Palau and the Philippines

For the Photo Album go to: PACIFIC

March 21, 2006 (edited 02-01-2021)

The previous log was posted from Palau in late January. I arrived at Koror, the main town in Palau, on January 17th and departed the 22nd for the Philippines. It was a very convenient stop for an American cruiser. The currency is U.S. dollars and you can receive and send first class mail to and from the U.S. for a first-class mail stamp. This was my first and only stop in Micronesia. Several boats sailed to Palau directly, avoiding Papua New Guinea, from the Solomons through the Carolina Islands, of which Truk is the main attraction. I ended up very close to the Carolinas because I could not find any wind on the N.W. direction, I tried to follow from Kavieng.

Next time I'll try that strategy.

The customs and immigration people in Palau are rather strict and gave me the third degree. It is best to contact them in advance by at least a month of your approximate e.t.a., by e-mail or writing. After I had cleared in, I moved to the bay behind the main port area in front of the Palau Yacht Club. The club has hot and cold showers and a great bar and restaurant This is a private set up owned and run by an Olympia, Washington native, Sam Scott, who operates a thriving diving service, adjoining the yacht club. Palau has spectacular diving. "Contessa", the sailboat I had run into in American Samoa and in Rabaul, P.N.G., had arrived a couple days earlier. "Morgana", the ketch that left the day after I arrived in Rabaul, was also spending a few weeks in Palau.  Right next to me in the anchorage was "Banshee", from Southern California, with Joyce and Leslie. They had been here for an extended period. "Banshee" holed and sunk on a reef in the Hermit Islands in N.W. Papua New Guinea. Joyce was pulled out of the sinking boat by the locals. With the help of the natives, they managed to close the hole and refloat "Banshee". Joyce is writing the story in a book under the the title "Marooned".

I made new friends with Tony and Val McDonald, an Australian couple, on "Stylopora". We have met up again in Cebu and are once more together here in Puerto Galera. Tony runs an informal radio "net" with boats in the area. One of the frequent contacts on this net was the Dutch boat "Johanna". They are now on their way to Indonesia via Palawan and Malaysian Borneo.

Sitting at Sam's Bar one evening, I admired the sailing skills of Gary Peoni on "Athei", sailing up to his mooring buoy in a classic 8 Meter, which turned out to be engine less. Gary has sailed her from Honolulu across the Pacific and to Australia and back up to Guam, where he makes his home as a boat carpenter.  Gary knew the intimate details of "Contessa", from his time in Honolulu, which was of help to the third delivery crew of this rather handicapped craft on it's slow passage to Thailand.

I had a fast passage from Palau to Mindanao. The trap line netted Yellowtail Tuna several times on this passage.  One night a loud noise on the hull woke me up. When I stepped up into the cockpit, I could see a good size log float away, but no harm done. I had one rough night where I had to go under bare poles and it set me off course. I ended up too far South of Hinuatan Passage, close to Lianga Bay on Mindanao.

The next days were wet and dark and I ended up low on battery charge because the solar panel was not putting out sufficiently. 

The currents in Hinuatan Passage can run up to 5 knots. And they ran against me during the night. I anchored, in the dark, North West off the small island and fishing community of Lapinigan at 9.34 N 125.45 E on January the 28th. It was a good thing that I did not go to the South side of the island because a low hanging power line connected it with the Mindanao shore. There was no mention of this in the cruising guide nor on C-Map. One should round the island on the N.E. corner to anchor off the village on the south side of the island. The next day was a very nice down-wind sail to Surigao, on the N.W. corner of Mindanao. The "Cruising guide to South East Asia" lists Surigao as a port of entry but this proved to be inaccurate. Customs and Immigration is only set up for commercial vessels.

They gave me a temporary clearance for passage to Cebu. In a way this was lucky break because Surigao was a very interesting stop. It brought back the atmosphere of my stay in Saigon in the sixties; in the smells, people, tricycle cabs, charcoal sidewalk cooking, a constant flow of bankas (outrigger canoes) on the bay, tin roofed shacks hanging over the edge of the bay. Here, and in many subsequent anchorages, I have been the only visiting yacht for a long period. Pearls turned out to be a real bargain in Surigao. I stayed three days and reprovisioned with fresh fruit and vegetables and diesel.

Another fast sail from Surigao over smooth protected waters between Leyte and Bohol. I spent the one night anchored in a shallow bay off Aquinin Point on Lapinini Island at 10.05 N 124.36 E . A more protected anchorage is in the larger bay to the S.W. of this location. In the morning I took a stroll through the small fishing village. From here I sailed through the narrow channel between Bohol and Lapinini. My charts did not show a height restriction for the power line that crosses the channel. But it looked too low in the center and I had to do some quick tacking to the shore to avoid harm. From there it was a slalom course through shallows and fish trap corrals.

I arrived off the Cebu Yacht Club in the channel between Cebu and Mactan Island, in the early evening. "Stylopora" had given me a good GPS coordinate for the Yacht Club, which turned to be, once again, completely inaccurately given in the "Cruising Guide". The guide listed it on the east coast of Mactan Island. And there has never been a yacht club there. The correct location is 10.19.579 N 123.58.42 E

The y.c. offers med style moorage to visiting yachts, in a protected marina, at $40 for the first 10 days, $60 for the next week and then it goes to $50 per day. It has showers, a nice bar with a terrific kitchen. I stayed here much longer than I had planned. It turned out that my new main sail would take several weeks to be finished. That's why I decided to repaint the bottom and raise the waterline in Cebu.

This turned out to a very expensive haul out. Partially due to my miscalculation of the daily cost on the ways, rain days and extra charges by the yard. My alternative would have been to go to Subic Bay and have the sail shipped there.

Cebu is a large metropolitan area with practically any city convenience. Mactan Island where the Y.C. is located, connected to Cebu by two bridges, is also a suburban sprawl of townships and a supermarket and shopping mall are within a 5-minute walk.

The traffic is thick and noisy and tricycle cabs, jeepneys and taxis vie for the 4 inches of space between them. It is absolute chaos. But in the 6 weeks there, I only witnessed one minor collision. There is standard to the chaos and though sometimes hard to recognize by our western eyes there is a form of courtesy on the road. And this extends to the daily life here. In the western world we are often bogged down by a ton of regulations in a seemingly controlled order. Most of the ex-pats here praise the uncontrolled chaos here.

One of the oldest Christian churches in the Philippines was built by the Augustinians in Carcar, about 20 miles south of Cebu, in the 16^th century. The church of Santa Catarina. I met sister Elvi in an internet cafe and she invited me to visit her in Carcar where she cares for several elderly and also teaches elementary school. I took one of the local busses from Cebu. The church, convent and several adjoining old Spanish homes are well preserved. With a large square around it. Unfortunately, the oldest church in continuous use in the Philippines Santo Nino basilica in Cebu City is completely boxed in by the city sprawl.

I attended mass at Santo Nino and the newer cathedral of Sto. Rosario in Cebu. There are regular masses in English besides in Cebuano (a form of Visayan). What impressed me is the mass attendance. Even in these large churches you need to be there at least 15 minutes before the service starts in order to have a seat. And the average age of the worshippers is about 20 years below the average U.S. congregation because of the large numbers of young people.

Some of the visiting boats in Cebu were "Chelsea" a 65 foot Swan Ketch of Gary Schiller from California. He arrived with his Solomon Island crew, Barry, a day ahead of me and he plans to head north after he musters additional female crew.

"Ilai'i" a ketch from Hawaii with Neil as the owner and two Australian crew members arrived early March via Truk and Palau. Neil was in Honiara when I was there in November and followed me to Ghizo and then went North, skipping Papua New Guinea.

A regular visitor at the Marlin Bar/Restaurant was Lee Bullock who is building a large catamaran next door. He used to have a multi hull sales company in Sausalito, California. I made friends with Vance Smith, originally from New Jersey, who has lived in the area for several years and came here by way of Hawaii and California. He is sort of an unofficial assistant manager of the "Marlin", which is owned by an Englishman, Steve.

My brand new main sail, compliments of my old Amsterdam neighborhood friend Guus Bierman, owner of Contender Sailcloth

http://www.contendersailcloth.com/   was delivered by Hyde Sails on Saturday March 11th. I set sail from Cebu for Puerto Galera on the following Monday. The new sail is a big improvement from the old one, which had lost it's shape and was torn and ragged.

This sail is faster and let's me sail higher to the wind direction.

The first night I anchored in the bay of port Carmen, just to the North of Cebu City. The next night I sailed and motored all night and then

dropped anchor for the night near the South Western tip of Marbate Island.  The Visayan Sea is literally littered with fish "enhancement" buoys. They are anchored in sometimes over 100 feet depth and the purpose is to attract small fish in the shade of the buoys which in turn attracts larger prey, like Tuna. Then the local fishermen come out and set their nets around these buoys. They are difficult to spot. Sometimes they have a few palm fonts stuck in the top of the pole sticking out from the buoy.

From Marbate I set course for the southern tip of Tablas Island. I sailed in a full moon at midnight through the waters between southern Tablas and the adjoining island. I had hoped to be in Puerto Galera by Friday for St. Patrick day. But the wind died just South of the Island of Maestre di Campo, called Sibale by the locals. I motored into Port Concepcion and this turned out to be a delightful stop.

Concepcion is a small town of fishermen and copra farmers. It has a n excellent anchorage in a protected bay I anchored at 12.55 N 121.43 E.

Father "German" Mehler, a Divine Word Missionary, from South Eastern Bavaria, is the priest of "Immaculate Conception" parish.

We enjoyed each other's company for the evening and next morning I stayed at Sibale. He is a year older than I am and has seen a lot of this world. He brought in large amounts of beautiful marble from the island of Romblon. The floors, wall decorations, large flower urns, of exquisite colors, the altar, etc. All were hand chiseled, carved and polished by the local craftsmen.

The island reminded me of the Marquesas because it had the same order, harmony and the homes were mostly more substantial than the rest of what I have seen in the Philippines; instead of the bamboo/plywood tin roof shacks the homes were mostly larger and built in concrete and masonry and tiled roofs.

The next day, Saturday, was another day and late-night sail but I made it to anchor in Puerto Galera by just after midnight, after a challenging sail in the ferry traffic and narrow passages.

I anchored in Bouquet Bay and woke up Sunday morning recognizing "Stylopora" a 150 feet away. Puerto Galera could be described as the less elaborate equivalent to the Philippines what St.Tropez is to the French Mediterranean. It has high forested hills rising from its beaches. The small town has a mini board walk/quay with side walk restaurants and bars, Bougainvilleas, outrigger canoes parked on the beach in front.

The Puerto Galera Y.C. http://www.pgyc.org/ is nestled in the trees above the bay. It is a must stop for any yachty to the Philippines. They have a very active program with several internationally attended regattas during the year. A Kiwi lady, Donna, is in charge of the junior dinghy sailors. I plan to participate this afternoon in an informal race in their 12-foot dinghies. I am anchored on one of their mooring buoys at $4.00 per day. This also includes use of the shuttle outboard to and from the boat, yacht club and muelle (quay) the showers and club house bar and restaurant.

Yesterday I took the ferry banka from here to Batangas City which is on the South shore of Luzon island, in order to find an ATM machine, which there are none of in P.G. It was a little over an hour's ride. I also managed to get my roll of still film put on a CD for the web album in Batangas. So, anyone reading this of my cruiser friends on the way to P.G. try and have plenty of cash before you get to P.G....

I am still planning to leave here in the next two days. Some doubt was raised yesterday evening, by a veteran Asian sailor here, about the true Visa expense into Vietnam for a sailboat. He thinks that my $75 only is for a tourist visa to walk of an airplane or boat into Vietnam but not for a yacht to ply the Vietnam waters. He thinks that it is more like $2,500 This needs to be checked out further. Though I specifically raised the boat entry at the Vietnam consulate in Manila.

I definitely would like to see more of the Philippines. Borocay, Palawan etc. I have only scratched the surface but enjoyed every minute of it. The people are most gracious and kind. You do not have to fear as much the occasional risks of violence and theft like in P.N.G. and to an extend in the Solomons. Sailing between the islands in protected smooth seas is outstanding. You do need to plan your anchorages with some care because they are, in some areas, far between, because of depth and predominant wind exposure.  It is inexpensive and uncrowded. 

Hopefully I will be able to issue the next edition from Vietnam.