Trip: Plaza Cuartel and Baywalk
The Palawan Trip: Summary Of Our Trip
great blog! will surely visit this place soon! :) for those who want to rent a motorbike anywhere in the phil visit www.book2wheel.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog! We are going to Puerto Princesa next week and this is really a great help! ��
ReplyDelete