Starfish, Luli and Cowrie: Honda Bay island by island
The tour is Starfish, Luli and Cowrie, with Pambato Reef swapped in for Starfish on some routes — three stops, not the five or seven older guides promise. Cowrie is the developed one where lunch happens and where you will spend the longest. Luli is the tidal sandbar that vanishes at high tide and gives you the one photograph worth having. Starfish is the disappointment: sea stars are densest in February and March and thin at midday for the rest of the year. Entry runs ₱50–150 per person per island on top of your tour price.
What is actually on the boat
Honda Bay is a three-island product now: Starfish, Luli and Cowrie, with Pambato Reef swapped in as the snorkelling stop on some routes. Snake Island and Pandan are out of the standard rotation. Guides still promising four, five or seven islands are quoting a decade-old itinerary — and Starfish Island without starfish is now a recurring review title, because heavy traffic has pushed the sea stars away from the landing area.
Honda Bay has around 18 islands. Commercial tourism rotates around four of them, and the specific three you get depend on which HOBBAI route your operator booked. Route A is Pambato Reef, Luli and Cowrie. Route B is Starfish, Luli and Cowrie. Klook's bestseller runs Luli, Pambato and Cowrie, which means the biggest-selling Honda Bay product on the internet does not include Starfish Island at all.
That matters if you booked specifically for sea stars. Ask which route before you pay, not at the wharf. The route also decides whether you get a snorkel stop worth the mask hire — Pambato is a guided coral loop, Starfish is a wade. Booking the boat yourself is the only way to choose the route outright.
The four islands, compared
Times are what a joiner boat actually gives you, not what the itinerary says. Entry fees are per person, per island, in cash, and are the 2025-verified band — 2026 figures are unpublished.
| Island | Entry | Time there | What it is | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cowrie Island closest to the wharf, most developed | ₱100–150 | 90–120 min | Restaurant, bar, massage huts at ₱350–500/hr, banana boat, jetski, souvenir stalls. This is the buffet-lunch stop on every package. Do-it-yourself lunch here runs ₱250–300. | WORTH IT |
| Luli Island lulubog-lilitaw — will sink, will appear | ₱70–120 | 45–60 min | A tidal sandbar that disappears at high tide and re-emerges as it drops. Jumping platform. Aqua shoes strongly advised — the seabed is broken coral and it cuts. | WORTH IT |
| Pambato Reef a roofed pontoon over a protected coral patch | included on most routes | 20–30 min | The guided snorkel loop and the best coral in the bay, which is faint praise. Sergeant majors, clownfish, an occasional turtle if you are lucky. No walls, no big schools. | DEPENDS |
| Starfish Island also called Tabuan | ₱50–100 | 45–60 min | A shallow sandbar you can wade, with huts and basic toilets. Sea stars are densest February and March, the mating season, and hit-or-miss at midday the rest of the year. | DEPENDS |
| Isla Pandan called the prettiest in the bay by several guides | ₱150 | not on joiners | Appears on private and premium bundle itineraries with a seafood lunch. Whether any given 2026 operator still runs it is unverified — ask before you book on the promise. | DEPENDS |
| Snake Island and Bat Island still listed by legacy guides | — | no access | Not on standard tours. Snake Island has a history of closure and private use; Bat Island is a bird and bat roost with no landing. Current access is unverified — do not book on it. | SKIP |
| Dos Palmas private island resort in the same bay | day pass, 2026 price unpublished | full day | The comfort alternative for families and cruise passengers, historically ₱1,800–2,500 with lunch and transfers. See the Dos Palmas page. | DEPENDS |
Cowrie has by far the deepest review record of the three — read it on TripAdvisor before you decide whether the massage and banana boat are worth budgeting for.
The one that disappoints, and why
Starfish Island without starfish is a recurring review title, and it is not bad luck. It is a specific, documented consequence of how people photograph them.
The rule at Starfish Island is now briefed on most boats and enforced unevenly: keep the sea stars in the water, never lift one out for a photograph, and do not touch the underside. Lifting them out is what emptied the landing area.
Sea stars concentrate on the shallow flats around the landing in the February to March mating season and disperse the rest of the year. Heavy boat traffic and constant handling have pushed them further out from the landing area specifically, which is exactly where a joiner boat drops you for 45 minutes. Press coverage in 2025 and 2026 has picked up on local worry that Instagram attention is degrading the population outright.
Practical version: go on the first boat, walk out beyond the churned water, look rather than reach, and treat any sea star you do find as a bonus rather than the reason you paid ₱1,880. If February or March is your travel window, this stop is genuinely good and you should ask for Route B.
The tide decides one, the buffet decides the other
Luli is the only island in the bay whose quality depends on a timetable nobody publishes, and Cowrie is where you will actually spend half the day.
Luli is lulubog-lilitaw in Tagalog — will sink, will appear. It is a sandbar that submerges at high tide and re-emerges as the tide drops, so on a high-tide morning there is literally less island. Mid-tide is the walking-on-water shot everyone comes for. There is a jumping platform, and the seabed is broken coral — ₱150 for aqua shoes at the wharf is the single best-value spend of the day. Nobody publishes the tide against the tour schedule, so ask your operator what time you will be there and check a tide table.
Cowrie is the developed one and the closest to the wharf. Restaurant, bar, massage huts at ₱350–500 an hour, banana boat and jetski add-ons, souvenir shops, real toilets. Lunch is a Filipino buffet — grilled fish and pork, rice, vegetables, fruit — and reviews split cleanly between people who call it generous and people who call it a tour-group trough. If you are doing it yourself, eating here costs ₱250–300 instead. Cottages across the islands run ₱50–500, up to about ₱1,500 for the big pavilions.
The island practicalities
Booking a specific route
No platform lets you pick the island roster at checkout. What you can do is read the itinerary on the listing before you pay, and book private if the roster matters to you.
Island questions, answered
Which islands are on the Honda Bay tour in 2026?
Starfish, Luli and Cowrie on Route B, or Pambato Reef, Luli and Cowrie on Route A. Klook's bestselling joiner, with 20,000+ bookings, runs Route A — so the biggest Honda Bay product online does not include Starfish Island at all.
Why are there no starfish at Starfish Island?
Heavy traffic and constant handling have pushed the sea stars away from the landing area where boats drop you for 45 minutes. Density is best in February and March, the mating season. Keep them in the water and never lift one out — that is what emptied the shallows in the first place.
What does Luli Island mean?
It is short for lulubog-lilitaw, Tagalog for will sink, will appear. The island is a tidal sandbar that submerges at high tide and re-emerges as the tide drops. At mid-tide you get the walking-on-water photograph; on a high-tide morning there is barely an island at all, and a joiner boat gives you only 45 to 60 minutes there.
Do I need aqua shoes for Honda Bay?
For Luli, yes. The seabed there is broken coral and it cuts. Hire runs ₱150 at Sta. Lourdes wharf, the same as a snorkel mask, and almost everyone ends up renting them anyway once they have stepped on it.
Can you visit Snake Island or Isla Pandan?
Not on a standard joiner. Snake Island has a history of closure and private use and current access is unverified. Isla Pandan charges ₱150 and turns up mainly on private and premium bundles — ask your operator directly rather than assuming, because no 2026 listing we checked guarantees it.
How much are the Honda Bay island entrance fees?
Roughly ₱50–100 at Starfish, ₱70–120 at Luli and ₱100–150 at Cowrie, per person per island, in cash at each landing. Those are 2025-verified figures; islands adjust them yearly and no 2026 sheet is published. Klook's joiner includes them, most cheap local tours do not.
How long do you get on each island?
About 90 to 120 minutes on Cowrie because lunch happens there, 45 to 60 minutes each on Luli and Starfish, and 20 to 30 minutes in the water at Pambato Reef. Cruise-excursion days compress this, and 20-minute stops are a recurring complaint from shore-excursion reviewers.