Azzans Adventures

Puerto Princesa
Half way along this leg "Ellie" our autopilot went crazy and had us doing big circles to the port. We had been experiencing some minor glitches with her for a while and were continually troubleshooting without much success, so the rest of the trip was a hand steering exercise, which reminds you how much you rely on this piece of equipment and how well she "pulls her weight" as our other member of the crew, so we were not looking forward to doing many more legs without her.
We normally anchor about 1 mile past the city at Abanico yacht club, but had heard to was pretty full with over 25 boats at anchor there, so on entry into the harbour we noticed a few other yachts anchored off the city Bay Walk (promenade) so went in for a look. This would have to be one of the best calls we have made, we have been here over a week, found the holding to be great, easy access to the shore via a small dinghy dock, which we give 20 pesos (50cents) each time we land, tricycles available and also within walking distance to shops and market. Each night a great variety of local food eateries for dinning out. We also found a hose for fresh water for washing but no good for drinking, the local boat traffic is no problem, we also get to meet the crews of all the charter boats visiting Tubbataha which has been great for information.
Repairing Ellie has been our priority, so a few emails off to the manufacturer Course Master in Oz had us doing a lot of testing and troubleshooting, eliminating differing faults. They have been a really great help. The final outcome was that the main circuit board is the problem and the solution/recommendation is to have it sent back to Oz for repair.
Last time we visited PP Jamie had a local electronics technician have a look at the refrigerator controller and was impressed with his skills, so we thought it worth a try. (is this going to end like the gearbox fix? we ask ourselves) When we remove the circuit board a small part is identified as broken a "transistor" old mate Wang the technician confirms yes there are 3 US , which just happened to be right next door is an electronics parts supplier and guess what, they just happen to have 3 in stock, the other interesting thing is that the failed part is originally made in the Philippines. So we leave it with him for repair, when we come to pick it up and pay, he says no need to pay until we try it, if it doesn't work no Pay, got to love this system.
So long story short we fit it all back, do some tests and smoke comes out of the back of the circuit board "shit" so we shut it down checked it out and find it is only some excess resin that he has used in the soldering. All signs look good, Ellie is letting us adjust here back to starboard, so we now have to do a sea trail. So the next morning we up anchor and take Azzan for a spin around PP harbour and to our delight she is working better than she has for a long time, so fingers crossed we have our favourite crew member back. We have placed her under close observation until she can prove she has fully recovered from her Triple Transistor replacement procedure.
Our plan for the Tubbataha dive trip was to link up with one of the local drive operators and dive with their team, after our meeting with them, this sounds like it is all too hard, so have decided to do our own dive plan.The weather is currently perfect for the trip light winds and a full moon so looking forward to doing it.
We have completed all the necessary formalities, eg. permits, immigration extensions and provisioning so head today and arrive at Tubbataha reef early tomorrow morning. The only worry is that we are leaving Port on a Friday so fingers crossed!! (lucky we're not superstitious)
We also got to met 3 lovely people Rizza, Joven and Elentrina from the local medical centre where we had some tests performed, who then come out to Azzan for a visit and later took us out for a lovely meal at a coastal seafood restaurant called Badjao, very nice food and a beautiful setting overlooking the mangroves. (highly recommended)