I just realized that i have neglected my blog for along time. 2018 has been a year away for Freycinet, well from sailing her anyway. She has been on the hard in Port Carmen, Cebu, Philippines. Lots of TLC and refit sees her ready again for the next adventures later this year. Have some preliminary plans but still working on them, i get new ideas all the time ha.

I am living and working in Leyte, Philippines to top up the cruising kitty. its not far from Carmen so i get to go down and visit Freycinet regularly and do some small jobs, however the main work has been expertly completed by the crew at Zeke's boat yard.

I will keep some updates rolling but not much about sailing for a few months.
Happy New year, all the best.

Regards
Daryl

After a week long trip north along the coast of Palawan with stops at Modessa Island Resort, Dumaran Island, Taytay and French Island, Freycinet has arrived safely in Buswanga. After a relaxing 2 nights in Puerto Del Sol and a wonderful sunset at Alfaro, we moved to Coron to provision for the next stage of the journey to Subic Bay.

After a great catch up with friends in Australia over xmas and new year i will be returning to Freycinet in February 2017. She is currently moored in Abinico, Puerto Princesa, Palawan in the beautiful Philippines.

Our plan is to sail north to Coron, Buswanga and Elnido to once again cruise this beautiful part of the world.

Stay tuned for some great adventures. Come and join in the fun.

After a rest in Puerto Del Sol we made our way to Coron town to stock up on food and other essentials of the cool refreshing type. We decided to anchor at the back of Canituan island and used the resorts small banka service to reach the town proper. The resort staff were great so we decided to make that our fivesies spot for a couple of days.
Coron has a great market which has now moved from the centre of town out further along the waterfront and is much bigger now than our visit here in 2012. Everything is fresh if you go first thing in the morning. Coron is a tourist town with mainly divers from all over the world that have come to dive the 17 or so wrecks from the second world war. There are gunboats, freighters, patrol boats and larger fighting ships all belonging to the Japanese navy. They were discovered hiding in the area towards the end of the war and sunk in several raids by the American forces.
With our provisioning done, we upped the anchor and headed for Sangat Island. I contacted JoJo the dive master at the resort to determine availability of a mooring and spaces for some dives. We had been there 2 years before and most of the staff are still the same and as friendly as ever. This is where we learnt to dive for the first time and is was great to come back and dive in some of the same places.
After 4 really relaxing days it was time to move on as we had decided to add Coron Island to the schedule. A short sail found us anchored on a beautiful inlet at the entrance to twin lakes in 20 meters of water. With all the chain out and the second anchor of the stern on rode, we were safe. It was busy with the tourist bankas during the day but from 4pm until 10am in the morning it was so quiet and calm. Some fantastic sunsets and sunrises were accompanied by cold beers and the occasional Tanduay rum (sorry sunsets only for the drinks )
The water was so clear and blue we were swimming any chance we got, James was never out of the water. It had come time to leave for restock in Coron and the stern anchor came up fine. Now the main one, mmm winch ok but chain jams, ok let a bit out to free it, oops all out and all of the safety line. How do we get the chain back onboard?? Easy. Connected a rope to the chain in the water and through a block back to the cockpit and onto the main winch, all good, chain back on the yacht, mmm winch deck switch dead. So with James at the bow, me down below in the chain locker, we bridge out the winch isolating the deck switch. It takes us 20 mins but we got all 80 mtrs of chain back on board. I love sailing, always a challenge somewhere.
Next stage Coron to Puerto Princesa, stay tuned.

After departing Puerto Galera we had a nice trip up to Subic bay via a stopover in Hamilo cove. Weather was favorable and we managed to sail 60% of the way. Our plan was to fuel up and to provision at the same time giving James an opportunity to see the Subic sites. So we stayed a little longer than expected but enjoyed a new place and new experiences. Facilities in Subic are expensive for a yacht. There is a boat yard and a marina but as our plan was to make the journey to Davao and haul out prior to going to Indonesia, we were able to keep the costs down.

We departed Subic at 0900 hrs planning to overnight to Busuanga and with some good wind out of the NE we were able to make some good time with 150nm to the tip and another 20nm to Puerto Del Sol, we kept moving arriving at sunset on the next day. The coastline of Busuanga is fantastic so we enjoyed the sail and sometimes the motor. Interesting event at sunset the evening before as we rounded Dimipac Island we were contacted by the local Coast Guard who must have had the technology to monitor AIS and called us by call sign and yacht name. after a very formal conversation regarding number of crew, departure point, destination and ETA, we were bid a good night and wished a safe journey. I must admit that it was the first contact of that sort in my 2 years sailing the Philippines but I believe things are changing with the current maritime situation in the Spratly Islands.

PDS had changed a bit since our last visit with a new hotel/resort. Looks impressive but takes away from the serenity. Next chapter, return to Sangat Is and some old friends and some diving.