August - September 1998 The Philippine Islands The five of us, Steve with Filipina Christine, Ray with Filipina Gina and myself without a Filipina left Cebu City on the 31st of July and are heading together with an other Yacht Quintessence south towards Apo Island, visiting many dive spots on the way. The diving around Apo Island was excellent and Ray’s 50iest birthday got celebrated with a pig off the spit. At the southern tip of Negros we checked out the Typhoon anchorage at Bonbanon, just in case we might need it one day. No wind was the normal weather pattern and the engine was used a lot.   From Negros to Cuyo Isl., the “Sulu Sea” was as flat as a mountain lake. Finally after 10 days since departing Cebu the northern tip of Palawan came into sight with green hills and mountain ranges. El Nido nestled close to towering limestone cliffs. We anchored right in front of the main beach. No other yachts were there, but the “bancas” (local outrigger canoe’s) traffic was immense. The Brigg and Stratton motors rarely have mufflers on their exhaust pipes and it must be traditional to have it noisy, maybe it stops their missus talking all the time. The village itself is still very basic, but it has all the facilities of shops, restaurants, bars and resorts. Our favoured bar was the “Shipwreck Bar” and we had lots of fun there and even got wrecked a few times. After a couple of days we’ve had enough of village life and we cruised the nearby limestone Islands with cliff towering 700 meters high. Climbing them is always a challenge especially on my own. The razor sharp rocks can do some serious damage if one should fall and many times my knees were trembling with maybe fear or tension. Reaching the peak, scratched and bleeding, sweaty and tired, bitten by a thousand mosquitos is such a thrill. Why? I don’t know. Its there! It is truly a magnificent area and reminded me a lot of Sava-I-Lau in Fiji. We slowly make our way south with the SW monsoon’s picking up a bit and blasting us with rain from the South China Sea. Sabang has a very famous underground river which is 8 Km long, has 40000 bats and 60000 swallows. It is stacked with stalactites in all sorts of configurations. A local guide with a canoe paddled us for 2 or 3 Km inside the cave and at one spot the ceiling was 65 meters above the river level. Returning to daylight left behind a feeling of a strong impression for natures miracles. A 7 Km walk to Sabang (the Monkey Trail) helped to sweat out some San Miguel beer and I also spotted a family of monkeys. This one of the very few places in the Philippines where monkeys still are about. The next day we reached Ulugan Bay. Puerto Princessa is approx. opposite and on the other side of Palawan. Ray, Gina and Christine are leaving us here and they travel by Jeepney to P.P. to catch a Ferry or plane to go home. Steve who had accompanied them returns with stories about the Jeepney trip and Puerto Princessa. It wets my appetite and the next day I am heading off to se for myself. Arriving at the local wharf, the dilapidated Jeepney was already full and the driver pointed to the roof rack for my seating. No bloody way! Some Filipinos were sitting up there amongst the boxes and packages, but this is not for me. Everybody squeezed just a little bit more together and I found a tiny space to sit on. Four boxes of fish in brain were in the middle of the ally; My feet were pointing down like a ballerina. How will I go for 2 hours in this position? Just before the Jeepney started, more people jumped on, hanging onto the back and sides. The dirt road over the mountains is very rough and the Jeepney bounced around a lot and so did the boxes of fish. Keep smiling and hope to arrive in Puerto Princessa in one piece and we did, but what a ride it was. The first thing one notices is the cleanliness of the town. There is not a piece of paper or cigarette butts of any sort on the road. It is the cleanest place I had ever seen. Hordes of old women and men (my age) were sweeping the roads, gutters and sidewalk. Someone throwing away a cigarette gets fined Pesos 200. A Tricycle brought me to the Hotel Tratorre which is a Swiss owned Hotel, Restaurant and Bar. I booked myself into a non-air-conditioned room with shared bathroom. Why should it be different from living on Little Swan, I would probably feel uncomfortable with aircon and privacy. The lunch menu had “R?sti” on it and I just had to have it. Soon I was approached by a local entrepreneur, offering me all sorts of deals. Cars, women and tours. Actually the only thing I wanted was a new crew and supplies. I showed him a photograph of Little Swan and he assured me he can find somebody for me. He drove me all around town and pointed out the market, Internet place, barber and tourist attractions. It is really a boring town and as the capital of Palawan has not much to offer other then tourist arrivals and departures to other places in Palawan or the Philippines. By late afternoon I had word that a few people might want to participate. A Danish family of 4 was most welcome and we agreed on a time schedule. We got ourselves organised with buying food and things. The next day we hired a car to drive us back over the mountains, stuff the Jeepney’s, but it cost us 200 times more. We set off the next day, heading north again revisiting El Nido. The Danes Gitte and Bjarne and the kids Christian(9) and Matias(5), Steve calls them “The Hooligans” are getting used to the on board life. The are also keen divers. Gitte and I explored an underwater cave, about 35 meters long. It is nothing special, just a bit scary if your light goes out. Why certain fish like in there is also peculiar. A couple of days later we arrive in Coron Bay. There are supposed to be seven Japanese war-wrecks one can dive on. The GPS position was not correct, but a buoy attracted our attention. A few passes next to the buoy showed up the wreck clearly. We attached ourselves to the buoy and before too long Bjarne and Steve descended down to explore the wreck. It was quit big and interesting to dive on. The Bay was calm and we decided to stay on the buoy over night, to do some more diving in the morning. A surprise visit at 0530 in the morning scared the shit out of Bjarne. Three hooded youth with Uzi-machineguns raced up to us in a speedboat. They asked Bjarne if we were divers or something else. Bjarne stuttered d..d..divers. They then pissed off again. What was that all about? What shall we do? Leave or stay? If they would have wanted to rob us, they could have done so already. Puzzling. Later at Coron town we found out, that there were pearl farms near the wreck and the owners are armed for protection. We must have appeared as pearl-poachers. On the way to Coron village the weather turned into a thunderstorm, limiting the visibility. We proceeded cautiously, because we knew the water to be shallow near the township. The reef came up from 10 meters to 1 meter very quickly and whoops we run aground. *#)!>”}*!. Reversing, not a hope. We jumped into the water to see how bad it was.  Not too bad, we were not actually sitting on coral, but in a patch of sand and mud with coral heads either side of the keel. Lucky us! Obviously the deep part was just behind us and 5 meters back would see us clear. We set a rear anchor out and winched the line taught, but still we did not move 1 cm. At least it is low tide and a high tide would free us up. We set a 2nd large anchor out the back and with two winches pulling and engine on full revers we slowly crept backwards and seconds later we were afloat again. Phew, that was close. We abandoned our shopping and cruised over to Coron Island, where we found the most beautiful anchorage and an inland lake close by. Surely one of the best places I stayed at. Our next destination is Calauit Island just north of Busanga Island. A very protected and calm estuary was a welcome sight. The attraction is a Wildlife Sanctuary with African animals. We toured the 3700 hectare sanctuary in the oldest and rustiest Jeepney. Well it is a Safari and we will enjoy it. There were lots of Giraffes, Zebras, Gazelle’s and Impala deer grazing in the open park like surroundings. It was good to see the rare Philippine animals, such as the Mouse Deer and the Bear-cat. The Sanctuary is poorly financed and has problems with poachers, but visitors are very welcome. Bring your money with you! We passed the 12?Lat. going north towards typhoon Country and I am getting a bit toey. Cyclone “Stella” is raging in the NW Pacific and there are tropical depressions in the South China Sea. We made a quick dash to northern Mindoro, just stopping for lunch and a quick snorkel at Apo Reef. On one of the few and short times we were able to sail, the mainsail ripped, not so much from the strong wind, but from weakened seams. We arrived in Puerto Galera 13?30’ N, 120?57’E safely and it being known as a Typhoon safe Harbour appeared to be right. We were allocated a mooring, together with 30 other yachts and cruisers.  This place feels good to me and I hope we can stay awhile. The green hills and blue bays are relaxing surroundings. The PG Yacht Club felt like coming home. The Danes took the Ferry and Bus to Manila to buy their own dive gear as well as trying to extent the ticket to Bangkok for another couple of weeks. Steve came down with some mystery illness, which made him feel weak and tired and he spend most of the time in bed sleeping day and night. The Danes and the hooligans came back to stay another 15 days with us and travel to Boracay and Cebu. Bjarne and I dived on a few recommended spots near Sabang, but being spoilt from previous best dives we thought it to be below average. Two more Danes joined us in our trip south and 8 on board is definitely a crowed. The weather also took a turn for the worse. Typhoon “Vicky” 200km north from us caused a lot of damage in Manila and managed to sink a passenger ship. “Vicky” moved out to sea and thankfully heading north and to my amazement join up with “Stella” to hit the Japanese coast together. I have never heard of such a thing. I am happy to travel to slightly safer Latitudes. It is hard to imagine we only left Cebu 2 month ago, had so many beautiful experiences and are now back again in pollution and noise. It was farewell again and we wish Gitte, Bjarne who is a changed man, a dolphin macho man, who has tattoos and drinks anchor beer, Rum n’Coke, pineapple juice with Cornflakes, and gallons of Coca Cola. The super blond hooligans which were such well behaved brats. Steve and myself will spend 3 weeks in Cebu to do the never ending repair work and get urgent therapeutical attention. I would like to be back in Puerto Galera by the end of October. The moorings looked safe enough to leave Little Swan for a week or so I can fly to Sydney. Most likely I shall be spending the Philippine season (Dec. Jan. Feb.) in Puerto Galera. This area is very touristy and I might be able to make special trips for the tourists to cover my expenses. Toni