It’s been a busy end to the year with visitors, birthdays,
weddings and typhoons all coming our way.
Gareth joined the Big 50 club on 20th November and his mum,
Bev, was keen to join us and celebrate this momentous occasion, and, as we’d be
back in the Philippines by then what better place than Sangat Island, north of
Palawan, where we spent Christmas with Laura last year. A striking island with a lovely resort and
even lovlier resort owner, Andy, and his staff!
Bev was booked into her own cosy beach chalet for the first few nights
of her holiday while she found her sea legs so we were on a tight schedule to
get there for her arrival on 17th November.
We finally bade farewell to Malaysia on 5th November
and needed to do a straight run to Peurto Princessa, Palawan, where we could
stock up on food and spend a few days with the wonderful John and Cissy who own
Abanico yacht club. Many a merry night (and day!) had been spent there the year
before and we were keen to catch up with everyone again. We had a hellish run up, very choppy seas,
lots of rain, black clouds and dark nights, lightening and squalls, but Pelangi
pushed on through the miserable conditions.
We arrived safely at P.P. midday on 7th, but that second
night was really awful. The wind had
died but the seas were confused and choppy and we spent the night rolling
around like clothes in a tumble dryer.
Needless to say the first San Miguels with John and Cissy went down a
treat!! The bad weather continued but we had little choice than to push on if
we were to meet Bev in time and slipped anchor on 13th. The 1st day back out at sea was
pretty much a repeat of our earlier passage, but on 14th things
started to look up. We had nice wind so
we could cut the engine and actually sail for a bit, the sun came out and it
suddenly felt great to be back in our favourite cruising ground! We made it to Sangat Island on the 17th,
just a few hours before Bev arrived. Our
good friend Ben was also at Sangat when we got there on his super, duper, fast
catamaran complete with stash of very nice French wines which he was more than
generous at sharing with us! So, G’s big
day arrived and we had a lovely time chilling out at the resort. After dinner a birthday cake was brought out
with the entire staff singing “Happy Birthday” with lots of balloons and kisses
for the birthday boy.
Soon enough it was time to get Bev out of her lovely cottage
and onto Pelangi, and whilst her cabin was somewhat smaller and less salubrious
than she’s used to it has a nice big hatch so she could lay in bed at night and
stargaze. Besides, most of our time was
spent in the cockpit drinking red wine, eating nibbles or feasting on curries
and home - made bread and enjoying the spectacular sunsets. We went to a
number of islands where the sand is white and sea is clear with lovely
snorkelling. We met some old friends
from our previous visits (this was our 3rd time in Busuanga) and some new ones
like Patrick. He’s an ex pat building a
new resort on one of the islands. He welcomed
us to his house (beach hut really) for Sunday lunch where we were greeted and
almost licked to death by his 2 gorgeous English bull mastiffs. We also spent a day cooling off at the local
waterfalls, a day cruising on resort owner Andy’s very nice catamaran (on
condition that G and me crew!) and spent the last 2 days of Bev’s holiday in
Coron town where she could stock up on pressies for the family and get a taste
of the “local” flavour unique to this lively town. It wasn't all plain sailing and we did have
our moments of tension trying to navigate (and hitting!) shallow reef and
snatch mooring buoys in strong winds, but crew member Bev came through with
flying colours! Bev, it was fantastic to
have you with us on Pelangi. You were
such a good sport, hopping in and out of Dolly like a teenager, keeping showers
to a minimum, and putting up my grumblings about our ancient oven! We’re so glad you came and welcome you back
on board any time!
With Bev gone it was time to think about heading further north
as we’d decided to spend Christmas in Peurto Galera, Mindoro island but there
was a Super Typhoon brewing just East of the Philippines and heading straight
for us. At first it was a “wait and see”
situation, but as the days went by it was looking more and more ominous and was
almost sure to hit us, and hit us BIG.
With half a dozen or so yachts in Coron harbour each day was like a
scene from Spooks. People on dinghies
could be seen flying across from boat to boat, checking the weather, looking at
charts and plotting a course of action.
We decided to head for a known typhoon hole that has a resort on shore
and very strong mooring buoys. I’d
actually sat there last year during a threatened typhoon that never eventuated
(Uno crew, you know it – PDS). We know
the owners of the resort and knew other yachties would be there, so we’d have
moral support and good communication should things turn really bad. We set about stripping Pelangi of anything that
could be blown off; both sails, solar panels, spinnaker pole, all lines were tightened;
anchors were ready to be deployed if needed.
We then sat and waited for the pasting we were sure we’d get. 24 hours later and all we got were lots of
rain and a few strong puffs of wind, nothing worse than a winter’s day in
Wellington! Once we’d put everything
back up and headed back to Coron town, we learned that whilst we were fortunate
others weren’t so. The typhoon had hit
Mindanao, a large Eastern island. The height of the island had broken the back
of it but it had taken almost 700 people at last count with it, either dead or
missing. Our hearts go out to those poor
people whom wouldn’t really have known what was coming or what hit them.
With the typhoon threat gone there was just 1 more thing to
do before leaving Coron again, and that was attend the wedding of our friend
Jaime who finally married his childhood sweetheart, Tess. Jaime was Gareth’s dive guide when we first
came to Coron (Marty, you’ll remember him too).
He’s still the only guide G’s ever tipped, so he must be good! He now manages the dive shop at Sea Dive Resort
and each time we pass through we make a point of catching up over a beer with
him in the Sea Dive bar. The Sea Dive
staff did a great job of decorating the restaurant area of the resort, which
has beautiful views over the harbour and a feast was laid out that could have
fed the whole town, in fact I think it did!!
He seemed so pleased that we’d stayed the extra days to attend (although
we did avoid the 2 ½ hour baptism and church service!) and it was lovely to see
all the girls in their beautiful silk dresses and high heels, and boys in their
smart suits and colourful shirts.
So, with the Nor Easterlies well and truly set in we are
planning on island hopping to Peurto Galera in order to gain a point of sail
and try to avoid head on winds for the 80 or so miles there. So long as we get there for Christmas it
doesn’t really matter, so we can hold steady and take our time and, if we find
some where we like, we can stay for a couple of days and explore. It’s much more touristy in P.G. than we’re
used to, but we’re up for some fun now!
Plus, there’s a great yacht club there, lots of people we’ve met over
the last few weeks are heading that way and it seems like a good place to party
for a while. Plus, because we’re further
north we’ll have more options for onward passages in the New Year.
We hope that you have fun wherever you are and whatever you
do this festive season and that it’s a safe and happy holidays for you
all. And remember, he’s watching, so if
you’re not good he won’t come!!
Merry Christmas and our bestest wishes for 2013
Cheers then
Captns J and G, Pelangi, Dolly, Humphrey, Hoppy and Percy
(our New Zealand blue penguin and recently adopted new crew member!) XXX
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