January23rd, 2010 We finally managed to leave Candaraman Island on 17th January and we had a lovely smooth trip in between several islands until we reached the west coast of Palawan and for the first few miles we had quite nice sailing and then the wind got up to 15-20 knots, right on the nose and it was not pleasant sailing at all. Kelaerin & Marida turned back and went back down to the bottom of Palawan but Sowelu, Vulcan and us carried on to Muslog Point where we were sheltered from the wind but we had quite a roll coming in so consequently did not get much sleep. We were up and away the next morning just before seven and motor sailed the 16 miles to Tagbita Bay where we knew we had good shelter. The winds were pretty variable and at times we had gusts of 30 knots on the nose - not nice but we were nicely anchored in there by 10.35am. Kelaerin & Marida arrived in there later in the afternoon. All in all there were nine boats of us in there and two had been sheltering there for nine days. However two boats left the next morning and ended up having a terrible trip further up the coast. We were glad we stayed the extra day as, as the day went on we had bullets of 25 -30 knots coming down the gulley. The first day we arrived in the bay we had several locals come out in their dugouts asking for hats, tee shirts etc. but we all said no until you bring us bananas tomorrow. As you can guess it did not happen and apparently there was no fruit or veges that you could buy at the local village either, so we think they must just live on coconuts and fish. All boats were virtually out of fruit and vege, although we were all right for vegetables. All the boats left and we were up and away at 5.20am on 20th in the hope of making Quezon - 64 miles north but that was not going to be possible to arrive in daylight hours so the five of us went into Eran Bay (42 miles) and spent the night in between a reef and the land and had a comfortable night. We were away again at 6.20 the following morning, Thursday, and made the 31 miles to Quezon and had a lovely trip up to there even though we were motor sailing, although we did manage to sail with no motor for 20 minutes!! Getting into Quezon was a bit scary as C Maps are out and at times the water is very shallow with reefs all around. We had a couple of scary moments and we actually scraped the bottom on a bommie, fortunately we kept moving and it was only a small one. Had the anchor down in only 2.2m of water by 12.15pm and we were a mile from the shore! Fortunately the tides are small with only a 600mm range so we never actually touched the bottom but we would not have been far off it. Did catch another Spanish mackerel en route which Dave smoked yesterday morning. Allan had advised us on the sched that morning that we were not to get off our boats as Customs, Immigration, Quarantine and a Travel Agent were driving the 3 hrs from Puerto Princessa to check us in and there was nothing he could do to change their minds. Arnak & Koru were two other boats that arrived in the anchorage ahead of us, along with the two other rally boats who had arrived the day before so they were also forced to check in with us and they kindly said that they would share in the cost of the 7000 pesos ($NZ220) for the transport over which we other 7 appreciated. We were told that they would arrive between 12 and 1 pm but eventually arrived at Koru (a catamaran) at 2.45pm and asked that they check us in, in two stages so we were in the first lot with Sowelu, Vulcan and First Light.

Sowelu paid the 7000 transport and we all reimbursed them - much simpler method. Immigration charges were 2000 pesos ($NZ62) which only gives a visa for 21 days, and customs 1500 pesos. However when it came to quarantine Dr. Reyes had to ring her superiors to find out what the cost would be. We were all aghast when she said $US100 (4000 pesos) and told them none of us could afford that sort of money and in no other country in SE Asia or the Pacific were we charged for quarantine. Dr. Reyes rang Manila and as Roger from Sowelu was the most vocal he argued the point with them. He could not seem to reason with them and in the end hung up. However the fees were dropped to half $US50 and we all ended up paying another 2000P for quarantine. We never received an official receipt, only a receipt for the total amount of 5500P from the travel agent - El Mundo Tours Inc. Katani 11 did their own check in, a few days earlier and they only paid 1000P to Immigration and were given a 21 day visa. We know he did not go to customs and we have heard that this is unnecessary and no customs agent came to the boat, only Dr. Reyes, a lady from immigration, the Travel Agent from Puerto Princessa and Marlow who we think was a local travel agent. We think the travel agent from Puerto Princessa was acting as an agent for us and so was getting at least 50% of the money we paid. It costs another 3100 pesos each for a 38 day visa extension and the travel agent wanted to take our passports and get the extension and then meet us all in Ullagen Bay to give us back our passports, no doubt at a further cost so if we want to extend we will have to make the trip across from Ullagen Bay (1 ½ hrs) by road to Puerto Princessa. We don't think we will bother extending as we would only want another 14 days so we will make sure we are in Puerto Princessa by 10th February to check out - visa expires on 11th.

The travel agent also tried to charge us 1500P for coming out in one of the local boats - Chris off First Light said, "we are not buying the boat"!! We objected strongly to that as one of us could have gone in, in a dinghy to pick them up so that was shelved.

She and Marlow also wanted to arrange a trip to some caves at $US50 but when there were objections she said it included lunch and then dropped it to $US25 without lunch as it was only a morning trip. We all felt it was far too dear and there is nowhere in Quezon that you could get a $US25 lunch anyway!! Some are doing it today at a fraction of the cost.

Yesterday morning Marlow was on the beach with the locals and their jeepneys (a motor bike with a two seater cab and tray at rear built around it) to help with fuel, visit the local market etc. We were told a 100 P for an hour. That was fine but when he was still there later in the day when we went in to get more fuel and was only 20 min with the jeepney it was still 100P. The going rate to go into town normally is only 12P!! Some of the yachties later in the day did a deal for 30P for a fuel run. A guy looked after our dinghies while away and we paid him 50P so did that twice but we were happy with that as the second time we took the fuel to the dinghy and left it there while we went back into town. These tour operators think us yachties are a license to print money!! It certainly leaves a sour taste in ones mouth.

Quezon is a typical third world town but the streets were clean and it appears you can get most things there. Dave even managed to get an oil filter for just over $5 and we normally pay about $30 for them. There was a reasonable supply of vegetables at the market but very little in the way of fruit, basically bananas and a few green papayas which were the sort for cooking. Hopefully we will get more variety further up the coast. Chicken, pork & fish were in abundance, although we did not need any of that. The fishing boats, which are lived on, here in the Philippines, are quite amazing structures and I have some good photos of some of them. The one I thought was the flashest in Quezon was called “Melissa” and there was also a Dave 3 and a Dave 4! Of course I took photos of them. The Philippino people appear to be a happy, smiley race even though the majority of them are so poor. They just about fall out of their boats waving and calling to us.

As it was our 38th wedding anniversary yesterday we had a pot luck dinner on board with Marida, Sowelu, Kelaerin and Vulcan. We had a lovely meal which was finished off with the last of my Xmas puddings that I had made before Xmas.

This morning Sowelu, Vulcan and us left Quezon and are now anchored at Apurauan H.D and in a reasonably sheltered anchorage with nice clear water. Tomorrow will do the remaining 30 odd miles to Fish Bay which is apparently a beautiful spot and we will wait for Kelaerin & Marida there. The wind was on the nose most of the way so did not even put the main up but did manage to use the genoa off and on.

I think that about brings us up to date until next time.