Honda Bay Tour (Part 3): Finale in Cowrie Island

After the uneventful lunch break on Luli Island, our group rode the banca again to go to the last island in our itinerary. This island is none other than the Cowrie Island.

“Cowrie, what?” I said when I first heard it from our tour guide. My mind was suddenly filled with thoughts of cows and milk and 8 maids-a-milking. Cowrie would be grassy and green for the sake of the cows (and goats).

My imagination was (of course) wrong because Cowrie Island is full of sand.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Cowrie Island was actually named after a species of snails that goes by name “cowrie”. These snails have egg-shaped shells which are very common in the Philippines. In fact, I’ve seen cowrie shells used as decorations in our office. When I was little, my aunt has a figurine which was entirely made of cowrie shells.

Ironically, I didn’t saw any cowrie shell during our visit to Cowrie Island.

Cowrie Island is very different from the first two island that we visited during the tour. Starfish Island and Luli Island only have few cottages and devoid of any touristy activity other than snorkeling and swimming in the sea. Cowrie Island, on the other hand, is a beach resort with restaurants, banana boats and the crowd of tourists. It even have a website!

We didn’t try dining in the restaurant so we have no idea what their food taste like. I guess the comments in Tripadvisor will be of some help.

My Beloved Wife Lei and I roamed the island and we saw nothing unusual other than a small wooden ship beached on the island.

It is possible that waves pushed this ship to the island during a storm. But I guess it is more probable that it is an abandoned pirate ship that was left behind after the pirates buried their treasure somewhere in the island. :-P

Since it is the last island for our tour, we took our time dipping in the salty waters of Honda Bay. Lei enjoyed the tour very much and I guess that she’s satisfied with all the beaches that we visited on the three islands. Our Honda Bay Tour made our first husband and wife perfect.

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Read more of our adventures in Honda Bay:

Honda Bay Tour (Part 1): A Big  Disappointment at Starfish Island
Honda Bay Tour (Part 2): Killing Time at Luli Island
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Honda Bay Tour (Part 2): Killing Time at Luli Island

We left Starfish Island after an enjoyable snorkeling session to go to another Honda Bay island with a peculiar name. That island is called by the locals as Luli Island. Its name was peculiar because it is a combination of two words: lulubog and lilitaw, which means sinking and rising.

Palaweños gave the island that peculiar name because it sinks (lulubog) during high tide and rise (lilitaw) during the low tide.

Good thing that we visited Luli Island during low tide. We a have plenty of dry land to walk around.

Actually, there’s too much dry land on Luli Island during low tide making it look like a big desert.

Roger, our tour guide, brought us to one of the cottages/multipurpose hall because it is where we will have our lunch. Unfortunately, our food was delayed and we had to wait around one hour before Roger can set the table.

So, instead of waiting for our lunch, Lei and I decided to go around the island.

The first thing that we did is to go back to the sea (because we wanted to swim as much as we could in Palawan (because we will never get that chance in Metro Manila (because Manila Bay is very polluted))). A signage blocked our way before we reached the sea. It says:

We didn’t want jellyfish sting ruin our vacation so we just stayed in the fenced part of the sea.

My Beloved Wife is having fun! :-)

The boatman knew that I was disappointed because I didn’t get any decent photo when we snorkeled at Starfish Island so he helped us snorkel at Luli Island.

Unfortunately, the coral reef at Luli Island is nothing compared to the reef at Starfish Island. The fishes and other marine life are lesser in number too. Well, at least I managed to photograph some fishes with my camera.

Our group feasted on a simple lunch prepared by the tour agency. We had the pinakbet, adobong pusit, inihaw na bangus, and pork inihaw. Another tour group that shared our cottage had grander food selections. I didn’t envy them, however, because I know that their Honda Bay Tour is expensive.

Bon appétit!

We enjoyed our simple lunch not only because of the food but also because of the people in our group. Our group consisted of a family and two American ladies. All of them were nice and it was very easy for us to get along with them.

There is nothing much to see on Luli Island. It is just a stretch of sand that made me think of the Panday movies of FPJ that were set in desert areas.

The island is one of the common destination for the Honda Bay tours so expect the place to be a little crowded, especially when bancas come to drop their tourists. Good thing there were few people on Luli Island during our visit.

There’s not much activity on the island and I guess it just serves as stopover by programmed tours for lunch. The only amenities available are the cottages where tour guides bring their wards to kill time.

Our tour guide was successful in killing our time on Luli Island, especially that the island will be the second to the last island that we will visit for the day. Pandan Island, which was supposedly included in our tour, was closed to tourists.

I know that this made us “lugi” but we didn’t complain. Lei and I got what we wanted and that is to go to the beach and dip in the sea as much as we want.

Well, our time on Luli Island is up. It is time for us to go to another island that goes by the name Cowrie.

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Honda Bay Tour (Part 1): A Big Disappointment at Starfish Island
Honda Bay Tour (Part 3): Finale in Cowrie Island
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Honda Bay Tour (Part 1): A Big Disappointment at Starfish Island

My Beloved Wife Lei likes going to the beach. During our last vacation to Davao, she planned (with her sister) a side trip to Samal Island. When it was announced that their company outing will be at a beach in Batangas, she immediately told me that she wanted to go, as in really (really) wanted go. Knowing that Lei is a certified beach person, I chose the Honda Bay Tour over the Underground River Tour when I booked our travel package in Cash Cash Pinoy.

The Honda Bay Tour allows us to visit many islands and I think that the more islands that we visit, the more beaches that we will see (the more happy that Lei will be (and as some people say: happy wife = happy life)).

Honda Bay is big body of water north of Puerto Princesa. The bay is not named after the car manufacturer Honda or the Street Fighter E. Honda. Its name actually came from the Spanish word “hondo” which means “deep”. This means that we can also Honda Bay as “Deep Bay”.

After our hearty breakfast at Balay Inato, our tour guide Roger came to pick us up. We joined a group other island hoppers composed of a Pinoy family of 7 and two ladies from USA. Our destination is the wharf at Barangay Sta. Lourdes.

We made a short stop over at Aquatic Gears in Brgy. Tagburos, where we rented snorkeling masks (150 pesos each) and booties (150 pesos per pair). Since my camera is not waterproof, I also rented a sealed camera case for 250 pesos.

We reached Sta. Lourdes wharf few minutes before 8AM. Since we’re in packaged tour, we didn’t need to queue and to haggle with boatmen. Roger did all of those things, including the bureaucratic rituals (paying the terminal fee, etc.) so it was all hassle free for us.

I read somewhere that it is better to go to Sta. Lourdes wharf to avoid the long lines, especially if you are doing a do-it-yourself (DIY) Honda Bay Tour. Travel on a Shoestring said that cut-off time at the wharf is 2PM so it is really good if you start your tour in the early morning.

The sea was calm so our boat trip was uneventful. This is perfect for Lei because she is not accustomed to sea travel. A little pounding of waves is enough to make her shriek.

It is good to visit Palawan before the start of the typhoon season. Presence of typhoon anywhere in the Philippines brings bad weather to Puerto Princesa. Bad weather means cancellation of boat tours.

After around 30 minutes, we finally reached the farthest island in our itinerary. This island is the Starfish Island.

I believe that this island was named because of the starfish that are abundant in the area. This island sits on the coral reef so it’s a perfect place for snorkeling. Unfortunately, we had to pass through some difficulties before we can meet Nemo and his friends. In fact, we fought monsters before we could snorkel.

That's me, trying to escape the giant clam.

While other island hoppers are still fighting their monsters, Lei and I did a little tour of our own.

There is nothing much to shout about Starfish Island. It has fine sands, which is typical of the islands in Honda Bay. The place is under-developed and has shrubs and trees in the center. I think that the government does not allow commercial developments on the island to preserve the beauty of Honda Bay.

The beauty of Starfish Island is not on the island itself but in its seas. We were stunned by the coral reefs and fishes darting around the place. Our knowledgeable boatman told us the name of the fishes and corals that we saw.

It felt so good to be surrounded by fishes. I am so glad because such beauty still exists in the Philippines.

Our joy turned into disappointment because of one person who didn’t do his job well. I’m referring to that person in Aquatic Gears who made a lousy job in sealing my camera. The paper that was meant to hold the camera in place actually blocked the lens.

Great job Aquatic Gears. Great job.

I was so disappointed and angry at the same time that it spoiled our happy moments in Starfish Island. Violent thoughts ran in my mind and I felt myself turning into Incredible Hulk. Thank God that I realized that anger will not do anything good, so I calmed down and just enjoyed the whole tour.

We didn’t stay long in Starfish Island because we still had other islands to visit. We really had a good time snorkeling the sea. We enjoyed snorkeling so much that we think of going to El Nido in the future. Well, I guess, we should buy a waterproof camera so will not experience another disappointment like what we experienced in Starfish Island.

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Read more of our adventures in Honda Bay:

Honda Bay Tour (Part 2): Killing Time at Luli Island
Honda Bay Tour (Part 3): Finale in Cowrie Island
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