Honda Bay Tour Preliminaries
This was the last picture in my previous story about going on a Honda Bay Tour..,
This is where the vans park and people hop to their boats, but not after another long wait as your tour guide goes through the usual red-tape, hopping from table to table, to pay fees on your group's behalf!
And yes, if you did not avail of a group tour, you would exasperatedly be doing that on your own!
That guy in white shirt and girl in stripes were our tour guides, paying for our individual tickets (one by one, as in)! Then, they had to step to that environmental fee table at left, to do another round of a very laborious process of manual payments for each of us, and so on and on! In this hi-tech 21st century?!
As I watched our tour guides do those things, I could not help but think 'why are so many processes in our country still so primitive, when there are already a lot of more convenient solutions to make those faster and more efficient'? For example: even beggars in Beijing use QR Codes on their phones to beg for "money" and use the same "phone apps" to buy things at local sari-sari-style stores. Why can't we?
Imagine, in the Philippines, we even still queue up just to pay terminal fees - in cold cash my gash! Yet we are supposed to be the "texting capital" of the world. Why can't those payment apps reach us yet?
Anyway, I spent the "waiting time" roaming around the wharf just to see this-and-that!
This map is the other side of that welcome signage pictured above. Nice idea, right?
This is a big 'rate schedule' board for the public to know or be reminded of. Helpful but dizzying!
At one corner of the building, I saw this advertisement of the island destinations in Honda Bay..,
All that waiting got us bored, so we naturally scattered looking at 'whatevers' around the wharf. While most of my companions checked-out the various shops in this area, I gravitated to the water's edge..,
That long blue roof across the parking lot. That's where people actually hop unto their assigned boats.
This was not our boat hehe. It just so happened that it was alone and nice to take a photo of, so I did!
Some of the islands scattered around Honda Bay can already be seen out there in the background!
Note that there are many islands, islets, sandbars and/or coral cays in the bay, but only 6 to 8 of them are visited on island hopping tours. Others are either hard-to-reach, very far or need extra visit permits.
But nice enough looking out to the surrounding areas of this wharf. There are so many boats waiting.
They're just scattered offshore. Only 2 of them at a time, may dock at this wharf to load passengers!
See the boat at left? It was just fully loaded and about to depart. Soon, another boat takes its place.
They have a unique, semi-primitive, yet orderly and effective way of directing boat traffic at this wharf!
By the way, those two ladies in yellow shirts are "authorized vendors" from "Honda Bay Pearl Vendors Association". Meaning, they're the only "pearl peddlers" allowed in this area - but there's no assurance they're selling real or genuine pearls! At least there's some semblance of order/control to avoid chaos!
Anyway, back to the boats.., take note of the big red numbers displayed at the wharf area like below..,
Those are boat numbers and they mean generally two things: 1] the boat whose number is displayed (only) may come and dock at the wharf to load passengers; and 2] passengers assigned on such boat numbers should already come to the wharf's edge to find and board their tour boat! Interesting di ba?!
That is the reason why those numbers are big and red -- they have to be visible at a distance offshore, where boats are just floating and waiting! Well, also for the tour guides and passengers to check-out if it is time to board their boats. No need for PA (public address) Systems - just look at the big numbers!
The staff manning this 'operation' (you can see their table in the pics) do have a megaphone that they sometimes use to "page" for waywardly passengers (mga pasaway) who instead of boarding may still be roaming around (usually at the shops or the eateries). I heard them do that just once. It was quick.
I asked them about those boat numbers since I read that as "Boat Number 4946". There was laughter, and our guides teased them that they were not doing their jobs properly. Amidst the laughter, they did explain to me that those digits meant two boats - numbered 49 and 46 - and that all boatmen know it!
True! For when I looked in the water, there already was "Boat No. 46" approaching the wharf. Aliw!
It took probably just 3 minutes of boarding passengers, then Boat No. 46 pushed back. Very Efficient!
Still amidst their banter, there is your 'boxing ring girl' (in black) changing 46 to the next boat number!
Boat No. 49 was still boarding, but Boat No. 36 was now being 'summoned' to approach the wharf..,
Look, to satisfy my atrevida question earlier, she already made space between the two boat numbers!
After a while, Boat No. 49 also departed and it was Boat No. 48's time to start boarding passengers!
Our two tour guides at left still joking with the girl in black, that she looked like a real "boxing ring girl".
Their laughter was because they were telling the girl in black to wear high heels and very short shorts!
Oh! The moment I remembered 48 was our boat number, I also heard our guides asking us to board!
When I looked in the water, there it was.., our Boat No. 48 getting ready for us to jump in! Yeah!
And one of our two tour guides positioned himself right at front to assist each of us in boarding!
The other guide (girl at right in striped shirt) made sure we (and our things) were all accounted for!
You may be asking why we had the luxury of having two tour guides on this trip. It would be apt to tell you now, that this was not due to special considerations nor extravagance on our part. It was because we toured on two vans as there were too many of us. All tour companies provide a guide for each van.
Total wait time here was an hour.., And off to the Honda Bay Islands we toured!
And yes, if you did not avail of a group tour, you would exasperatedly be doing that on your own!
As I watched our tour guides do those things, I could not help but think 'why are so many processes in our country still so primitive, when there are already a lot of more convenient solutions to make those faster and more efficient'? For example: even beggars in Beijing use QR Codes on their phones to beg for "money" and use the same "phone apps" to buy things at local sari-sari-style stores. Why can't we?
Imagine, in the Philippines, we even still queue up just to pay terminal fees - in cold cash my gash! Yet we are supposed to be the "texting capital" of the world. Why can't those payment apps reach us yet?
Anyway, I spent the "waiting time" roaming around the wharf just to see this-and-that!
This map is the other side of that welcome signage pictured above. Nice idea, right?
This is a big 'rate schedule' board for the public to know or be reminded of. Helpful but dizzying!
At one corner of the building, I saw this advertisement of the island destinations in Honda Bay..,
My attention was drawn by those lower-right-hand words on that board. I learned that things here are managed by an association. It says Honda Bay Boat Owner's Association Incorporated, Community Based Sustainable Tourism, Barangay Sta. Lourdes, Puerto Princesa City. Well and good if it's really so but someone ought to guide them on running things efficiently amidst increasing numbers of tourists.
All that waiting got us bored, so we naturally scattered looking at 'whatevers' around the wharf. While most of my companions checked-out the various shops in this area, I gravitated to the water's edge..,
This was not our boat hehe. It just so happened that it was alone and nice to take a photo of, so I did!
Note that there are many islands, islets, sandbars and/or coral cays in the bay, but only 6 to 8 of them are visited on island hopping tours. Others are either hard-to-reach, very far or need extra visit permits.
But nice enough looking out to the surrounding areas of this wharf. There are so many boats waiting.
See the boat at left? It was just fully loaded and about to depart. Soon, another boat takes its place.
By the way, those two ladies in yellow shirts are "authorized vendors" from "Honda Bay Pearl Vendors Association". Meaning, they're the only "pearl peddlers" allowed in this area - but there's no assurance they're selling real or genuine pearls! At least there's some semblance of order/control to avoid chaos!
Anyway, back to the boats.., take note of the big red numbers displayed at the wharf area like below..,
That is the reason why those numbers are big and red -- they have to be visible at a distance offshore, where boats are just floating and waiting! Well, also for the tour guides and passengers to check-out if it is time to board their boats. No need for PA (public address) Systems - just look at the big numbers!
The staff manning this 'operation' (you can see their table in the pics) do have a megaphone that they sometimes use to "page" for waywardly passengers (mga pasaway) who instead of boarding may still be roaming around (usually at the shops or the eateries). I heard them do that just once. It was quick.
I asked them about those boat numbers since I read that as "Boat Number 4946". There was laughter, and our guides teased them that they were not doing their jobs properly. Amidst the laughter, they did explain to me that those digits meant two boats - numbered 49 and 46 - and that all boatmen know it!
True! For when I looked in the water, there already was "Boat No. 46" approaching the wharf. Aliw!
It took probably just 3 minutes of boarding passengers, then Boat No. 46 pushed back. Very Efficient!
Boat No. 49 was still boarding, but Boat No. 36 was now being 'summoned' to approach the wharf..,
After a while, Boat No. 49 also departed and it was Boat No. 48's time to start boarding passengers!
Their laughter was because they were telling the girl in black to wear high heels and very short shorts!
When I looked in the water, there it was.., our Boat No. 48 getting ready for us to jump in! Yeah!
And one of our two tour guides positioned himself right at front to assist each of us in boarding!
The other guide (girl at right in striped shirt) made sure we (and our things) were all accounted for!
Total wait time here was an hour.., And off to the Honda Bay Islands we toured!
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