Island Hopping and Snorkeling In Honda Bay

Tuesday, January 7

The day began oh so early, especially after the long day yesterday.  Breakfast was served at 6:30am and I found that my beef tapa was delicious.  Just as good as it was in Davao!  We had fresh watermelon as well.

Our driver was a little late, but it was the same van driver as the evening before along with two younger looking women who were there to accompany us for the day of island hopping.  We drove through the town of Puerto Princesa, and through the main streets I was very impressed with the cleanliness of this city.  There were some large new buildings such as the City Colosseum which had been built just recently to be able to host large gatherings.  The lush jungle filled in the empty spaces between buildings or homes as we continued down the road.  School had just started up again, so we saw plenty of children in their uniform, trudging to their respective schools.  They were just so cute and I would have loved to sit in on a class or two to see how it is done in the Philippines.

Our first stop was to a pandesol for some fresh baked goods, then at Ken's Rentals to pick up some snorkeling gear.  I'm really not that fond of the ocean or anything but very warm water, but I did want to have the opportunity to try snorkeling, so I followed the others into the store.  They fitted me with fins and I grabbed a mask, but along with these items I spied rash gaurds.  Ahhh...I had worn one once before in the California ocean and found it a great help, so I found a long sleeved aqua colored top that fit and rented it as well.  It was a matter of only a few dollars for our gear, so even if I barely used it, it wouldn't be much of a waste.  In the shop we met a family that was visiting from Riverside - practically neighbors to us when you are half way around the world!

We were on the outskirts of town now as buildings were more scare and farms more common.  We turned a corner and made a stop at what seemed in the middle of nowhere at a few stands and small building that was labeled a catering company.  The girls jumped out and gathered our lunch (which was included in this 1300pesos adventure (less than $30 for lunch, two guides, our van and boat drivers).  Not too much farther down this road we began to see many more tourists like ourselves in similar vans lining up at a little port.

We didn't wait long before we were ready to board our little sea vessel - the traditional outrigger complete with a crew of two.  The plank was narrow and steep, as was true of most of these small local boats, but we had the sure and steady helping hands of the crew to get us safely on and off.  We were told to don our life vests as we pulled out and took to the fairly calm ocean.  The mountains around us were breathtaking, and those close enough we could see covered in thick lush jungle.  Those in the distance rose in dark green, blue, and purple hues.  I was fascinated with one in the far distance shaped distinctively from the others since it looked more craggy and had a few smoother humps rather than pointed peaks.

The boat ride was at least a half hour, but we finally pulled up to our first island, which reminded me a lot of Paradise Island - our first touristy place we went to in Davao City one day.  This was Isla Pandan and it welcomed us and the many others out island hopping for the day with several huts that provided shades, nice wooden benches and a table.  Our two girls traveling with us found us our hut and helped make us comfortable.  These girls were so quiet and so kind and helpful.

Of course, we first passed near fresh seafood set out for people to choose and have prepared for them by locals.  They would also come by the huts to entice the tourists.  We were a bit disappointed at the swimming area roped off for us.  It seemed small, and we really wondered what we would find in such a small areas filled with so many touring snorkelers.    Chris, his dad, sister, and I didn't wait too long to go in the water though, me because I partly wanted to get this part over with thinking that it may not be all that exciting anyway and this would give me plenty of time to dry out.

The water looked fairly murky - it was not the clear light blue color we had pulled up to shore in...although what we had pulled up to shore was so clear we could see there was nothing of much interest and just a whole lot of seaweed floating upward from its rooted place in the sand.   My walking was awkward with the fins on, and I tried to walk backward for a bit in the water to make it easier.  The water was not very warm, so i was grateful for the rashguard and found that it actually helped immensely in the submersion of my torso.  Really, the water was not that cool either and after adjusting and adjusting the mask, and getting way too much water in through the mouthpiece, I realized I was not putting the mouthpiece fully in.  Once I did that helped, but I still took in a mouthful of that incredibly salty water.  Between the fins, rash guard, mask and snorkel though, I did my first little dive and swim and it was quite fun and freeing feeling.  I found that looking under that water was not as murky as I had thought it might be.

Chris's dad was already quite a ways out and we swam to join him.  I saw a few small white - almost iridescent see through fish swimming around.  This was nice...  We realized quickly that the sand dropped fairly drastically, although into colder, darker waters with much more seaweed.  Still, a little farther out were more fish.  Then more.  And they got bigger and more colorful.  More yellow with white, or some white and black striped.  Chris dad called us over and we found some corral and way more fish.  By this point, my hesitation of the deeper darker water had given way to the immense wonder and delight in being surrounded by so many fish - fish I that were all around me swimming, but I couldn't feel at all.  I think they were skilled and quick enough that they weren't touching me or running into me, given that when I would stretch out my hands and stay as still as possible they still managed to swim around me without even a single touch for a random fin or scale.

We think this may be a parrotfish?

Chris went back for his iPhone in it's waterproof case so he could capture this wonderland in video and pictures.   In the meantime, I found a large starfish that was orangey-brown with dark brown spikes popping up from it's top. I gently pet it's rough skin, admiring it's beauty.  When Chris returned, we lost track of where the corral was and swam around but could not find it.  More and more sea junk was floating along the surface and so it would get caught in my hair or I would swirl it around by the movements of my arms and feet.  This was not so fun, but the fish were entertaining enough that it was not much of a hindrance.  We came across some electric blue colored fish black fish, white fish with just a spot of bright yellow, black and white striped fish, black, yellow and white striped, iridescent with just a black spot and a touch of yellow along the edges, and finally our favorite - a yellow fish bodied fish with blue, green, and pink running along it's fins and edges.  It was beautiful and we only saw a few.  Some of the other tourists were feeding the fish with bread, so any time we were near them we would be caught in big swarms of fish.   We had probably been out there for almost and hour and a half (which may be a record for me in regards to time spent in the water) before my mask was hurting too much that I could hardly keep it on.  I had it pulled so tight to keep from leaking (which had been happening a little on and off), that it was pushing in above my eye creating a very sore spot.  Besides, it was probably time to eat.

We walked back to our hut and the food was quickly laid out for us, which included - you guessed it - much seafood.  Also, Chris' mom had bought a fancy dish of mussels.  There was some pork...but it was mostly pork fat.  Seriously - 7/8 of these bit size pieces was fat and the other 1/8 was actual meat.  It was incredibly tasty, but I was cutting off most of the fat, because the thought and consistency of it is hard to eat.

A lady came around selling fresh turon (banana wrapped like an egg roll with a sugary coating on it).  I like them well enough, but usually the banana is too hard and dry for me to really enjoy.  Not these.  These were the best I'd ever had. Warm, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and covered in a hardened sheen of melted sugar.  It was the perfect deliciousness, so when she came back around, we quickly purchased more of the freshly made temptations.

note the wrinkly fingers

It was cloudy, windy and threatening rain.  I was a bit cool sitting there, and hadn't thought to bring any warmer clothing.  Chris decided he wanted to swim in the rain, and though I would have been content being done with the water, I decided I should take this last opportunity to go out, if even for a few minutes.  Rain began to drop, and we waded out in the water that now felt more like a jacuzzi, just as warm, if not warmer, than the air above it.  It felt so good to sit down in it.  The mask and snorkel were placed back on over my crazy hair that was in total disarray between the mask band getting caught in it, the trappings of small sea junk like weeds or twigs, and just the salty sandy water in general.  We swam about with water droplets falling on our backs and making little splashes in the now calmer and actually cleaner water (the sea debris had gone away).  It didn't matter at all that it was raining on one side of us.  We were following the fish around again.  I did get a bit nervous when I heard a large thunder clap, but no one else was getting out, Chris pointed out the life guard was not asking people to get out, and I did wait awhile and heard no more nearby rumbles.  We found the corral reef again and delighted in the schools of fish.  His dad even dove to retrieve a 500 peso bill sitting on the floor.

After I had had enough and the mask began to hurt once more I left the salty water and began to try to dry out after showing off in an outdoor area for the guests.  The shower water seemed to do nothing to clear off the sticky salt that insisted on clinging to my wrinkled, waterlogged skin.

It was getting later, and we needed to leave and if we were actually going to island hop.  We had yet to go to starfish island, which sounded fun.  The girls quickly packed up our lunch and belongings and we boarded the little vessel that was going to brave the whitecaps that stretched across the expanse of the water between us and the other islands.  I was a little concerned and though this might make me seasick, but surprisingly, it never did.  I have noticed since getting acupuncture regularly to try to ward off these dizzy spell/migraines I seem to have very little motion sickness.  I also notice that in open air vessels where I can face forward and feel the wind seems to combat the seasickness as well.

It didn't take long to get to Starfish Island, but it was certainly not as interesting as Pandan.  It was a long narrow curved strip of island with several lines of tables under huts that were empty.  There were maybe two or three natives on the island just sitting there, doing nothing.  There was maybe two or three other tourists on the island with us.  A line of trees followed the curve of the island but seemed to be growing out of the water on the other side.  I guess if you snorkeled out a ways you would see a lot of starfish, but I really wasn't that interested anymore.  Chris, his sisters, and I just decided to follow the curve of the land to the tip.  Along the way it was littered with thousands of pieces of shells.  We did notice that here we could find small sand dollars so I began to pick up as many as I could in order to pick out the best ones to take home.

Toward the end of the tip, Chris found a coconut and started to play with it.  He was throwing it, trying to crack it open.  He finally did get some water out (being an avid Survivor fan, I think he felt he had accomplished a survival skill).  What we eventually found though as it opened farther was that it was old and moldy inside.  The coconut got thrown away.  We did find a few sand dollars that were not the normal shape but looked like eggshells or deflating balloons.  One was even furry - why furry we had no idea...They broke easily though, much like an eggshell.

There was a sad puppy on this island who could not use his back legs properly.  It was the same as a doggy I had seen on the first island who basically dragged his back legs or used them in unison to do an awkward hop.  The hip joints clearly didn't work.  I asked and they said the dogs were related and had been disabled from jumping off a bayan kubo (hut) that was too high.  The dogs were well taken care of though, I guess the workers on the islands saw to that.  It made my heart happy, I have an awfully hard time seeing dogs in pain.

We took a picture of a sign for starfish island that had, of course, three starfish on it with the center cut out for us to stick our faces in.  After that we left the island so we could get to one more on our way back.  This island disappears with the high tide.  The water was still rough, I guess it doesn't calm down until after 4pm, but we had to be back by four, so we braved it (and for those that really know the ocean, I'm sure they'd laugh at me describing this as rough water...).  Nearing the island, we saw a large house that was on stilts, completely surrounded by water.  It looked like there was a sand bar nearby with some trees growing on it.  Maybe at the lowest tide this house is not in the water, but I'm not sure.  

We pulled up to our last location - Luli Island.  It was quickly disappearing and part of the stilted buildings were already hovering over some water.  A small hut was sitting a ways out in the water with a diving board off it.  The water was dark and rough, so I had no desire to get in.  Chris, as he seemed to do the whole trip, took advantage of the water.  He said it wasn't very pleasant though.  The island also stretched out long and narrow in an L shape.  Either end had rows of flags flying.  We were closer to the mainland and could see the mountains rising up in the distance.  It was nice, but windy.  We stayed only twenty minutes before boarding the boat and taking a fifteen minute ride back to the docks.

Our van driver was there waiting for us, so we loaded up, stopped to return the catering items, returned our snorkels at the next shop, and then returned to our lovely B&B.  We showered, relaxed a bit in the screened room and then ventured out on tricycles down the road for dinner.  We landed in Shakeys for pizza - the manager's choice was the parent's favorite.  Upon sitting down, we were informed there was no more cheese on the whole island and no more Diet Coke.  This did not go over well with this family.  Grumbling ensued, but the options were few, so we decided to stay.  I ordered a salad with mandarin oranges since I felt the need for something beside rice and meat.  I also was craving some good buttered garlic bread...since I had had little breaded goods as well on this trip.

The meal wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.  By this time, Chris was in some serious pain from his neck being stiff and back sore.  I think the snorkeling and all the traveling had caught up with him.  The girls wanted to find some milk tea for dessert and the boys halo halo.  We ended up in Chow King...which was okay, but the boba in my milk tea was not good.  Too soft, what a let down.

We took our tricycles back and didn't stay up much later since we had yet another early morning coming all too soon as we were headed to the underground river!