Honda Bay

It’s quite hard for me to write about Honda Bay. This is because in it, I felt a Kaleidoscope of emotions: from extreme happiness to extreme agony.

Honda Bay is located just a few minutes from the Puerto Princessa proper. Wearing a cluster of islands as its crown, Honda bay boasts white sand, absolutely untouched beach fringes and an amazing shore featuring unbelievably clear water fading into a royal blue sea. Honda Bay is absolutely picturesque and photogenic.

Okay, fine. It wasn’t really an “I almost died” moment. But heck, it was a pain that I haven’t felt before that thoughts of cutting off my big toe sounded more palatable.

If one is into snorkeling, there are rentable equipment by the port and because of fear from drowning, I opted not to. We first headed off to Pandan Island. Aside from the obligatory white beach, the place is named because of Pandan, an endemic plant and apparently is copious in that particular island.

After an hour or so, we headed off next to Snake Island. Not because it has snakes in it, it is named like that because the island is shaped like a slithering snake. We spent quite a bit here and I absolutely enjoyed it. The day was kind of overcast which promoted a not so humid environment and with the warm water, it was absolute bliss. At one point, I was just sitting by the shore and what joined me was a small school of fish with colors of yellow and orange and black – it was absolutely surreal. In this island we had lunch and had the obligatory photo session and of course, at one point with a star fish, no less.

Pressing on, we went by an island called Starfish Island. Feeling indifferent, I wasn’t really paying attention to what the guide was saying. All I know is that Dos Palmas, a famous beach resort franchise has bought the island. Ah, corporate.

Then, we moved onto Lu-Li Island. Named after the abbreviation of the words Lulubog and Lilitaw, roughly translated as Sinking and Showing up, it does exactly that: as part of the island actually sinks into the ocean when high tide eventually does its magic. I was very exhausted at this point, opting to walking around the island and enjoying the mangroves that dot around it.

Here comes the agony bit: as advised by our guide that this is our last stop, she told us to take our final dip into the ocean. I went to the farthest bit and soaked. After a few minutes, I decided to lie down on my belly and after a few minutes, something sharp has pricked the bottom of my large toe. How do I explain this: it stung and it was painful as it felt like it went straight into my bone. After feeling such sensation, I jumped out of the water and went to the shore.

I allowed it to bleed out a bit but the pain was something that I have not felt before. Walking limply to the guide, I asked if there was something I should worry about and she headed into hysteria. She asked advice from the boatman. The seniors that were with us went to maternal mode. With that, countless theories popped up:

(1) That I was attacked by a stonefish. Apparently, if I was hit by one, my whole leg, up to my thigh, would be numb and be in intense pain. Thank god it wasn’t.

(2) A rough shell. An oyster perhaps?

(3) Some sort of fish.

(4) A metallic object which may have tetanus. One of the seniors even scared me by sharing a story about someone she knew who died from it. Good timing, eh?

They soaked my foot into hot water thinking that it would slow down whatever might possibly spread or what was inoculated into my system. At this point, the pain was still bearable. I could really feel that the inoculation was deep and looking at it, it was making a dark spot and was kind of numb. They then decided to bring me to the emergency room.

On an outrigger boat, the vibration of the motor actually accentuated the pain. It intensified the pain to the extent that I was really in a tense position. That lasted about 20 minutes. When we reached the shore, I was really in panic mode. They thought that applying alcohol might help. Funnily enough it scared me and this had promoted a bit of weeping. On the van, which lasted forever, I was anxious as ever. The seniors that were with us was also not helping as they were thinking out loud, making me release a slight tinge of laughter to release my frustration.

When we reached the emergency room, I was placed beside a man who was basically fighting for his life (apparently, he drowned because he was intoxicated) – not really a good place for me since I was already panicking at this point. Lying on the bed, I was weeping immensely. They decided to inject anesthesia into my toe to help me deal with the pain. It helped as it made it numb. I was still in panic mode though as the thought of them opening my toe to see if something was in there scared me. At the end, they opted not to and released me with a cocktail of medicine for various reasons.

Looking back, that was a really crazy experience. As what my “Lonely Planet” perfectly described, you have not experienced Asia if you do not have at least one “I almost died” moment. Okay, fine. It wasn’t really an “I almost died” moment. But heck, it was a pain that I haven’t felt before that thoughts of cutting off my big toe sounded more palatable.