sailing2xs: 10th-12th September - Puerta Princesa - Abanico Yacht Club - Verde Islands - Flat Island - pearl farms

Wednesday 10^th September

Sunset from Abanico Yacht Club (Palawan)

It is very tempting to stay in the one place and idle the days away… Puerta Princesa was lovely. Maybe not my perfect HappyPlace because the water was too murky and too full of dubious floating objects to swim. But it was all very pretty, and very mellow. The Yacht Club was so welcoming, and the people in the street nearby were full of smiles and welcome.

Especially the children!

But it is time for us to leave – we want to see a bit more of this beautiful island, and possibly we won’t be back after this trip. John, at the yacht club, says that January is a very difficult month to come here – huge winds, possible typhoons. And in March we will probably be wanting to head south, towards the Louisiades. We will be back at Puerto Princesa in a few weeks on the way back down, so we can check in with our new Abanico friends so – all is well!

Co-ordinates

10 degrees 5.272N

119 degrees 13.697

Between the Verde Islands, just off the coast of Palawan

Depth 7.1m

I was very thrilled to be at the helm when we crossed 10 degrees north – we are certainly quite a way into the northern hemisphere now. A long long way from home, at 42 degrees south…

There are more sea birds here than anywhere else that we have seen since leaving Australia.

Opportunistic raftbirds

It makes us very happy to see them, wheeling above their prey, shrieking to each other, following the little fishing boats.

Pete was also very happy when it was his turn at the helm. He didn’t get to see us cross the 10^th parallel but he did get to sing along to the songs Lindsay downloaded onto his iPad. And he is modeling his new green t-shirt, still pristine!

At dusk – crab-eating macaques! Our first Philippine monkeys, such a delight!

A bit out of focus...but the boat was rocking, it was dusk, the monkeys were moving!

Thursday 11^th September

We stopped briefly at Flat Island, because it had been given a rapturous write-up in some of our cruising notes. Hmm not so sure…It was green and flat and small and yes there was a reef. But…I went for an optimistic swim and came back a bit sad – no coral to speak of, and about six shy little fish. (Possibly the reef has been damaged by a typhoon or two since the notes were written.) It wasn’t a good anchorage – far too shallow – so we pressed on.

Ominous storm clouds

And found ourselves – oh dear and oh no – in the middle of a confusing maze of pearl farm buoys and nets, with a storm brewing on the nearby hills, in the late afternoon.

Close-up of buoys

Running into these pearl farm buoys would be a minor disaster. Each buoy represents a big strong cross rope and lots of smaller descending ropes…What a mess this would make of the propellors...what a mess 2XS would make of the ropes!

I kept a lookout up front and Captain Pete negotiated his way through the seemingly endless maze. We ended up (WHEW!!) at a beautiful calm anchorage off a small island which isn’t named on our charts but never mind; it is calm and is giving us shelter!