Going island hopping

I will be going to Honda Bay the whether and the tour agencies shall not stop me from going. I am way to determined to give up now. I have hooked up with an American and a bit before 7 in the morning we are ready to hop on a tricycle to go to Honda Bay. We just ask each other if we want breakfast before we leave - nha no reason to waste time eating lets just go right away and get to Honda Bay.

 

After a few attempts we get somebody to take us for 150 peso which seems reasonably fair for the two of us. And we go on a ½ hour journey along the road to Honda Bay. Right at the bay is an official place which handles the boat rentals so there is a fixed price for the boat so we don't have to hackle about the price with a lot of boat owners.

We get the boat and Bryce get some snorkelling gear and we are ready - but ups something we have forgot. We are gonna be on this boat until 4 in the afternoon - and we have not had breakfast or bought anything for lunch for that matter. We may be going hungry later in the day.

 

We find a little canteen - the only place to eat around here. And get in to get something to eat. Bryce being a vegetarian wants something without any meat and I join him in the same meal which none of us know what is. But it taste alright. After a bit of eating I see a small peace of something which is certainly meat of some sort. I show it to Bryce and he is not too bothered about it - he will survive eating a bit of meat. While I am easting I find several more pieces of meat and later I tell this to Bryce.

He claims there were no meat pieces in his meal - yeah I can see this happening. The woman in charge of the canteen served up our breakfast - did no attempt what so ever to take all the meat pieces out of Bryces plate and put them on mine - and still I am the only one getting some meat - yep sure it is possible.

 

We still have to sort out lunch. There are not really any places to buy lunch in the port area so we need to get some stuff at the same canteen we had breakfast. And there is some delicious stuff. Like bread to feed the fish - if it is good enough for the fish it is good enough for us - some cakes which looks a bit stale. Peanuts and prawn chips strongly flavoured and a couple of boiled eggs. Yep we got a feast ready for lunch. Then of we go sailing.

 

The first stop we make is at a small pontoon were there is a small coral reef.

And we get out and go snorkelling. The visibility in the water is not that good probably because of the bad weather we have had the last few days. But it is always great to go out and see some corals again. And I get the change to try out my new toy I got just for this trip and this sort of events - my snorkelling camera. It is actually much more difficult to use than I had expected. I am used to take photos on land where there is less movement and more light. Here in the water everything moves - and in 3 dimensions as well just to make it even more difficult. The current moves me away from what I am trying to take a photo of and I get several pictures of nothing at all or half of what I wanted a picture off. After a while my technique improves a bit but it is still far from perfect.

 

Next we sail to Starfish Island.

The reason for the name soon becomes apparent. There is a lot of starfish just of the beach of the island. And nothing else. So this stop is only a short stopover to see the starfish and the beach for a few minutes before we head of. But on the island we also meet up with a couple from Manila who are doing the same thing like us and we end up basically following each other for the entire day.

 

Of to the Snake Island. After just leaving the Starfish Island I wonder how this island got its name? Probably should not think too much about this. Just off the coast of this place there is a lot of small fish.

They come in because people are feeding them around this area. So they will come up right next to you and eat bread of your hand and if you got no bread they will just hang around to check up on you - in case you had a bit of bread. A little bit further of the coast is a massive scull of bigger fish - which I can not remember the name of but they were really good for eating apparently. After the snorkelling it is time for our feast of a lunch - and it is great though for health reasons we end up giving the fish bread to the fish just in case it is not suited for human eating.

 

The last stop of the day is Pandan Island. It is also the biggest island of them all. And we get the bright idea to walk around it - it takes a lot longer than expected and after that walk it is only time for a short snorkelling tour before we got to head back to town with the boat.

On the way back the rain comes - after it mercifully has stayed away all day. And there is no place to hide on a bangka so we get wet and cold on the way back. Luckily there are lots of tricycles coming in to Honda Bay at around 4 because they know all the boats will be returning then- and we get a reasonable rate.

 

Back in Puerto we join up with a couple of others and end up going to KaLuis which I have heard so many people talking about - like it is supposed to be the best restaurant in town so lets try it - and it is pretty good as well. In this place we once again run into the Manila couple - it is a small place here in Puerto after all.