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, near Bususanga, 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 weighed
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
by 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
fabulous sun sets. 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 with 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 in dinghies could be seen zipping
across the harbour 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 attending
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 island hopped 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. It worked for the first few days and we motor
sailed to some very nice overnight anchorages and visited a local village on
the Western side of Mindoro. Weather predictions
were for 2 calm days on 15th and 16th December with strong
winds to follow so we couldn’t hang around.
We got round the northern point of Mindoro no problem and thought we
were home and dry – ha! Our 35 mile run -
in was a case of short choppy seas and wind on the nose all the way. Once again Pelangi bashed and splashed her way
through 6 hours of more misery. If she
could talk I’m sure she’d report us for abuse!! G’s only comments through the
entire trip were “I effin hate sailing!” and “I am NEVER doing this again!” Still, we managed to get round the point and
are here now. We’ll make this our base
for Christmas and New Year and have plenty of options now for going South again
when we’re ready to leave. Mindoro is a
big island so we can do lots of overland exploring and P.G is a series of white
beach after white beach – some very touristy, others quiet and only accessible
by boat. There’s some nice looking outer
island to explore too with lots of diving and snorkelling exploration to be had
so it was worth the trip. The harbour
where we’re anchored is mainly mangroves and only a small beach to speak of,
but there’s a v. nice yacht club ashore where we’ve already met some colourful
ex pat characters and the locals are really friendly too. Plus, you can get ferries across to Manila
from here so it’s a very handy spot. Quite a few yachties we met in Busuanga
have headed this way with more hoping to follow so it should be a good place to
party over the festive season.
We hope that you have fun wherever
you are and whatever you do this festive season, be it on land or sea, 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
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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