Monday 5th January 
Arrived back in Manila around midday after an uneventful flight. We have Steve's Mum Betty with us for 3 weeks to give her a taste of our cruising lifestyle. We are staying in the City State Tower Hotel because the SiKat bus/ferry service to Puerto Galera leaves from here. We go to the chart agent again (NAMRIA, 421 Barraca St, San Nicolas, Binondo,Manila. Tel. (02) 241-3494 to 96) to buy charts of Leyte, Samar, Southern Cebu and Negros which is where we intend to cruise from February to April.

Tuesday 6th January
We have a day in hand before returning to Puerto Galera so we use it to buy one or two items of hardware and food that we can't buy in our intended cruising area. We also had time do some sightseeing at Fort Santiago and Intramuros. Fort Santiago was where the Philippine national hero José Rizal was imprisoned and executed by the Spanish in 1896 for inciting revolution. Intramuros is the old Spanish town which has been restored as a tourist area including Manila Cathedral, a restored Spanish house called Casa Manila and some colourful street markets.

Wednesday 7th January
The Sikat bus leaves at 8:00 am so we have to be up early to breakfast and check out of the hotel. The bus trip to Batangas took only 2 hours - quite good compared to the 4 hours it took coming the other way. We found the usual chaos at Batangas with porters milling about vying for business. We had 4 quite heavy bags mostly full of food items from the UK that are unavailable in the Philippines and spare parts for the boat so we employed a porter with a trolley to get the luggage to the boat. The boat ride to Puerto Galera was fairly calm and took around an hour. The Puerto Galera Yacht Club service boat was waiting at the dock so we were able to get aboard straightaway.
   Everything looked fine on board but there were a few hiccups. Because of a broken exhaust manifold on the generator we had been charging the batteries with the main engine for a few days before leaving in December. We had managed to charge the house batteries but not much charge had gone into the engine battery and it was now flat. Normally we would channel power from the generator into the engine battery to start it but before we could do that Steve had to repair the generator. Once that was done we could charge the batteries and get the fridge going. The next problem was the outboard. We found the thrust bearing had worn out and we would have to go back to Manila to get another one. The last problem was that the gas cylinder to run the cooker had run out. Jason (the boat boy) said there was nowhere in Puerto Galera to refill it but thought there might be somewhere in Calapan an hour and a half away by jeepney. Jason volunteered to take the cylinder to Calapan to try to get it refilled.

Thursday 8th January (13° 30.3'N 120° 57.2'E)
Steve left at 5:30 am to get the 6:00 am ferry to Batangas then a bus back to Manila. Jason came at 8:45 am to collect the gas cylinder to take to Calipan. About 11:30 am one of the other boat boys came over to tell us that Jason had sent a message to say they couldn't refill the gas cylinder in Calipan only in Batangas, half an hour later Steve called to say he'd found the shop with no problem but they didn't have the part. It was expected to arrive in a day or two so could he go back later to collect it. Not too successful a day so far.

Friday 9th January (13° 30.3'N 120° 57.2'E)
Today we'll forget the problems and be tourists and show Betty the nicest beach in the area. We get the jeepney to Talipanan, most of the road is now concrete but the last kilometre or so is still dirt track. The trip takes about half an hour and the jeepney drops us about 5 minutes walk from the beach. The plan is to walk to the very end of the beach to have lunch at Luka's Italian restaurant and maybe have a swim beforehand. The sea is fairly rough and there's quite a cool wind blowing so we swap the swim for a paddle round the rocks. Steve picked up a stinking cold in the UK so he stayed at the restaurant. Lunch was excellent as usual and worth the wait. It had taken a little longer than we had expected so we headed straight back to the road to catch the last jeepney back at 3:00 pm. At around 3:30 pm a jeepney loaded with rice turned up. We weren't sure if it was the regular jeepney or not but since he was going back to Puerto Galera we jumped on.
   Today is Friday so we went to the yacht club for the Friday evening BBQ. As usual it was well attended and gave us the opportunity to meet up with friends made on our previous visit.

Saturday 10th January (13° 30.3'N 120° 57.2'E)
Well the parts for the outboard hadn't arrived so it saves Steve another trip to Manila. He thinks he can cobble it together for the time being and pick up the parts when he takes Betty back to Manila on the 24th for the flight back to the UK. The gas cylinder we'll try to get filled when we reach Cebu. So far each cylinder has averaged 3 months so as long as we get to Cebu by the beginning of April we should be OK. Did the usual shop to stock up for the trip down the coast. The next place we can provision will probably be San José on the southern tip of Mindanao so that's probably about a week away. We made good use of the deli on the front at Puerto Galera managing to buy good quality frozen meat, bacon, ham, garlic sausage, cheeses, butter and bread. Once that's gone it's back to basic stuff until we get to Cebu.

Sunday 11th January (13° 30.3'N 120° 57.2'E)
We have about 40 miles to sail today so we leave around 6:30 am. We expect about 20 - 25 knots of wind from the east which makes the passage down the Verde Channel to Cape Calavite pretty much a dead run. We put 1 reef in the main and roll out the jib to about a no. 3 and head off west down the channel. The expected 20 - 25 knots apparent materialised and more. At one time we had 30 knots over the deck and making 8 knots through the water. The seas were not too big so we had a comfortable and somewhat exhilarating sail. As we turned the corner to the anchorage under Cape Calavite the wind switched off completely leaving us rolling around in a swell looking at the wind blowing furiously about 1/2 mile offshore. We motored into the anchorage in a flat calm and anchored in about 5 metres of calm clear water. The water was so inviting that we all went in for a swim including Betty.
   We had a problem with the motor when we tried to start it. We found it would only start if the generator was running pumping extra charge into the engine battery. It's a big job to investigate so we'll have to leave it until  we're stopped somewhere calm for a day or so.

Monday 12th January (13° 25'N 120° 18.8'E)
The trip today is about 20 miles or so  down the west coast of Mindanao to Mamburao. We start with about 25 knots on the beam and race over a flat sea at about 8 knots. The wind slowly decreases until by about midday it disappeared altogether so we had to motor into the anchorage. It was quite open but in the north easterly monsoon the western side of Mindoro is very calm and the winds are mainly shore breezes so by late afternoon there's hardly a ripple on the water. One or two bancas approached with curious but friendly people on board and one circled us a number of times before asking "why are we there" and "is our engine inoperable". We assured them we were fine and just wanted to stop overnight.

Tuesday 13th January (13° 13.2'N 120° 35'E)
Another 20 miles or so today to Pandan Island. The NE monsoon blows in the morning then dies away to nothing for an hour or so before the shore breeze comes in from the other direction starting at around 4 - 5 knots and building to about 10 knots. We reached Pandan Island in the early afternoon and picked up their mooring buoy which has no been re-laid after being washed away in a big storm in June last year. Steve spent 1/2 an hour or so doing a temporary fix on the outboard motor so we could get ashore. The only thing on Pandan Island is the Pandan Island Resort. This is a very low key friendly and eco-friendly resort run by Dominic and Dennis who I think are French. There are a dozen or so huts on the beach, a comfortable bar, an excellent restaurant and a dive shop. There is no fresh water on the island so every drop of potable water has to be brought in by banca from the nearby town of Sablayon. Understandably showers are seawater with a bucket of fresh water for the final rinse. The reef is in excellent condition and it's possible to snorkel just off the beach where you can see all the usual reef fish and the occasional turtle. When we anchor off a resort we usually have dinner in their restaurant and a few drinks at the bar. It would seem very wrong to use their mooring and not put some money back into the resort and it's nice to meet a few new people and have dinner cooked for you.

Wednesday 14th January (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
Lyn went diving this morning just off the north side of the island. We saw some beautiful coral including at least 2 fan corals some 10 - 15 feet across, many reef fish and at least two turtles. Steve still has a blocked nose and blocked sinuses so won't be able to dive for a while yet. Steve had been investigating the engine problem during the morning but hadn't managed to solve it. It seems to be a problem either with the starter motor or with the wiring to it but getting to the starter motor is almost impossible. The engine is set low in the boat and the engine box housing is too close to allow easy access underneath to get to the starter motor. In the afternoon we set about removing a part of the engine to reach the starter motor and run some diagnostic tests. It was a rotten task, even after being able to get to the motor the tests were inconclusive. We had already decided it couldn't have burnt out because it was almost new. Having achieved almost nothing we set about putting the engine back together and spent ages trying to reach hoses and nuts. We decided to ask the resort if there was a local mechanic who was any good who could come the next day. They organised someone to come out first thing in the morning.

Thursday 15th January (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
The mechanic turned up at about 10:00 am and immediately got stuck into the engine. He decided the problem was with the starter motor and removed it to check it out. It was burnt out. We carry a spare so he fitted that but had problems with the wiring. He seemed to be good with the mechanical side but not so good with the electrical side. Since we could now start the engine and were able to stop it albeit somewhat unconventionally Steve told the mechanic he would finish the wiring himself " you mean you know how to do it?"  was the incredulous reply. The mechanic took the old starter motor ashore to repair it and promised to return it the next day.
   In the meantime to keep out of the way Betty and I went snorkeling just off the beach. Since Betty is 82 I thought she did pretty well to snorkel over the coral. We then went for a walk across the island to a spot called Wild Lagoon. It was pretty but not very wild. Steve didn't want to leave the mechanics on their own on the boat but he thought he might need the dinghy so I had to take Betty and the bag ashore in the dinghy, take the dinghy back to Carillon then swim ashore myself. I'm sure the exercise is good for me.

Friday 16th January (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
We had to stay here again today to pick up the starter motor so decided to take the banca across to Sablayan to have a look and maybe do some provisioning. The main town is a little way up a river and the trip from Pandan across to the mainland and up the river took about 20 - 30 minutes. I'd expected a small town with maybe a rudimentary market but to our surprise it turned out to be a relatively large town with an excellent market and a reasonable selection of other shops. We stocked up for about 5 days or so by which time we will have got to Boracay. There's no need for us to go into San Jose now which we know is a big town. When we got back to the ferry the mechanic had left the starter motor with the office for us to collect. We took a few tourist photos and then returned to the boat. Unfortunately I left my favourite sunglasses on the banca while taking photos. We called the office to ask them to bring them over next time the banca came across but they claimed they couldn't find them.

Saturday 17th January (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
We have about 40 miles to go today to a spot just south of San Jose. We'll need plenty of time to investigate 2 or 3 anchorages to find a sheltered one so we leave at around 7:00 am. We had to motor for a while until the shore breeze came in then had about 6 - 10 knots from the SW. The spot recommended by the cruising guide looked a bit exposed so we motored up and down the Ilin Strait for a while searching out the best spot. We eventually stopped on the east side of the channel and anchored in about 3 1/2 metres in mud. The whole area was quite shallow but once the shore breeze had died down was very calm with just a very slight swell from the south. Just after we had gone to bed the anchor alarms started sounding and the depth gauge registered 0.0m. We checked the FLS and that told us we still had 1 metre under the keel so I suppose a fish must have swum under the other one, stirred the mud up a bit and confused it.

Sunday 18th January (12° 14.8'N 121° 06.5'E)
We're rounding the southern tip of Mindoro today and have a strong suspicion that we might find rather more wind and waves than we have for the last week. We're slightly concerned that Betty may find it a little unnerving. Once we got offshore a little way the wind settled at about 25 knots apparent but on the nose so we were crashing into the waves a bit and throwing water over the bow. Betty was OK but she didn't like it very much. We had to beat all the way round to the bay we intended to anchor in and had a fabulous sail in glorious sunshine. All the way across the bay we had about 20 knots apparent and could see white caps pretty much everywhere. We just hoped the east side of the bay would be as sheltered as we expected. We needn't have worried. As we got close to the shore the waves died to nothing and the wind dropped to about 7 - 8 knots. We motored around for a while looking for somewhere shallow enough and not too close to the many fish traps scattered around the area. Eventually found a spot just off a beach with a couple of huts on it.

Monday 19th January (12° 17.7'N 120° 22.2'E)
We'll stay here today so that Betty can get over yesterday's sail. Steve checked out the wiring for the starter motor and decided that stopping the mechanic doing it was the right decision. The wiring the mechanic had done was a bit of a botch up which was already failing so with the trusty manual/wiring diagram in one hand and the spanner in the other he put it all to rights and we can now both stop and start the engine from the control panel. I spent the day giving the boat a good clean through since we hadn't got round to doing it since returning from the UK. We even got Betty cleaning the cockpit cushions so Carillon is now spic and span.

Tuesday 20th January (12° 17.7'N 120° 22.2'E)
Another quiet day here. We decided to reset the anchor this morning because we thought it may be fouled round some rocks. As it turned out it came up quite easily. As we were doing it we had a visit from one of the local people who stopped for a chat. It seems he was once a merchant sailor and was familiar with the port close to our home in the UK but returned home to help care for his parents. He told us it was the duty of the eldest son to care for his parents. Steve installed a new part for the radio while I got the web page up to date ready for uploading onto the Internet when we reach Boracay.

Wednesday 21st January(12° 17.7'N 120° 22.2'E)
Well, what a glorious sail! The course to Boracay was roughly southeast and we had about 20 knots of wind from north northeast. We were creaming over the waves at hull speed under blue skies and sunshine. OK the seas weren't quite flat - about a 1 - 2 metre swell but on the beam so no crashing through them and throwing water all over the deck. We arrived at just after 1:00 pm and found what we thought was an ideal anchorage just off the beach. We weren't sure why nothing else was anchored there but we didn't worry too much about it. About an hour later we found out why - a launch came alongside and said through a loudhailer "You are not allowed to anchor here, you must anchor further down the beach where the other boats are" which was a shame really because we were right opposite the hotel we would be staying in for the next few days. We dutifully upped anchor and moved down the beach and found a gap between the anchored bancas. It actually turned out to be quieter since the passenger bancas were not roaring back and forth all around us. We plan now to stay in a hotel here for a few days then Steve will take Betty back to Manila. A week later we will be accompanying the Philippine Hobie Challenge race from Boracay to Busuanga.

Thursday 22nd January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Since the anchorage at Boracay is a bit rolly we had decided to stay at a resort for Betty's last few days with us. We had booked ourselves into the Villa D'Oro which had comparatively reasonably priced air-con rooms (approx US$40 per night peak season rate). The rooms are individual nipa huts with the usual little balcony in front. The restaurant was buffet style Mongolian BBQ. We're not too keen on buffets so instead of using the hotel restaurant we found other places to eat along the beach.
During the afternoon we went to watch an International Wind-Surfing and Kite-Boarding competition on the other side of the island. The winds were around 20 knots blowing straight on to the beach so the wind surfers were beam reaching up and down the beach at breathtaking speeds. It was good to bump into Hamish McNichol and Marcus from our Hong Kong days who were taking part.

Friday 23rd January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Spent the morning checking out the boat and stocking up on non-perishables. The anchorage is quite windy at the moment so with only the 'fridge running the wind generator and solar panels are easily keeping the batteries topped up so no need to run the generator.

Saturday 24th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Betty flies back to the UK today so she and Steve caught the 7:00 am ferry to Caticlan where they picked up the 8:30 am SeaAir flight to Manila Domestic Airport. From there it's a taxi ride to the International Airport for Betty to catch the 2:00 pm Gulf Air flight to Heathrow via Abu Dhabi. While in Manila Steve finally managed to get the replacement thrust bearing for the outboard motor. Just as well as it had almost failed completely. He also brought back 8kg of bread flour and a white rose - who said romance is dead.
In the meantime I'd been buying fresh fruit and veg. We plan to sail to Looc tomorrow to have a quiet few days before returning here at the end of the week for the Philippine Hobie Challenge.

Sunday 25th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Well the plan to go to Looc went by the board. A surge in the monsoon came through late yesterday afternoon and even in the sheltered anchorage we have 20 - 25 knots of wind so sailing a northeasterly course into the NE monsoon has seriously lost it's appeal. Added to that Steve still hasn't managed to shake off the cold he picked up in the UK. It's affected his sinuses so he's feeling pretty rotten and headachey. He decided to spend the day sleeping and resting to try to shake it off.

Monday 26th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Well the wind is still howling and Steve is still feeling rotten so we'll stay where we are and hope a bit of rest will cure the cold.

Tuesday 27th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Much the same as yesterday - Steve's cold is finally improving but he's still not 100%. We'll probably just stay here now until the Hobies arrive at the weekend.

Wednesday 28th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
The weather's looking better but it's a bit late to sail away for a few days so we'll stock up with a few non-perishables (like Gin, Rum, Coke etc) instead. On our way back to the dinghy and who should we bump into but Steily, Deborah and Dave who've arrived a few days early for the Hobie Challenge. What a great surprise. We arranged to meet in a suitable bar in the evening to have a chat and catch up on all the news.

Thursday 29th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Some of the support boats were due to arrive today and hopefully some of the Hobies. Steily, Deborah and Dave were keen to put their boats together with plenty of time to fix any problems. The Hobies arrive as a set of parts and have to be assembled on the beach.

Friday 30th January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
More competitors are arriving and all the boats are here so people are spending time making sure everything is OK with their boats and are just enjoying being in Boracay.

Saturday 31st January (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
The last of the competitors arrive today. Most seem to be staying in a hotel called Le Soleil which is the base for the Philippine Hobie Challenge while it's in Boracay. We had been anchored at the other end of the beach but decided to move to a spot closer to the action. As we went ashore an old friend in the process of putting his boat together greeted us with "Hi, nice to see you. Have you got a power drill on board I could borrow?" What are friends for if not to help out so we duly went and fetched our power drill. Later at the hotel all the competitors had to register and then scrutineer each other to ensure all boats had all the safety equipment and new how to use it. Amongst other things each boat had to have a VHF radio,  a GPS and a towing line. A flare and emergency strobe light were provided in their race packs. The support boats included a 70 ft motor launch (the "Heather Louise"), a 70 ft motor catamaran ("Superfun"), 3 small speedboats known as Birthday Cake, Cupcake and Fat Goon (Fat Goon means The Judge in Cantonese and used to belong to the Hong Kong Hobie Club), 2 large bancas for transporting the field kitchen and luggage and 3 yachts (Cavalier, Merchano and Carillon).

Sunday 1st February (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Today there are 2 inshore races to get the competitors warmed up. We volunteered to help out on one of the rescue boats which turned out to be the wettest one of the three and was used to lay marks and chase after problems. In the first race one of the Hobies capsized and the crew were unable to right it. One of the hulls was damaged and was taking in water so it was impossible to get it upright. The boat carrying the press photographers was called in to help them and it took the rest of that race and the whole of the next one to remove the mast and sails and tow it upside down to the shore. The winds were quite strong so the rest of the fleet had a good afternoons racing. We managed to get our anchor stuck after marking the end of the start line and had to hail a dive boat and ask them very nicely if they would go down and free it for us.

Monday 2nd February (11° 58'N 121° 54.9'E)
Philippine Hobie Challenge - Boracay to Sibay Island - 35 miles
We lifted the anchor just before the start so that we could position ourselves level with the line to watch the start. Winds were about 16 - 18 knots so it was a fast start. The Hobie course went up to Sibolan Island further north then back to Sibay Island. Since they go much faster than we do we went direct to Sibay expecting them to pass in front of us as we approached the island. The seas were quite steep and the winds up to about 22 knots. The Hobies started at about 8:00am and were starting to finish by about 2:00pm. We discovered our VHF signal was pretty strong (the aerial is at the top of the mast which is 65 ft above the deck) so we were able to relay messages and instructions from the other support vessels.

Tuesday 3rd February (11° 49.8'N 121° 29.6'E)
Philippine Hobie Challenge - Sibay Island to Pamalican Island - 65 miles
The start was at 8:00 again but we needed to be about halfway down the course by the time the Hobies went past so we left at 6:00am. The original plan was to have a boat at a particular position and the Hobies would have to check in by radio or sail close by but trying to keep a yacht on station in 20 knots of wind and 2 metre seas wasn't practical so that plan was abandoned. The next plan was to have the 3 yachts with one sailing directly down the rhumb line and the other two a mile or so each side so that the hobies could check in with any one of them on the way past. That worked quite well - they started coming past as we were about two thirds of the way along the course but it turned out they'd been told it wasn't compulsory to check in with us so all we could do was count the ones we could see and make sure they were all accounted for by someone. Well we didn't lose anyone so it worked. The resort at Pamalican Island is a very exclusive resort called Amanpulo. They greeted us with ice cold towels and oranges which was great since it was still pretty hot by the time we got there. We had the choice of eating either from the Hobie field kitchen or in the resort's restaurant. It's a beautiful island in the middle of nowhere, each beach cottage is secluded and guests are allotted their own golf cart to get around. An ideal resort to really get away from it all although at US$800 per night minimum it's quite expensive.

Wednesday 3rd February (11° 21.1'N 120° 43.3'E)
Philippine Hobie Challenge - Pamalican Island - Malacapuya Island - 45 miles
Same system as yesterday - we left at 6:00 to get halfway down the track by the time the Hobies caught us up. The winds were 20 knots or so and the seas 2 - 3 metres. We were sailing on a broad reach so were travelling quite fast. We had to put a reef in the main and roll in the headsail a bit but it was a great sail for us - I'm glad I wasn't on a Hobie it looked like really hard work. Because we were travelling so fast the first boats didn't get to us until we were about three quarters of the way there. As they started appearing over the horizon we could count 24. We just hoped Heather Louise had the last three in sight as her job was to motor behind the last boats and ensure no-one got left behind. By mid to late afternoon the last boats were on the beach. We met the owner of the island who was a very pleasant person. He told us he had owned the island for many years and had put a great deal of effort into planting trees and conserving what was there. It seems that if no-one is caring for the island the local people would come in and cut down the trees to sell them for wood, take the sand from the beach to sell and generally decimate the island. This island though was a pearl. It had soft yellow sand beaches on all sides, fruit trees planted all over the island, clear water with fish and coral and was reasonably sheltered from severe weather.

Thursday 4th February (11° 47.2'N 120° 06.7'E)
Philippine Hobie Challenge - Malacapuya Island - Calauit - 35 miles
Today the wind is very light and the seas very flat. We set off after the Hobies have started and motor slowly after them. They're travelling agonisingly slowly and in 2 or three hours have only gone a few miles. Sangat Island Resort is at the north end of the channel so the unanimous decision is to motor to Sangat and sit on the beach with a cold beer and lunch and watch them drift gently towards us. When we got to the beach we found the race officer and Fat Goon already there because Fat Goon had broken down and the mechanic was trying to get it going again. We also found Tequila Mike from the Club Paradise Resort and David Robinson of Fragrant Harbour magazine who had come down specially to take photos of the event. Unfortunately, as always seems to happen when David turns up with his camera, the wind had died to almost nothing. By the time we had finished lunch the last boats had passed so we went back to Carillon to catch up with them. By 4:00 pm they still had about 15 miles to go and still had no wind. We wanted to go into Calauit before dark because there are reefs around the entrance  so we went ahead leaving the small rescue boats to accompany the fleet. The race was shortened because the wind died away completely but it was well after dark before all the boats were found and towed in. Even Steve took our small dinghy out into the open sea to tow a boat in. I think for the competitors that was the hardest day.

Friday 5th February (12° 16.2'N 119° 53'E)
Philippine Hobie Challenge - Calauit - Club Paradise - 23 miles
Conditions are much the same as yesterday. We left after the Hobies but they were not sailing very quickly and  even motoring at minimum speed we still passed them all fairly quickly. One boat unfortunately got stuck on the reef but eventually managed to get off without any damage. We were close to Club Paradise by mid-afternoon and were lucky enough to spot some Pilot Whales surfacing close to us.
 By late afternoon most boats were still only halfway along the course so as it was getting dark the race was abandoned and boats rounded up for towing. One rescue boat arrived towing 10 boats, another radioed in to say they had 14 so that still left 3. Tony Bradley and one of his boat boys from Heather Louise set off in their dinghy and Steve and I took the Club Paradise trimaran to go and look for them. Superfun then called to say they had 2 in tow so that left 1. As we headed for where we thought they were we saw a light shining on a sail and were relieved to find that Tony had already found the last boat. By the time everyone got to Club Paradise having camped on beaches for a week they were really looking forward to fresh water showers and comfortable beds.

Saturday 6th February (12° 11.49'N 120° 05.91'E)
Today should have been the last inshore races for the Hobie fleet but again there was no wind so the races were abandoned. We had a quiet relaxing day and were delighted to find some old friends from Hong Kong had arrived at Maricaban in their yacht Villa G.
At the prizegiving in the evening it was no surprise to find that the Australian team of Andrew Keegan, Aaron Worral and Sean had swept the board apart from the daily prize for Friday which was won by Tony Stearns and Janet McCullough.

Sunday 7th February to Saturday 14th February (12° 11.49'N 120° 05.91'E)
We had planned to take a week or so away from the boat to visit our friends Joep and Mylene who live in northern Luzon and to see the rice terraces at Banaue and the hanging coffins at Sagada. Joep was busy until the 14th so we decided to have a very lazy and relaxing week at Maricaban and leave on Sunday 15th. We caught up on a few jobs that needed doing. Steve installed a second pump on the watermaker so that we could increase the amount we make if necessary and give us a backup pump should the first one fail for any reason. He also managed to scrub most of the weed and barnacles from the bottom of the boat but it's close to needing re-antifouling. We're hoping to get that done at Kudat later in the year.
We took Carillon over to Club Paradise for a day to dive on the reef there. We decided it was a very safe dive so just went down with our own equipment. We've seen more interesting coral but it was a very easy dive. Steve found that he didn't have quite enough weight to keep down easily so when we go to Manila we have to buy more dive weights. Club Paradise is on an island a couple of miles north of Port Caltom. It has soft yellow sand beaches, diving and watersports facilities and the same welcoming friendly staff as Maricaban. The two resorts Club Paradise and Maricaban Bay Marina Resort are owned by the same people and are both beautiful places. Our favourite is Maricaban Bay. It's very quiet, the cottages look very pleasant although we haven't actually stayed in them, the beach is also soft yellow sand and the pool is very attractive but it's biggest asset is the charming, friendly and helpful staff. For a quiet time away from the noise, hassle and pollution of a big city it would be perfect.

Sunday 15th February (12° 11.49'N 120° 05.91'E)
We had an early start this morning since the flight to Manila left around 8:30. The flight path goes directly over Apo Reef and from the air the reef can be seen very clearly. In Manila we stayed at the Lotus garden Hotel which was OK, nicer than the City State Tower where we stayed last time. We spoke to the travel agent in the hotel about getting the visas extended and were told to come back first thing in the morning.

Monday 16th February
In the morning the hotel travel agent was full of excuses as to why it was difficult and how expensive it was so we gave up on her and went to talk to Gina who was an agent we'd dealt with before for buying airline tickets. Gina was great, visas no problem but in Manila it takes 3 days so we agreed to leave the passports with her while we went to Banaue. She will also sort out air tickets back to Busuanga. We've dealt with Gina a few times and she has always been very helpful, very efficient and trusting enough to confirm flights for us on the basis that we will pay her when we get to Manila. If you need a good travel agent in Manila it's worth contacting Gina. Her details are on the Links page. We checked out the dive shop next door and decided to buy a few bits on our way back through Manila. We spent the afternoon looking around Chinatown but it was very shabby with nothing worth buying of any quality.

Tuesday 17th February
We took a bus from Manila to Solano to visit old friends Joep and Mylene. It left around 10:30 - the traffic was gridlocked until we got just outside Manila then it cleared. The bus was Victory Liner and quite comfortable although the trip took 8 hours. Every now and then the driver slowed down to pick up hawkers selling snacks and drinks to bus passengers in return free packets of whatever they were selling. In Solano we stayed at the Governors Garden Hotel which was quite attractive in a shabby sort of way.

Wednesday 18th February
We met up with Joep first thing in the morning . He was going to take a day or two off from his business to take us up to Banaue. Banaue was a bit disappointing so Joep decided he could spare an extra day and drive us on to Sagada. It was an unmade road with a steep drop on one side and traces of landslides on the other. At intervals along the way workmen were busy filling the holes with rocks but it was a neverending job. We arrived at Sagada around 3:30 and stayed at the Olah Binan Hotel. It was a bit sparse but fairly attractive although the shower was a dead loss. Sagada is a very attractive place unlike anywhere else we've seen in the Philippines. It reminded us very much of Nepal both in the landscape and the people. It's claim to fame is the hanging coffins. In years gone by the dead were not buried in the ground but the coffins were hung from the cliff faces or piled up in caves.

Thursday 19th February
We went walking through the rice terraces this morning to see a waterfall. Most of the hillsides are cut into terraces to grow rice or sometimes cabbages potatoes and other vegetables. The waterfall was fairly small so we walked further through the terraces until we reached a road. Each tiny field has a built up edge to hold the water so it's possible to walk along the edges of the terraces. Later we went to see the caves where the coffins were piled up. There was no apparent reverence, the coffins were just piled up in an enormous heap just inside the cave mouth but the caves themselves are regarded as sacred places.
We found a good place to eat later called the Yogurt House. It's speciality is homemade yogurt - most unusual in the Philippines since they don't normally eat much dairy products.

Friday 20th February
Joep drove us back to Banaue then had to return to Solano. We booked into the Banaue Hotel which was quite comfortable and had hot showers. The town was very scruffy and the terraces here fallen into disuse and very disappointing - I hope Batad is better.

Saturday 21st February
Today we will go to Batad and stay there overnight so we pack a small bag each and leave the rest at the hotel. Nobody seemed to know what time the jeepney left so we went down to the town to ask the drivers - even they were vague. The jeepneys leave when they're full so it could be 12:00 or 1:00 or not at all - it's now 9:30. Just then we were approached by a couple of other tourists looking for extras to fill up a jeepney for a special trip leaving about 10:00. That solved that problem. The jeepney takes you as far as the top of the ridge over Batad then it's a 40 minute walk down a steep muddy track but the terraces here are quite amazing. The village of Batad sits at the bottom of a bowl in the mountains and the slopes all around are cut into terraces and are currently being planted with rice seedlings. We stayed at 'Rita's Inn and Restaurant' about halfway up the mountainside. It was basic but clean. We walked through the terraces in the afternoon. Each field is up to 15 feet above the next level down so going from one level to the next is quite tricky especially after it's been raining.

Sunday 22nd February
We had decided to leave Batad by walking on to a village called Bangaan rather than returning the way we came. The path was a bit confusing at first. We missed the main path to start with and ended up climbing through the rice terraces to get back up to it. Once we found it there was no problem, in most places the path was at least a foot wide and stones or lumps of wood had been jammed into the gaps where the path had slipped down the mountainside. We arrived in Bangaan about 12:30 just in time to see the last jeepney to Banaue for the day disappearing down the road. We stopped at the 'Family Inn' at Bangaan to decide what to do. We could either stay at the Family Inn overnight in an 'ethnic' room with an outside loo and cold shower or we could hire a local tricycle to get us back to Banaue. After our 3 hour walk in the hot sun we are dusty and sweaty and decide to go for the tricycle ride with the hot shower at the end of it. The road was unmade, flooded in parts and partly washed away, filled in here and there with large chunks of rock so not the most comfortable trip we've ever had but it served it's purpose.

Monday 23rd February
We picked up a jeepney for Solano around 9:30. A fairly uneventful trip except that the driver decided he didn't have enough passengers to go all the way to Solano so stopped about 10 miles away where we had to get another jeepney. We checked into the same hotel as before which was just as shabby and the staff just as ineffectual but it'll do for one night. We contacted Gina who had arranged the visa extensions and booked us flights back to Busuanga Wednesday morning. The afternoon flight was full so we'll have to do our Manila shopping when we get back tomorrow afternoon. Joep and Mylene have to drive to Manila tomorrow to pick up stock for their business so we can go with them.

Tuesday 24th February
We leave around 8:30, Joep has a better route than the one the bus takes with less traffic so the trip takes 6 hours instead of 8. We check back into the Lotus Garden then go to see Gina to collect the passports and air tickets. All done with no fuss and no problems. Next we visit the dive shop to buy new snorkels - I've had mine since 1985 so it's probably time I had a new one - also a new mask and some dive weights to complete our equipment enabling us to dive off Carillon if we wanted to. Next it's the supermarket for a selection of cheeses, a few veg and some cold meats to keep us going until we get to the market at Sabayang.

Wednesday 25th February
We catch the flight in plenty of time and Ronnie Maricaban is at Busuanga Airport to meet us. The trip back to Maricaban takes about 40 minutes in a jeepney then 10 - 15 minutes in the Club Paradise/Maricaban trimaran. We get Carillon ready to leave in the morning and have dinner in the resort. There are still no guests. It's a shame such a lovely place isn't used more, it's hard to see how they can keep going if business doesn't improve.

Thursday 26th February (12° 11.49'N 120° 05.91'E)
We are going to Pandan Island today. It's 55 miles so we leave at 6:00 to give us plenty of time in case the winds are unfavourable but for once the wind gods are smiling at us and we have 10 - 15 knots on the beam almost the whole way and arrive at Pandan in plenty of time to see our way round the reefs. The main reason for going back to Pandan is to go diving with them to Apo Reef so we go ashore to arrange it. There's a trip going tomorrow but it's already full up so we arrange to go 2 days later and to dive around the island the next day.

Friday 27th February (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
When we arrived yesterday the mooring was free so we picked it up but Dominic had told us his big banca would be returning today and would need it so late in the morning we dropped the mooring and prepared to anchor. Just as we were doing so a strong wind came straight off the land pushing white water in front of it. We set the anchor but the wind was still increasing. By the time we were due to go ashore for the dive it was 25 - 27 knots and showed no signs of decreasing so we decided to play it safe and stay on board in case the wind increased enough to start dragging our anchor. We were anchored in sand in about 8 metres but not very far out was a drop off to 25 metres. We went ashore and found our Apo Reef trip had been brought forward to the next day.

Saturday 28th February (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
The weather is calm so the Apo trip is on. We take our dive stuff ashore and load it onto the banca ready to leave soon after 7:00. There are 5 of us diving altogether - the two of us, Rudolf and Bettina from Germany and Ephraim from France. It takes about 2 hours to get there so after about an hour and a half the light house on Apo Island can be clearly seen on the horizon. There is a bit off a swell so we are going to dive on the reef around the island rather than the main reef. We kit up then go into the water and drop down to about 20 metres. We just drift gently along the wall with the current accompanied by a large school of Fusiliers (fish). The visibility is good and we can see easily 20 metres or so. Then we spot a large shape swimming towards us along the reef. The divemaster dropped back and the 5 of us huddled together and tried to look menacing and not good to eat. What we were seeing was a 2 metre Hammerhead shark which swam to within 5 metres or so, had a good look then and went on his way. It was quite a thrilling if not unnerving experience. The afternoon dive was quite tame after that, just reef fish and coral.

Sunday 29th February (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
Went across to Sablayan in the dinghy to buy fruit and veg. Steve picked up 2 gas regulators and a length of tubing. We have problems filling our gas cylinders because there are not many filling stations around. The local system is to swap an empty cylinder for a full one but we have special cylinders which we need to refill not to swap. so the plan is to take the insides out of the regulators to make use of the screw fittings then at least half fill our tank by our connecting a full local tank to it and allowing the pressure between the two tanks to equalise. We've yet to see how well it works.
Snorkelled over the reef and sea grass in the afternoon and were lucky enough to spot one of the local turtles grazing on the sea grass about 5 metres below us. It was about a metre from one end to the other and seemed fairly unperturbed by us just having an occasional look then going back to grazing. Every now and then it swam lazily to the surface for a gulp of air then went back down. When we returned to Carillon just as we were climbing on board we spotted a banded krait seasnake curled up on top of the rudder - but just a little one.

Monday 1st March (12° 51.4'N 120° 45.3'E)
Left very early this morning to go to the southern tip of Mindoro for an overnight stop. Winds were a bit up and down so we arrived in the dark We dropped anchor in Sogod Cove on Ilin Island in about 9 metres. It seemed to hold. The wind died away to nothing but there was an uncomfortable swell from the NW which rolled us around a bit during the night.

Tuesday 2nd March (12° 14'.331N 120° 01'.999'E)
Looked out this morning to find we were only a few metres from a fish trap. The bottom was quite rocky and a better anchorage would have been a little further out in sand. We could see the bottom quite clearly and could see that the anchor chain was wrapped around a rock but managed to manoeuvre the boat to untangle it. We were heading for Santa Fe at the southern tip of Tablas. At first the wind was blowing from the right direction then it started heading us so we decided to head for the bay on the NW tip of Panay which we were now heading at. It was very enjoyable sailing  but about halfway across the channel the wind died altogether. We were about equidistant from Santa Fe and NW Panay so we tossed a coin then motored for Santa Fe. It was dark by the time we got there and the entrance to the bay was full of tiny bancas who only switched a light on if they thought we were close enough to run them down. The bay was very calm but the karaoke bar was just as noisy as it was last time we were here.

Wednesday 3rd March (12° 09.455'N 121° 59.303'E)
Had enough of early mornings and late finishes for a day or two so we'll just go round the corner to Cabahan Island on the SE side of Tablas where there looks to be a sheltered bay. We started sailing but the wind died again so we motored. The bay is delightful - one of the nicest anchorages we've been in. The entrance is between two reefs but not too difficult to see. Once past the reefs you can swing round to the right  and tuck in behind the island in about 6 metres of water in sand. It's protected from every direction except south. The islands have sandy beaches and the mainland is mangroves. The people in the bancas call 'Hello' and 'welcome'. Most of the bancas are paddled or sailed not motored and there's no constant sound of tricycles or karaoke bars on shore.

Thursday 4th March (12° 08.741'N 122° 01.745'E)
We'll head for Romblon today but outside the bay the wind is blowing from the NE which is where Romblon is so we decide to head for Cebu instead. An hour later the wind has headed us again and is now from the E straight from Cebu so back to the original plan and head N for Romblon. Would you believe we're headed again and are now beating towards Romblon. About 2:00 we give up and motorsail to make sure we reach Romblon before dark. We arrive about 5:00. The harbour is quite small and quite deep. We anchor close to the shore in about 17 metres.

Friday 5th March (12° 34.941'N 122° 16.235'E)
We seem to be anchored at the poor end of town and numerous children squat on the sea wall and shout to us. The harbour is so deep that you have to anchor very close inshore so we seem to be very close to the wall. Steve has a fax he needs to receive so he goes ashore to try to find somewhere that can receive it meanwhile since there is an Internet connection available onshore I spend the morning writing the web site update ready to upload it this afternoon. Steve comes back very frustrated - yes there is a fax (only one in the whole of Romblon) but it doesn't seem to work. We later discover that the phone company has a monopoly and any call not routed through them has to go through an operator in Manila so our overseas fax doesn't stand a chance. Next option is for our sender to scan it and email it. That works better but it still takes an hour to download. When I try to update the website first of all only the disk drive connected to the proprietor's machine works so we have to copy my files through their Intranet onto the machine I'm using - that seems to take forever - then the connection is so slow I can just about upload the text but for the photos it simply times out so I have to leave the site half updated and hope to put it right at the next place.
We have a look round the market and pick up a few veg but the people are not as friendly as in other places. We decide to eat in town for a change but even that was not very good. All in all neither of us felt comfortable with the place - it was good to go there to see it but we probably won't go back.

Saturday 6th March (12° 34.941'N 122° 16.235'E)
This morning we went ashore very early to go the market and buy fish for dinner. We plan to leave as soon as we get back to the boat to sail overnight to Malapascua just North of Cebu. We leave around 8:30 and motor around the south of Romblon where we can set the sails. The wind is quite strong so we put one reef in and roll up the headsail to a No. 3 size. We pass fairly close to Sibuyan Island and have to motor through it's lee but after that it's standard NE monsoon and we can sail all the way. The weather's a bit unsettled and there are odd squalls coming through at about 20 knots apparent so I've lost count of the number of times we took the reef out only to have to put it back in again an hour or two later. We did our usual watch system where I go down to get some sleep around 9 or 10pm then Steve wakes me at 12 and I'm on watch until 4am. Tonight is a full moon so we can see the fishing boats fairly clearly. Steve takes over again at 4am and I get up around 7 or 8am. Steve usually sleeps a few more hours in the middle of the day when we use this system.

Sunday 7th March (11° 22'N 124° 00'E)
At dawn we can see Malapascua but the wind has headed us so it's now a dead beat. It's quite nice sailing and we're not in a rush. We anchor at about 10:30 on the W side of the island. The south side looks a bit exposed and we can see the swell rolling across it. The reason for coming to Malapascua is to dive with the thresher sharks which we are told can be seen at a nearby shoal. We go ashore to talk to the dive shops and decide which one to go with. They are all the same price so in the end we went with a shop called Bubble 07 which is managed by Trevor and Andrea from UK and New Zealand respectively. They told us there were not so many sharks around at the moment so we may or may not see them. The dives go at 5:30am so we have to be at the dive shop by 5:15am. When we got back to the boat the wind had shifted to now the west side was exposed and rolling and the south side much quieter so we moved. It's very shallow on the south side so we had to moor a long way out.

Monday 8th March (11° 20'N 124° 06'E)
At 4:30 this morning there was a bump and a slight shudder. We must be anchored over the only patch of sand with a raised rock for miles so we move the boat out a bit further and a bit deeper by which time we need to go ashore for the dive. We leave the beach around 6am for the dive site. Also on the trip are 7 Americans with lots of expensive cameras who have come solely to see the sharks - hope we're lucky. We weren't lucky, we swam around for 40 minutes or so but no sharks. The visibility was not very good so they may have been there but too far away to see. We dived again later in the morning off the NW of the island, there was quite a lot of soft coral but very few fish. There is no hard coral in the area, it has all been destroyed by dynamite fishing. No more habitat so no more fish. We decide to have another try at seeing the sharks tomorrow but if we still don't see any we'll give up and move on. The anchorage off the south was very rolly and exposed in the afternoon so we move back to the west side. The island is lovely. There are resorts on the south side but it's nowhere near as commercial as Boracay. There are no tourist shops on Malapascua apart from a few T-shirts maybe in some of the resorts. The beach is quite nice but there is an effluent problem here and there which will ruin it as a resort if it's not dealt with soon.

Tuesday 9th March(11° 20.359'N 124° 06.139'E)
Up again at 5:00, there are 2 boats going this morning and we are in the second one so again we don't leave the beach until about 6am. Back to Monad Shoal where we go into the water about 6:50 and sink down to about 20 metres to the sunken island. Once again we start swimming along the edge looking all around in the hope of seeing the sharks. Every now and then we see something and start getting excited only to find it's another group of divers then Vic, the dive leader taps his tank urgently and motions us all to lie still on the bottom and then we see first an indistinct shape which disappears then a minute later reappears a little closer. It is a shark with the distinct long tail that marks it out as a thresher shark. It is about 5 metres long and we watch transfixed as it swims slowly around us then disappears over the edge of the island. That made the early start all worth while. Went back to Carillon to get a bit more sleep and decided that now we've seen the sharks we can move on. Malapascua is lovely but the anchorages are uncomfortable.

Wednesday 10th March(11° 20.359'N 124° 06.139'E)
We'll move south today and head for what looks like a sheltered anchorage at Dupon Bay on Western Leyte. The sailing keeps us busy from motoring in no wind to a reef in a lot of wind to the drifter (asymmetric spinnaker) in not much wind back to motoring in no wind. So much for a relaxing sail. When we got to Dupon Bay we found that the headland was dominated by a large chemical plant belching out smoke from a chimney. The next bay which was our alternative anchorage was on the other side of the headland so also dominated by the chemical plant. We decided to go on to Ponson Island in the Camotes Group and find somewhere there to anchor overnight. The wind had died to nothing when we got there but it was still squally. We anchored off the town in about 8 metres of water. We could see the bottom, in 8 metres it was sand but close in at 6 metres it was rock so we anchored in the sand. The wind blew up in the night so once again we were rolling around added to which we were now on a lee shore although the anchor was holding firmly. We decided we'd move on the next day.

Thursday 11th March(10° 48.162'N 124° 34.334'E)
The wind had died down a bit the next morning but we decided to move on anyway. We didn't go far (about 20 miles) and there was no wind so we motored to the next island to a place called Poro on Poro Island. We anchored in about 10 metres of mostly sand. Further in the bottom looked very rocky with poor holding. It was much more sheltered. It was getting late so we didn't go ashore. There was quite a lot going on on the dock so we sat and watched it all for a while.

Friday 12th March (10° 37.553'N 124° 24.734'E)
This morning we took the dinghy to San Francisco which was the next town. It was clean and tidy but very quiet and a bit boring. There was nothing much in the market or shops so we left again and went to see Poro. It was much the same - clean, tidy and looking relatively affluent. There were 2 or 3 large bancas against the pier carrying both passengers and goods so quite an active place. About lunchtime we left to find an anchorage at the SW corner of Pacijan Island at a place called Santiago. After motoring around a bit we found a patch of mostly sand to anchor in with about 6 metres of water. It's very sheltered on this corner and there is a sandy beach in front of the village. There is a local resort to one side which looked quite good from a distance but was a little run down when we got closer. We decided to have dinner there which was ok. The menu was Filipino food and for 300 pesos for the two of us quite cheap.

Saturday 13th March (10° 35.179'N 124° 18.395'E)
As we were having breakfast this morning we heard from the beach the sound of drums and could see lots of people apparently practicing for a dance. We went ashore to investigate and found about 150 teenagers practicing their entry for the island Fiesta to be held in about a week. Their entry was a dance/drama telling the story of their people settling on the banks of Lake Davao fishing and growing rice. The story goes on to show that the fish were getting fewer so the people prayed and soon were able to introduce fish into the lake which were farmed to produce enough fish for the whole village. It was a bit difficult to follow exactly what was happening but one of the local villagers was able to explain it a little. It was performed with great gusto and enthusiasm with lots of footstamping and excellent drum accompaniment.

Sunday 14th March (10° 35.179'N 124° 18.395'E)
We're heading for Cebu today which is the second biggest town in the Philippines where we'll stay at the Cebu Yacht Club. The wind is perfect and for a change the sky starts to clear. We've had nothing but cloudy skies and drizzle since the day we got to Malapascua. It takes about 3 hours to sail to Cebu. We were told that in the yacht club you could moor stern on to the pontoon and tie up to posts each side. When we got to the entrance it looked quite tight so we circled for a bit deciding exactly how we were going to moor bearing in mind that it was blowing 20 knots and Carillon doesn't reverse to port. We were hoping there would be lots of boat boys around to help out but it was Sunday and there didn't seem to be any around. We finally went into the yacht basin where miraculously one or two boat boys appeared and directed us to a berth. It wasn't easy - after toing and froing and turning in circles we managed to get a line onto a big motorboat almost adjacent to the berth then swing the stern in fending off other boats as necessary and throwing lines to boat boys to hang over the posts forward. Eventually we were moored fairly securely and close enough to step on and off or at least to only have to jump a little way. We have few things we need to do here so tomorrow we'll start finding out how and where we can get the jobs done.

Monday 15th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
First thing is to talk to the people in the office at the yacht club and find out who can do the work we need. We want to extend our awnings to keep off the rain so we were directed to Mandaue Canvas who seemed to understand exactly what we wanted. The next job was someone to do stainless steel work. We need extra bracing on the post at the back of the boat which holds the radar and most of the various aerials, also we would like extra bracing around the anchor windlass since there is quite a lot of stress on it if we're anchored in strong winds. We find a Scot called Neil who seems to understand what we want so job no 2 solved. Filling the gas bottles is more difficult. There's some kind of local regulation that says filling stations can only fill their own bottles so getting ours filled is not possible. We think we will have to buy a local bottle. The last job for today was finding someone to service one of the motors for the watermaker. Arve at the Norwegian Marine Consultancy, Inc was most helpful. We also finally managed to send the fax that we couldn't send from either Romblon or Malapascua. Tomorrows jobs are laundry and stocking up the food cupboards.

Tuesday 16th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Got the address of the laundry from the Yacht Club. It's about 20 minutes in a taxi in a fairly rough part of town. There's a big closed factory type door with a small access door in it and someone from the laundry pokes their head out of the door, takes the laundry bag and says "Come back same time tomorrow" then disappears locking the door behind them. We'll see if the system works when we come back tomorrow.
Steve stripped down the anchor windlass to grease it only to find one of the essential parts inside was cracked. What to do now? It may last months or it could break up next time we use the windlass and we don't want to hang around in Cebu waiting for a new part to be sent from New Zealand. We talk things over with the local expats who suggest we take it to a local machine shop and either get them to make a new part or repair the old one. The second machine shop said they could make a new part but in stainless steel not bronze and it would be ready on Friday. We go ahead with that option. Next task is to go to the supermarket and stock up on basics. We buy a dozen large cans of fruit juice, about the same amount of UHT milk and similar quantities of other basics that are less easy to find in the villages. We fill the boot of a taxi to overflowing and get him to drive as close to the boat as possible. He can get to within 50 metres so not too bad. The taxis here in Cebu are much less hassle than those in Manila. 90% of the time they put the meter on without having to be asked. On the whole Cebu is far more pleasant than Manila and with an International Airport would make a better entry point.

Wednesday 17th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Well the jobs are all in progress so we need to go to the centre of Cebu to cash some travellers cheques so we can pay the bills. We were advised to go to the HSBC bank but when we got there we found the maximum amount they would change was US$500 which was nowhere near as much as we needed. They gave us the address of the American Express Travel Agency where we could change enough so back into a taxi and across town again. While we were in the centre we decided to check out the supermarkets to see if there was such a thing as a Deli counter or failing that if their selection was any better than the supermarket by the Yacht Club - it wasn't - at least not by enough to warrant trailing over there to shop for perishables. We tried the Italian restaurant for dinner. The food was ok but it was right opposite a strip of videoke bars blasting out at full volume. I don't think I've ever heard such a cacophonous din before.

Thursday 18th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Today we can collect the canvas work. We'd had a bridging piece made to fit between the awning and the dodger to help keep off the rain and some side curtains for the awning for the same reason. We'd had to measure it ourselves and got it nearly right but it needed minor adjustment. The shop would not have had time to do it so we'll be spending a day sometime unpicking part of it and resewing it in a slightly different position then it'll be perfect. We also bought a local gas bottle which at some time we will siphon into our own bottle then return the local bottle. The motor for the watermaker was fixed. The problem with it was that it was sited under one of the filters so when you cleaned the filter the motor got a seawater bath. We've now re-sited it so that doesn't happen. The other job for today was to service two of the winches. This entails stripping them down, cleaning out the old grease and replacing with new. The other six winches will have to wait for another time.

Friday 19th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Steve went to collect the new part for the windlass only to find it hadn't been done and wouldn't be done since it had gone into the "too hard" category. The machine shop directed him to another bigger and better machine shop who said they could repair the old one and it would be ready midday tomorrow. We'll wait and see. Neil's been backwards and forwards fitting stainless steel parts. He's not quite finished but he's promised it for tomorrow so that we can leave on Sunday.

Saturday 20th March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Went to the office to pay the bill. The Yacht Club charges 2000 pesos for the first 10 days, then 3000 pesos for the next 7 and 2000 pesos a night after that. The idea is to encourage short stays but to discourage long stays unless you actually join the Yacht Club. Next stop the supermarket for the perishables. There's quite a good selection of fruit and vegetables and some frozen meat so I can buy fresh pork for tomorrow and frozen chicken for the next day. We don't use the freezer on the boat because it takes too much power but frozen stuff next to the plate in the fridge will stay frozen/chilled for a day or two. Lunchtime went to collect the repaired part for the windlass. They'd done it and it looked as though they'd made a good job of it. We brought it back to the boat to check that it fitted properly and found it need just a little more reaming out to fit over the spindle. They did that and it seems to be ok. Neil has promised the last of the stainless steel for 5:00 so it looks like we're ok to leave tomorrow. The Yacht Club have a singer this evening so there should be quite a few people there. We plan to go along but get a text from Neil to say he's running a bit late but it would be ready tonight. The singer is excellent, she has a good strong voice and sounds pretty confident. We get a call from Neil around 10:30 p.m. to say the last parts are ready so back to Carillon to check it all fits. Luckily it fits ok or at least well enough so that we can make any minor adjustments ourselves.

Sunday 21st March (10° 19.758'N 123° 58.562'E)
Up at 6 to get an early start. We were just trying to decide how best to let the lines go when one of the boat boys turned up. He knew we were leaving so came along to help with the lines. It was pretty straightforward in the end so by 7:00 we were well on our way. We planned to head to the northern shore of Bohol where there are one or two good anchorages. Between here and there are a number of quite substantial reefs so we set waypoints very carefully. Even so at one point we were creeping along with only 1.9 metres below the keel and hoping there weren't any large lumps of coral in the way. We got through without any mishaps and anchored just south of Jao Island. It was very pretty with good holding, good shelter and calm water.

Monday 22nd March (10° 09.799'N 121° 21.878'E)
Left early again unsure whether to go just a little way to Lapinin Island or go a bit further across to Leyte. We'd been told there was a place you could dive with Whale Sharks on Leyte so we headed that way. It was flat calm so we motored the whole way. There are no protected little bays so you anchor off the SW coast which should give shelter from the NE monsoon at this time of year. When we arrived the wind was blowing from the SW and there was a swell from the S but there's nowhere to go that's any more sheltered so we hoped the wind would die down overnight. We anchored off Ichon just S of Maasin and the wind did die overnight but the swell kept coming so it was a bit uncomfortable. In the evening some of the locals paddled out in their bancas to say hello. The guy talking to us spoke good English, seemed more than well fed and his wife looked quite well dressed so we were a bit surprised when he asked us to give him alcohol or cigarettes and failing that corned beef. We decided he didn't look poor enough for hand-outs so didn't give him anything. We find it a bit sad that the people should assume that when a cruising yacht comes close by that they can go and beg from it.

Tuesday 23rd March (10° 06.308'N 124° 53.866'E)
Left early again. We'd decided that since the whole of the SW coast of Leyte is exposed to southerly winds and the water quality at Ichon was dreadful that we might give away the whale shark thing and head back to Bohol. Again there was no wind so we motored two thirds of the way when the wind came in from the S at about 13 knots so we were able to sail the rest of the way. We anchored in Cotong Bay just SW of Lumislis Island in about 7 metres and mud. The island is mostly mangroves and the only people around are a few fishermen tending their fish traps so it should be quiet and peaceful.

Wednesday 24th March (09° 51.104'N 124° 33.591'E)
Since the swell was still from the south the anchorages we had planned on using on East Bohol would still be exposed and rolly so we decided to go to Camiguin Island instead and hope to find a sheltered spot on the NE side. An hour or two out when we knew there was at least a 100 metres under the keel the depth sounder suddenly started reading 6 metres. We stopped the boat and peered over the side to see if we could see the bottom but there was nothing then to make doubly sure we weren't about to run aground on an unmarked reef we tried sounding with the lead line. It ran out to 20 metres and still nothing then suddenly we saw masses of fish swimming under and alongside the boat. The depth sounder had picked up a large shoal that was swimming underneath us. Unfortunately we didn't have any lines out so couldn't catch one for dinner. We arrived at Camiguin late afternoon and found a reasonably calm anchorage just off the capital town of Mambajao. The water was a bit murky but we could see the bottom was sand and rocks. Decided to go and have a look round tomorrow.

Thursday 25th March (09° 15.180'N 124° 43.584'E)
In the morning the wind had gone round to the east which put us on a lee shore and we could see the anchor chain was caught round a rock. We decided to move around the other side of the island to find somewhere sheltered from the east. We had to motor the boat round a bit to untangle the chain from the rock but freed it without too much trouble. Although the wind was now from the east the swell was still from the south west so nowhere was sheltered enough to anchor safely or comfortably so we gave up and headed west to Siquijor Island instead. It was dark when we arrived but we found somewhere to anchor in Maria Bay on the east side. We'd just got the anchor set and the boat tidied up when someone on shore shone flashlight at us and said we were in a restricted area and would have to move so up with the anchor again and move up the coast a kilometre or so and this time it seems to be ok.

Friday 26th March (09° 10.033'N 123° 40.224'E)
In the morning we find we are anchored in mostly sand which is good but only a few metres from some fish traps which is not so good. We lifted the anchor again and headed for the port area at Larena. We anchored inside the port area which is tiny. There's barely enough swinging room for us and then the ferries come in to dock. We had a walk around Larena and booked a motorbike to tour the island on tomorrow. Just after we'd finished dinner around 8:30 a banca paddled out to say the coastguard wanted us to leave because there was a big boat due in at 10:00. Great! they could of told us we couldn't stay overnight while it was still daylight. We upped anchor again and found a small patch shallow enough to anchor in a mile or so up the coast in fact it was so small that first time round between finding it and dropping anchor the current had washed us off it and the anchor was hanging straight down in 30 metres of water. We tried again and this time managed to anchor. Luckily it was very calm and the anchor seemed to be holding.

Saturday 27th March (09° 14.820'N 123° 34.316'E)
In the morning we could see we were anchored on what was once probably a beautiful coral reef but there was only dead coral shards there now where it had been destroyed by dynamite fishing. We decided to give it one more try and sailed around to the SW side where we would be sheltered from the NE winds and we hoped to be able to anchor off one of the resorts. When we got to the Coco Grove Resort we motored slowly around at anchoring depth to try to find a sandy spot but it all seemed to be coral. Then a boat came out from the resort and said we could use their mooring buoys. Suddenly things started looking up - we tied up to a buoy then went ashore to see what was what. The resort people couldn't have been more friendly and helpful if they'd tried. We were made very welcome and invited to use the resort facilities. They could rent us a motorbike, they could do the laundry - after the previous few frustrating days it was great. We decided to stay there for a day or two and relax.

Sunday 28th March (09° 08.506'N 123° 30.430'E)
We toured the island by motorbike today. It's about 74 kilometres all the way round but we made a few detours. The highest point is Bandila-an Nature Reserve. You can get within 300 metres of the top by dirt track then you have to climb some steps. There's a shrine to the virgin of Lourdes partway up and from the top you can see most of the island through the trees. On the coast road there are numerous marine parks signposted. There is now a program for conserving and replacing the mangroves and encouraging fish to breed so all along the coast sections are cordoned off and mangroves are planted. Fishing, coral or shell collecting in fact anything that might be damaging to the environment is forbidden. The local people were very friendly and almost everyone waved or called as we drove past. There are very few petrol stations on Siquijor but hundreds of small motor bikes so the refuelling problem has been solved by numerous little stalls on the roadside selling petrol in 1 litre coke bottles. A bit unusual but the system seems to work.

Monday 29th March (09° 08.506'N 123° 30.430'E)
Decided to have one more day here and just do one or two jobs on the boat. The extra awning we'd had made in Cebu didn't quite fit so we spent a few hours resewing a small section of it and the stainless steel protectors for the forward ventilators which we'd had modified in Cebu needed fitting so that job was taken care of as well.

Tuesday 30th March (09° 08.506'N 123° 30.430'E)
Settled the bill at the Coco Grove Resort (they were quite happy for us to run a tab and settle up before we left) then left for Port Bonbonon at the southern tip of Negros. About a mile from Siquijor the wind came in and for most of the way we had about 15 knots on the beam - great sailing. As we got close to Bonbonon the wind increased and just off the bay it was about 20 knots. It was a bit of a struggle to get the sails down neatly but by about 1:30 we were cautiously feeling our way around the shallow patches to get inside the bay. The entrance is a bit of a dog leg so once inside the bay is totally protected. There are about 15 yachts in here mostly resident - we haven't seen so many in one place since we left Puerto Galera. The bottom is sand/mud so very safe. We might even leave the boat here a day or two to go diving at Apo Island about 5 miles or so off the coast. We found Sandy from 'Force 8' here, we'd last seen her and her husband Dave at Puerto Galera delivering 'Magic Carpet' to Australia from Japan. Dave had gone on to Palau with 'Magic Carpet' and Sandy was due to join him later for the trip down to Australia. She was a mine of information about Bonbonon. It's a bit isolated so she was able to tell us where the small resorts were and how to arrange to get into town for shopping and suchlike. There's a big market tomorrow so we'll probably go along to stock up with fruit and veg.

Wednesday 31st March (09° 03.524'N 123° 07.651'E)
Decided to go to the market at Malatapay Beach today. To get there entails a half hour ride on a hubble-hubble then a 10 minute ride in a tricycle. For the uninitiated a hubble-hubble is a motorbike with the seat and footrests lengthened so that it can take 3 or 4 passengers behind the driver. The explanation of why it is called a hubble-hubble was given to us by Nikki from the Ne-Ar-Ne Resort.  Apparently hubble-hubble is a slang term for the actions of a male pig with a female pig and 3 or 4 people scrunched up together bouncing along on the back of a motorbike were reminiscent of that action. The only transport to the main road is by hubble-hubble but once there you can pick up a tricycle or jeepney to take you into the local towns or to the capital Dumaguete. The market was busy and noisy as markets are and you could buy fruit and veg, fish and meat, dried fish, clothes, shoes, trinkets, water-buffalo, cows, pigs and many other things. We spent an interesting hour or two wandering around then found a local resort to sit down out of the sun and have a drink.

Thursday 1st April - Wednesday 7th April (09° 03.524'N 123° 07.651'E)
Port Bonbonon
Port Bonbonon is one of those places where the days drift by and you don't notice their passing. It is a deep bay sheltered on all sides from the open sea. The entry takes you round two doglegs into a bay surrounded by mangroves and one or two dark sand beaches. About 20 yachts are either anchored or moored in the bay. Some are there only a short time, others are being worked on or have been left temporarily while the owners are elsewhere. This was the first place we have been where we have met a number of active cruising people some of whom have many years cruising experience and make us realise just how new we are to it and how much we have to learn.
On the north side of the bay is Ne-Ar-Ne run by Nikki and Arlene. There is a small restaurant and a long walkway where you can tie your dinghy when you go ashore. Nikki and Arlene provide some useful services for the yachts such as taking jerry cans to be filled with fuel, organising a hubble-hubble to get you up to the main road and supplying rum, beer or similar in bulk to go on board. The petrol station is about 40 minutes away on a motorbike so having them do this for you is a big bonus. On a Wednesday evening Arlene cooks pizzas and on a Friday it's a BBQ. This provides a focus point with good food and sociable evenings. On the other side of the bay Bruce and Rowena have set up home. It's not a resort but Rowena will take in laundry and will provide someone to fill your water tanks if necessary. She also does an excellent BBQ on Sundays. At the mouth of the bay on the North side is the Tonga Sail Inn run by Nigel and Pilar. They have a restaurant and bar and a number of cabins to let. Nigel also has a boatbuilding business building big sailing catamarans. At the entrance to the bay on the south side is Kookoos Nest run by Nikki and Jamie although only in the high season. The six months of the wet season they spend elsewhere. It's a very lowkey resort tucked into the trees at the top of the beach. Nikki has worked as a cook on tour with any number of big name groups so the food is excellent. They also run a small dive shop.
We spent our time there catching up with the never ending maintenance schedule, getting to know some of the other yachties and just passing the time. We spent a day or two in Dumaguete for Internet access and shopping. I haven't yet found a Malaysian courtesy flag so we ended up buying lengths of fabric in red, blue, green, gold, black and white so that I can make courtesy flags for whichever countries we visit. To get to Dumaguete we had Arlene organise a hubble-hubble for around 7:30 am. It takes about half an hour up to the main road. There we wait for either a jeepney or a bus for Dumaguete. The jeepney takes about 40 minutes, the bus 30. The jeepney we took had about 35 people crammed into it plus the children sitting on laps that I couldn't see. Dumaguete is one of the nicer towns in the Philippines. It is on the coast and has a long grassy boulevard by the sea. There is a good fruit and vegetable market and quite a good supermarket. The fabric shop we went to was crammed from top to bottom with every kind of fabric you could think of, unfortunately it was also crammed with people so we practiced being patient.
While we were in the area we planned to go diving at Apo Island (south east of Negros, not the Apo Island in the N Sulu Sea). The diving is supposed to be excellent so we organised a few days there.

Thursday 8th April - Sunday 11th April
Apo Island
We've booked 3 nights at Liberty's Resort on Apo Island. There is a dive shop attached to the resort so we can organise diving through them. To get to Apo Island it's a hubble-hubble again with Steve and I and our dive bags and back packs. The driver ties the bags on with bits of string and we climb on in front of them clutching our backpacks. At the main road we pick up a tricycle to go to Malatapay where we catch the resort banca. The banca is pretty exposed so they give us a couple of plastic coats so we don't get too wet. I'm glad it's not rough. At first sight the resort looks OK but over the few days we are there we find the service very lax, the food not particularly good and the rooms very basic. The room we are in is one of a row of four divided by flimsy partitions which don't reach all the way to the ceiling. The first two nights when the occupants of the other rooms were quiet was ok but the third night the occupants on one side came in very late talking loudly then at least one snored like a chain saw all night so we didn't get too much sleep. If we go again we'll stay at the Apo Island Resort next door which is owned by the same people as the Coco Grove Resort on Siquijor which made us so welcome.
The diving however was excellent. It was the best coral we have seen anywhere in the Philippines. The Silliman University in Dumaguete is involved in Marine Conservation around the area and have helped to protect Apo Island's coral from the ravages of dynamite and cyanide fishing. The currents can be quite strong around the island but the divemasters were very experienced and worked hard to ensure we had enjoyable dives.

Monday 12th April (09° 03.524'N 123° 07.651'E)
We plan to leave tomorrow so today we are going to Dumaguete to buy fruit, veg and meat.

Tuesday 13th April (09° 03.524'N 123° 07.651'E)
We leave around 8 a.m. after collecting the last of the laundry from Rowena. The wind would you believe is coming from where we want to go. A big typhoon has been moving northwards in the western Pacific over the last few days and has disrupted the north easterly monsoon so at the moment we're getting westerly winds. We set a course which takes us closest to the direction we want to go but with tide and current not in our favour it's still about 60 degrees off. By about 5 p.m. we've only made about 20 miles towards the waypoint and the wind has dropped to about 5 knots so we give up and motor. We motored all night and saw no other vessels.

Wednesday 14th April
We are heading for the Cagayan Islands about halfway between Negros and Palawan. We'll break the trip for a day or so there. At first light we have about 25 miles to go and about 8 knots on the beam so we can turn the engine off and sail for a bit. We reach the Cagayan islands about midday. There is a big fringing reef which we need to get inside then the anchorage is about 8 metres in sand. We set up all the waypoints to get through the reef only to find that the chart was approximately half a mile out of position so we ended up eyeballing it in the end but found our way in safely. Once anchored we had a visit from a young lad from the Philippine Coastguard. He asked to see our papers but I think he really just wanted an excuse to have a look inside Carillon.

Thursday 15th April
We went ashore this morning to have a look round the town of Cagayancillo (the only town on the islands). The people obviously don't see westerners very often. The children stared at us dumbstruck and didn't even respond to a friendly "hallo". Some of the older women smiled and said "Good Morning" but most of the people just looked. There wasn't very much in the town, one or two Sari-Sari stalls but no shops or markets that we could see. Maybe they only have a market one or two days a week or very early in the morning. We spent the rest of the day working on the boat and hoping the wind would change to a more favourable direction tomorrow.

Friday 16th April
It didn't - this morning it's still blowing 7 or 8 knots from the Northwest - exactly where we want to go. We decided to leave anyway and hope it would swing. It should be coming from the NorthEast still. As we left we saw Yuki and Esther on Little Star just coming in. We'd spoken to them in Bonbonon to give them waypoints to get in through the reef since they had no detailed chart of the islands so went over to let them know it was all out of position. Hope they got in safely.
The sailing was very enjoyable, flat seas, about 10 knots of wind, sunshine, it's a pity it's in the wrong direction. We sailed until about 6:30 pm when the wind died completely then motored until about 1:00 am when the wind came back in.

Saturday 17th April
We sailed all night. By about 10:20 am the wind had swung so we were able to sail in the right direction for most of the day. By 8:00 pm it had dropped again so we motored for a couple of hours until it came back. There's no moon and quite a lot of haze on the horizon so it's pitch black and no ships in sight.

Sunday 18th April
We sailed until about 4:00 am when the wind died again so on with the motor. At daylight the sea was like glass as we motored up to the northern point of Palawan. As we rounded the point a light wind from the SW came in so we were able to sail down to El Nido. We crept through the gap in the reef with just under 2 metres of water under the keel and anchored in our usual spot in about 4 metres of water just off the beach. There was a slight swell so it was a bit rolly in the afternoon. We managed to fill up with diesel and find someone to do the laundry. Had a drink in the Blue Karrot then dinner in a nearby restaurant.

Monday 19th April
Did the usual provisioning to last the week or so before we go down to Port Barton. El Nido doesn't have too much going for it as a marketing town but we did find that an Internet cafe has now opened. We were able to check email but it's a satellite connection so quite slow. I decided not to attempt to update the web page.

Tuesday 20th April
We were only going about 11 miles today so we waited until about 11 am which is when the wind seems to come in. Bacuit Bay was very gusty varying from 5 to 18 knots and coming from every direction. The auto pilot was having problems coping and we assumed it was because the wind was so unpredictable however when it still had problems when the wind settled down we decided there was a problem. On investigation it seemed to have set it's deviation to about 150 degrees instead of 2 or 3. We decide to investigate more fully once we've anchored. The land has lots of quite high hills which is what makes the wind so gusty. We anchored in Port Cataaba in flat water and good holding but all afternoon the wind was blowing fairly hard from all directions. We decided to redo the initial setup for the autohelm in the hope that it would reset itself properly. We were relieved to find that it did. We don't know why it went wrong but our chart tells us there are magnetic anomalies in this area so maybe that had something to do with it.

Wednesday 21st April
We are going to spend a few days exploring Malampaya Sound. This is an inlet just south of Port Cataaba almost 20 miles long running from NW to SE so sheltered in both monsoons. It's full of little islands and bays and rumour has it an old friend from Hong Kong has an island here where he keeps his boat. The entrance we use is a long narrow winding passage passing the pretty town of Liminangcong about half way through. There's wind from the NE so we decide to sail with just the genoa since if we do get hit by a 20 knot gust from any direction it's more manageable than the mainsail. It works beautifully. The wind is mostly from behind but enough to keep us going at about 4 knots all the way through the channel. We have a look at a few anchorages but reject them for being too small or too deep or too exposed but eventually find a spot tucked in behind a headland in about 12 metres of water. After the sun has set we see a thin sliver of moon setting in the west, the constellation of Orion overhead, the Great bear to the north and the Southern Cross to the south and zillions of other stars between.

Thursday 22nd April
We spend this morning fitting the reserve autopilot just in case there's more of a problem than we think with the main one. If there's no wind going down to Kudat it would be a pain to hand steer while motoring. The backup autopilot fits onto the wind vane system so if there's no wind we can use it to move the vane to steer the boat as if the wind were blowing.
Late morning we hoist the genoa again and sail gently down the sound. The wind is a bit gusty and variable but quite manageable. In the distance we can see a yacht anchored. Could this be our friend? As we get closer we recognise the yacht. It's moored off a pretty little island with a house built into the side of the hill and trees all around. We circle the island to try to see if our friend is there at the moment. On the far side is another mooring and as we approach it someone comes down to the slipway and waves saying "It's ok, you can pick up the mooring". We discovered our friend was away but his partner was there and she made us very welcome. Later we met their friends who live on a headland about a mile or so away. They also have a beautiful house surrounded by bougainevillia, cashew nut trees, mango trees and pineapple bushes. It has a stunning outlook overlooking, the islands and waters of Malampaya Sound.

Friday 23rd April - Saturday 24th April
We had a very enjoyable couple of days and were well looked after by our new friends. We envied them their lifestyle and location but we're not ready to stop cruising and settle just yet - there's still too much to see.

Sunday 25th April
We left this morning about 10:00am once again under genoa only. We had about 20 miles to sail to a small bay just south of Malampaya Sound. We anchored only about 5 miles from where we'd started from having sailed 10 miles to the NW to get out of the Sound and another 10 miles SE down the coast. Once out at sea again the wind was from the E so we had a pleasant run down the coast and an anchorage with flat water although the wind gusted on and off throughout the night.

Monday 26th April
We'll sail to Port Barton today. The wind is still from the E blowing about 15 knots so another pleasant sail downwind with a flat sea and sunshine. From Port Barton Steve will travel overland to Puerto Princesa to process our papers ready to leave the Philippines while Lyn stays with the boat. The trip to Puerto Princesa takes some time in a jeepney so depending on how long it takes to process the paperwork he will be away 2 to 3 days.

Tuesday 27th April to Thursday 29th April
We try to avoid local bureaucracy as much as possible but we do have to clear immigration and customs when departing from and arriving in a country.  In this case this involved Steve travelling for 5 hours in a jeepney to Puerta Princesa to have the usual battle with the bureaucrats.  The jeepney is oversized compared with the normal Philippine jeepney which is a good thing since it has to carry an oversized load.  On the way back from Puerta Princesa the jeepney seemed to be full and then stopped for about 20 sacks of rice and grain, 10 bags of cement, 30 cases of rum, 50 two gallon cans labelled "cooking oil" and various other crates and parcels.  Plus of course 20 passengers.  Despite the load neither the brakes nor the steering work well, which was fun on the sections of road that were still flooded after the overnight thunderstorm.
The fight with the bureaucrats went well for a change.  We managed to avoid paying the "service" fee and two simple transactions only took half a day.  The highlight of the trip was meeting up with our friends off Southerly Change, Columbus and Little Star who were all passing through and had stopped at the newly commissioned Puerta Princesa Yacht Club run by John Leeder and his wife Cissy.

Friday 30th April
Spent the day with Steve recuperating from the arduous trip to Puerta Princesa and catching up on a few jobs.

Saturday 1st May
We had been told that there is a resort on Cacnipa Island at the entrance to Port Barton so decided to investigate.  Left Port Barton anchorage in about 10 knots of wind but within a few miles this had increased to nearly 20 knots blowing straight into the bay where the resort is located making the anchorage untenable.  So we decided to change the plan and sail directly towards Malaysia.  Another hour or so later the wind had increased to over 20 knots accompanied by rain with what looked like heavier squalls moving towards us from the land.  Exercising discretion as always we ran off downwind under main only to try and avoid the rain squalls.  All had settled down by mid afternoon when we found ourselves off what looked like a good anchorage in Jibboom Bay.  The names on the charts indicate some interesting history in this area.  For example Confusion Rock is at the entrance to Port Barton and Intercourse Point is in Mayday Bay.  There is also a Conception Bay nearby which may have some connection with Intercourse Point.  
The wind was promising a good sail into Jibboom Bay so we decided to have a look and see if we could get a good night's sleep before the trip to Malaysia which would be offshore from here.  Found the bay to be delightful and sheltered so anchored for the night.

Sunday 2nd May
As we were getting ready to leave this morning we heard someone shouting to us. One of the local people apparently objected to us anchoring overnight in the bay and was telling us he owned the whole bay and if we didn't leave 'we would die'. This is the first time we've experienced any problems in the Philippines so we were quite surprised. We finished getting organised and motored gently out of the bay. It was a beautiful place but the memory will be forever spoiled.
The winds were very light and coming from directly astern so we played with various sail combinations to try to get a reasonable speed.

Monday 3rd May
Winds were very light and coming directly from behind. We had plenty of time and didn't particularly want to motor unless the wind died altogether so we drifted along gently at 2 or 3 knots until the wind died completely around late morning. .

Tuesday 4th May
The wind was a bit iffy first thing but by mid-morning we had about 12 - 15 knots on the beam, white fluffy clouds and sunshine and as an added bonus about 8 - 10 dolphins came and played in the bow wave swimming inches from the front of the boat. We arrived at Kudat around midnight. There's a deep bay just off the town which should have had a green flashing light to mark the entrance but there was no sign of it. All we could see was a red flashing light which wasn't marked on the chart. We trusted to the GPS position and as we got close to where the light should have been we could see the green post in the moonlight but the light wasn't working. We went quite a long way into the bay and anchored in about 7 metres.

Wednesday 5th May
In the morning rain squalls were coming over every few minutes and the anchorage was quite rough so we moved closer to the town where it was a little more sheltered. We went ashore to do customs and immigration and bearing in mind what we'd been told about petty thieving here put everything loose downstairs and carefully locked the boat up before we left. We chained the outboard to the dinghy then tied the dinghy up close to a bunch of police launches where we hoped it would be reasonably safe. We found the Customs and Port Clearance office but they weren't very interested in us and said check in when we got to Kota Kinabalu so that part was easy. Immigration were quite helpful and gave us visas for two months saying we could extend at KK if we needed to so formalities were no problem and unlike the Philippines they didn't expect a service fee to stamp the paperwork. Next we went to find the boatyard to sort things out there. We thought Steve was going to have to make a trip to Labuan to buy anti-fouling but the yard said they could get the type we wanted in a few days. While they were sorting out the ordering we went back into town to bring Carillon to the anchorage by the yard. There is a 'pool' big enough to anchor 2 or 3 boats in next to the boatyard completely sheltered from the open sea. The 'pool' is situated in front of an upmarket hotel with a golf course on the west side and the boatyard on the east. There are a number of military fast launches also kept in there with someone on guard duty at all times so the boat should be pretty safe.