03/17/2010, Tiga Island
PUERTO PRINCESA TO KOTA KINABALU
We eventually anchored off the Abanico Yacht Club at Puerto Princesa at 3.30pm, after nearly hitting the bottom after going rounding a green bouy on the starboard side, then realizing that the Philippines use the US system and you leave the green bouy to port and the red to starboard - oops!
Went ashore to the yacht club later on for a drink and to gain some info etc. and ended up having dinner there and a long chat to the co-owner John.
Next morning we went by tricycle into town to do immigration clearance and have a look around the town before getting our tricycle driver to pick us up at 3pm and take us back to the yacht club which is quite away out of town. Had a drink at the club before dinner back on board. We paid another 500 pesos to immigration and the lady told us that we had certainly been ripped off by "our appointed agent" when we cleared in. We had never appointed her, she had appointed herself as she is in a group along with Alan Riches (from Brunei) that is trying to promote sailing etc. in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
We left Puerto Princesa at 6.40am on Friday 26th February and motor sailed the whole 45 miles to Raza Island where we had a lovely calm anchorage for the night. The wind was on the nose until just after 1pm when it turned to the NE but only 5 knots.
We were up and away at 6.20am the next day and decided to do an over night passage with a very light Easterly wind and motor sailed all day, except for 1 ½ hrs. Dave was asleep and I was on watch when at 11.15pm the reel on the fishing rod went so had to wake Dave to pull it in. It appeared to be a big fish but I said to Dave that I had better bring in the hand line so the lines don't get caught around each other and lo and behold found there was a fish on that line too. However the supposed fish on the rod turned out to be a big fibre glass sack but the hand line had a nice mahimahi on it. After landing the fish etc. the breeze had picked up and we were able to turn off the motor and sail until 4am the next morning when we motor sailed for another 2 ¾ hrs and then had lovely sailing until 11.15pm on the night of 28th Feb, when the wind died, having caught another two fish - a Spanish mackerel and a big one which we still do not know what it was but it was nice eating and very nice smoked. We made 114 miles in the first 24 hrs and 124 miles in the second 24 hrs. Finally arrived at Gaya Island, 4 miles from Kota Kinabalu, at 6am on 1st March. As neither of us had had much sleep over the previous 2 days we headed to bed and sleep as soon as the anchor was down.
We got up again at 10am but we seemed to be out of kilta all day but we did get stuck in once we had had breakfast with a big clean up for our guests and continued to do so the next day. I spent a whole day moisturizing the teak through out the boat as it had become very dry. We headed into Sutera Harbour Marina early afternoon on the 3rd and that night went out for dinner with friends, Gloria & Richard Shaw from Aquarius 1 and a friend of their's from Motueka who were flying back to Australia the next day. Richard and friend were to be sailing back but Richard had a health problem and was advised to fly back to Australia so their boat is still in Sutera.
Thursday we spent most of the day in KK doing customs and immigration, supermarket shopping and getting some fruit, reconnecting our Celcom internet etc. and having walked for miles. Also had a look in a new, fabulous mall that had opened in December. Got back to the boat late in the afternoon feeling a little weary!
We were just finishing our lunch and had one or two more small jobs to do when our friends, Don & Linda Jenkins from the USA arrived. We were not expecting them until later in the afternoon as they were being met at the Tune Hotel at 11am by some Rotarians who were to take them to lunch etc. However, by 12 noon they had still not shown up so they came on over to us. The rest of the day was spent chatting and relaxing and we had dinner on board.
Saturday morning we headed off into the city to visit a travel agent to book a land based trip down to the Kinabatangan River and Sepilok and to book a rental car for a couple of days. Took Don & Linda to the new mall which they were pretty impressed with and had lunch while there. I also had a hair cut and blow wave, expected it to take half an hour but was there for well over an hour and my scalp would have been massaged for at least half an hour!! At the end of it I was pretty pleased with the cut.
Sunday morning we all went to the Gaya Street Sunday market which is a tourist and local attraction. Over these two days we were also looking for leach socks which we were advised to wear while jungle trekking in the Kinabatangan, with not a lot of joy. We were in the mall which is the closest to the marina and passed by a sports shop, went in on the off chance that they might have some leach socks and lo and behold they did so we all bought a pair. Linda and I caught the bus back to the marina and Dave and Don went and picked up the rental car.
Monday morning, Dave and I had a brief meeting with Allan Riches and then we headed off up to Mt. Kinabalu, stopping for lunch on the way. While up there we did a couple of little walks and visited the information centre. Unfortunately the top of the mountain was mostly covered in cloud and also there are a lot of fires in Sabah at the moment which does not help the visibility. Had dinner at a Korean restaurant before getting back to the boat.
Tuesday morning we headed off by car to the tip of Borneo - we have rounded it by sea several times but was good to see it from a different perspective. The car just made it there when it stopped to find that it had run out of water. Fortunately no damage so after waiting for it to cool added more water and all was well again. We then headed off into Kudat and went to the hardstand area by the pond to book in Pied A Mer for a lift out at the end of October and to stay on the hard stand while we are back in NZ for 3 months. On the way back we visited a long house where they also did bead making. We were to have the car back by 5pm but with the break down we rang and said it would be 7pm before we got back which was fine and the car was picked up at the marina.
We had a celebration dinner that night along with a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc which I had bought three of in Labuan and kept the last one for Linda's birthday and was very surprised when she told us it was her 70th. Linda sort of made it a joint celebration, celebrating both hers and our birthdays! Her actual birthday was Wednesday, 10th March but that was the day we were leaving for the Kinabatangan.
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02/23/2010, Off Hook Bay, Palawan
Had not realised it was so long since I had updated our blog, I seem to have to be in the right mood to get in and do it! I think I am a lot slacker at it than I used to be because I talk to the family and some of our friends on skype more regularly.
From Inlulutoc Bay we headed up to the El Nido area and did a little tour up the Endeavour Strait where there were a couple of big and interesting looking villages and we later regretted that we had not stopped and visited the villages as Arnak and Koru did and found them most interesting. We spent the night anchored under Barron Hill, Port Cataaba. Next morning we motored around into Bacuit Bay to Lagan Island where we joined up with Sowelu, Marida and Vulcan for a late lunch barbecue on the beach. However, before lunch we dinghied over to Pintail Island with Icicle & Kelaerin to have a look at a huge cave in the island which is called Cathedral Cave and it was certainly like a cathedral with an opening at the top. The acoustics were amazing. Lagan Island was a beautiful spot with lovely clear water and some quite good snorkeling. The whole area is beautiful with karsts (large rock islands) popping out of the water everywhere.
All the other 5 boats headed off into Corongcorong the next morning but we went and visited a village on the mainland called Bebeledan which had a population of about 800 and one of the locals who spoke a bit of English took us to visit the local school. There were 6 classrooms with 40 pupils in each one and we visited every classroom and spoke to the teachers as well as took photos of each class. From shore most of the villages don't look very big but behind is a maze of streets, houses etc. All the villages we have visited have a concrete road behind the shore front row. After our village visit we headed into Corongcorong which is the best anchorage for El Nido in the NE monsoon.
We spent six days at Corongcorong and the township of El Nido was a 15 minute walk away. El Nido is a quaint town with a Spanish flavour and most of the tourists that were there were back packers. It is a 6 hr trip by bus from Puerto Princesa over a very rough road and to fly in is very expensive so you don't see a lot of middle aged tourists. We had some nice meals ashore and on 12th February we went to a local restaurant for a late lunch to celebrate Roger, on Sowelu's 60th birthday along with Marida, Icicle, Kelaerin, Vulcan, Koru and Arnak and a Texan guy who has a Philippino wife (Alan & Nelma) and has built a house at Corongcorong. Alan & Nelma invited us back to their place to have a look and what an idyllic spot and Nelma has been very artistic in the garden and in the house which is basically two apartments which they can also let out. El Nido only has power from 5pm -1am so when one wants water you have to pump by hand. Some of the restaurants do have their own generators. One day we went out to one of the islands with Icicle on Kelaerin with the intention of snorkeling and Jim and Dave having a dive but we could see all what we wanted to see snorkeling. The supposedly good dive spots require anchoring in very deep water which is a bit risky for us yachties.
We finally left Coroncorong on 15th February with Kelaerin and motored with the wind on the nose the whole 41 miles to North West Bay on Linapacan Island. Joy, Dave and I dinghied ashore and visited the local village and it seemed that everyone came out of the wood work to look at us. A local guy cottoned on to us to show us around and at first we thought he was drunk but then we realised that he was actually intellectually handicapped. His English was virtually nonexistent but he kept telling and asking Dave things and all Dave could reply was “I don't understand”. His reply, “No problem”. It certainly created quite a bit of mirth amongst the local village people!
The next day we motored another 21 miles to a sheltered anchorage at the bottom of Culion Island for the night and the next morning had a rough trip for a couple of hours until we got into the shelter of some islands and then it was lovely and calm even though we were motoring and arrived at Port Culion.
Port Culion was a Leper colony so has quite a history attached to it so we visited the museum there and to get to the museum one has to go through the hospital and pay a fee of 250 pesos each there, which is a donation to the hospital. The last case of leprosy was in 2003. The lepers had quite a community there and set up all the normal types of business etc. but the town was divided into two sections - lepers and non lepers and neither was to go into the other's section. A lot of leper research was done in Culion. Joy and I had a big long snorkel along the reef there. Even though they had houses built over the water on what we term as sticks the water was still beautifully clean and clear. Malaysia and Indonesia could learn a lot from the Philippines as far as clean waterways and rubbish goes. There are big fines here for littering.
While in Port Culion we did some repairs to the genoa furler and also to the propeller on the dinghy's motor - a temporary fix but need to get a new propeller if we can in Kota Kinabalu, otherwise can wait until we go home in May.
Went to up anchor in Port Culion on the morning of 19th Feb to do the 13 mile trip across to Coron and the up anchor switch had died. Dave shorted it to get the anchor up so we could still head off (will fix it later). Set the water maker going and after an hour or so when I moved on deck I could hear water rushing, went down below to find a hose on the water maker had burst and the water in the aft head was just about up to the door opening ledge to the galley. The bilges were full. While travelling along I bucketed water out of the aft head to speed the job up as the bilge pump in there is for the shower and only does 3.6 litres per minute so was going to take a few hours to get rid of all the water!! Once in Coron Dave attacked the anchor switch and as usual the wire had corroded. With all the technology that is available today you would think that the manufacturers would have cottoned on to the fact that in the marine environment wiring should all be tinned wire not bare copper wire. The anchor switches were new in 2007. We had had a T junction fitting made in Miri for the water maker as were going to have two pumps to double the water capacity but found that system was not going to work for us and it was that fitting that had caused the pipe to burst so Dave has now removed it and gone back to the original set up. We also did some repairs to the main sail while in Coron.
Non sailors probably wonder what we do all day when at an anchorage but there are always little jobs to do to maintain and fix things as the marine environment is hard on everything and a yacht certainly requires more maintenance than a house!!!.
We had three nights in Corong which is a very busy little town and one afternoon Kelaerin & us went in our dinghies for a ticky tour around the bay and Joy and I had a snorkel on a reef. A NZ motor sailer (Vohangy) whom we first met in Sebana Cove in October 2007 was boarded one night by a local and had cell phone, wallet etc. stolen plus a whole lot of meat out of their freezer. The guy dived off the boat before they could stop him and obviously there was a boat waiting for him. They had been in Coron for 2 weeks and had become complacent. We have an alarm in our cockpit which we set every night. We bought it after the Englishman on Mr. Bean was killed in Thailand.
On Sunday night we had a farewell dinner for us at a local restaurant in Coron and had a beautiful meal along with Sowelu, Marida, Vulcan, Kelaerin, Icicle, Arnak & Koru. All but Kelaerin, who are carrying on to Hong Kong, are eventually heading back to Borneo.
We left Coron just before 8am on Monday and were originally planning to do a 35 miler and spend the night at an island but 4 hours later the wind picked up and for the next 9 hours we had beautiful sailing conditions so decided to carry on and do an over nighter. However the wind died at about 9pm and we ended up motor sailing right through until yesterday afternoon when we dropped anchor off North Verde Island. I was woken during the night by a crash and a curse from Dave in the cockpit and he had slipped on a genoa sheet and fallen into the cockpit, put his hand out to stop himself but in the dark couldn't see where he had put it and all his weight went onto his fingers on his right hand. He said I have broken my fingers, but no, three of them were dislocated and were pointing in all funny directions. He then immediately pulled them all back into place which caused a lot of pain but got them all back. They are still swollen and painful when he bends them. He says, “Life's tough but he wouldn't swap it for the world.” I felt all faint and sick and dived back to bed in a hurry. No good me being a nurse!
This morning we left North Verde Island at 6.20 and motored for a couple of hours and then the wind came up and we are having a lovely sail with just the genoa and will arrive in Puerto Princessa this afternoon where we will spend two or three nights, do our clearance etc. and then head on down to Kota Kinabalu to be there by 3rd March to be joined by US friends Linda & Don Jenkins on the morning of 5th March for 3 weeks.
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02/06/2010, Teodore Point, Inlulutoc Bay
We only spent one night in Fish Bay in the end which was a lovely anchorage and had an early start to do the 33 miles to Ullagen Bay where Marida & Kelaerin caught up with us the following day and also a Canadian couple (Cliff & Ruth) on Icicle whom we met in Sebana Cove and were also on the Eastern Malaysian rally. The following day Dave, Roger & Mark did a trip on the local jeepney bus to Puerto Princessa to get a few supplies and the latter two to renew their visas for another 38 days. When Dave got back, we had a big discussion and decided that we would renew our visas, even though we only wanted another 2 weeks, because if we didn't we were going to be so rushed as we would have to be back in PP (Puerto Princessa by 11th February). So next morning we dinghy into the local village and catch the jeepney to PP along with Icicle, Kelaerin and a French couple on Neros who were checking out. These jeepneys are loaded up to the hilt with boxes of fish, timber, chooks, roosters and people. The fish is loaded on to the top, as well as people sitting on top and hanging off the back. Cost 60 pesos ($NZ2) each way and the trip takes an hour and a half. From the jeepney station we had to get a motor cycle jeepney to take us to Immigration and then back to the centre of town where we had lunch and did a few things before catching the jeepney back with Neros. The other two came back separately a bit later. On the trip back we went up a few different roads to drop people off and one was to a village which all its houses had been built by Habitat or donated by a South Korean Rotary Club. I had a box with a rooster in sitting in front of my legs and we discovered when someone got off that Dave had a chook under his seat with just its legs tied - it was a wonder it never nipped his legs.
Sowelu, Vulcan & Marida headed off that morning but Kelaerin, Icicle & us ended up staying another day before heading off to Marofinos Bay, stopping on the way and anchoring off a Subterranean River just north of Sabang. This navigable river winds under limestone and marble cliffs through spectacular caves out to the sea on the other side of Palawan. It winds its way underground for 8.5km but you pay 200 pesos for a guy to paddle you up the river for about 1.5kms with the trip taking about 40 minutes. One could see all sorts of shapes from the stalactites, such as various types of fruit, animals and people. It was quite amazing and something not to be missed.
We spent two nights in Marofinos Bay, which was a beautiful spot and were also joined there by two other yachts - Arnak & Koru (kiwis but live in Australia). While there we had a girls afternoon with the five of us ladies on our yacht playing Mexican train dominoes. Also had a tour of the local village with the head man on the council Very interesting and although poor the village was very clean and tidy. Their main income was from fishing and coconuts (copra). There are no roads into the village so all their produce has to be taken to Sabang by their spider boats as we call them. The local who gave us the tour just catches sharks. The village was predominantly Roman Catholic and that church the next morning was at 9am so several of us decided we would go. The service was to be taken by a lay preacher as the Priest only comes once a month. However, when we got there, there didn't seem to be any service and there was no one there. Upon investigation found that the lay preacher had had to go to another village.
Along with Kelaerin we up anchored at 10.30am last Sunday and motored 18 miles to Mayday Point, which was a beautiful cove with a single, English guy, Mark building a resort there called 'Secret Paradise Retreat'. It was a truly beautiful spot and he hopes to have part of the resort opened by the end of the month. A fabulous place to go to, at reasonable prices and if one wanted time out at a quiet, relaxing, beautiful spot. His website is:
Next morning Kelaerin & us started out on a so called 20 minute walk to the local village but ended up after 40 minutes or so back at the bay we had come from. We left there late morning and motored the 9 miles around the point into Port Barton.
Port Barton is a beautiful spot with lots of accommodation, eating out places and a relaxing place for a holiday. Saw a few European tourists there and the locals are all very friendly and we were later joined there by Icicle, Koru & Arnak. We spent four nights there, dinner ashore for three of those nights and one breakfast. Stocked up on fruit and a bit of diesel. The mangoes here in the Philippines are just beautiful and they are my favourite fruit.
We left Port Barton early yesterday afternoon (Friday, 5th Feb) and motored 12 miles to Village Bay on Boayan Island for the night along with Kelaerin & Icicle. Left there this morning at 9.45am, motor sailed for an hour and a half and then had 2 ½ hrs of great sailing, with no motor - wonderful, had just about forgotten what it was like to sail without the iron horse! We are now anchored in Inlulutoc Bay for the night.
As we have travelled up the West Coast of Palawan the anchorages etc. have just got better and better and it is truly lovely up here. The sea is so nice and clean and clear with no rubbish in the water and the villages/towns are all clean and tidy, including the poorest of houses.
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