1st April - April Fool mooring behaviour - back in Coron

Wednesday 1^st April 2015

2XS at Rio y Mar

We left beautiful Rio y Mar and spent the night at Port Borac, a pleasant little anchorage, with many noisy dogs, plus people singing loudly and cheerily.  Time to return to Coron…

Port Borac

 Sometimes I secretly hope that people are watching, when Pete and I pick up a mooring on 2XS.  We are such a slick operation!  I usually hook the rope first go, and haul it up onto the deck and around the cleat as briskly and neatly as you could imagine.

But…not today… We arrived back in Coron at 11.30 and headed for our usual mooring.  I missed the rope loop first go, no big deal… We just have to go round past it again.  Unfortunately…the rope and the buoy disappeared under the boat and all got tangled up, big time, around the propeller.  Oh dear, oh no… (That is NOT what Pete said…He has a different vocab for these special moments…)

A soothing photo to calm us down...

I got in the water first and managed to get the big loops of rope off the propeller blades.  But struggle though I might, I could NOT get the big fat rope out from where it had jammed itself into the small gap on the prop shaft.  Bring out the big guns – Pete had to go into the water, for his own monumental struggle.  He won this battle, of course, but it wasn’t actually all that much fun…

But all ended well, and we are now in the breezy Seadive restaurant, about to have a cheap & cheerful lunch.  There is no beer left on 2XS at all and Pete is smiling very lovingly at his San Miguel, icy cold.

Our plan is to stay here until Easter Monday, by which time we should have replenished our supplies of everything (especially beer…)  And then – heading East, and South!

One last giraffe photo

28th-30th March - Calauit Safari Park - giraffes! zebras! Africa in the Philippines! - El Rio y Mar no longer affordable for 2XS

Saturday 28^th March 2015

Busuanga Bay

On Friday afternoon we released 2XS from the big strong mooring and went to BBL (Busuanga Bay Lodge) to fill up with fuel and water.  From a floating pontoon jetty!!  Oh the luxury!  No carting bottles/jerrycans!  No lugging sloshing containers across the deck and then decanting into the tanks. 

Pete went up to the resort to pay while stayed on deck with four very delightful young chaps – Jake, Solomon, Ivan and Fred - who were thrilled to be able to look inside 2XS, and possibly even more thrilled to be able to read my copies of Australian Women’s Weekly.  They skimmed rapidly through the pages, exclaiming at the recipes – Ah food!  And the interior design – LOOK at the furniture!  We had an animated discussion about favourite actors.  Solomon stoutly declared that his favourite was March covergirl Judi Dench… The others preferred Bruce Willis, Jacky Chan, Steve Segal…

12 degrees 16.175N

119 degrees 53.097E

Depth 9 metres

Calauit Bay

At 2.30 we arrived in Calauit Bay, right near the Safari Park entrance.  I have high hopes for the safari park… Buauanga often reminds me of Africa, so what could be more natural than to find vast sweeping plains of giraffes and zebras??  I will be totally devastated if there are just a few sad, hot creatures in small pens… We went in to shore in the dinghy and booked for a jeep tour tomorrow.  Be there at 7am, they said, optimistically… We have been sleeping something like 12 hours a night, after our gastro so I hope 7am is in the realms of possibility.

Sunday 29^th March

We did wake up in time and YES it was worth it!

Today we went to Africa, on safari!  Herds of zebra, Calamian deer and giraffe sweeping the plain!

In 1976, for reasons not quite clear to me, then President Marcos decided it would be good to turn the 3,000-odd hectares of Calauit Peninsula into a safari park.  First imports – zebras and giraffes!  They are thriving here.  They live till about 30, and the original ones have all died recently, but there are many young ones, strutting their stuff.

We were driven around in a very African-looking jeep, and then were encouraged to stand in a pen to feed the giraffes.  Such impossibly beautiful creatures!

The zebras tolerated our presence but didn’t want to come and be fed.  They are very happy grazing the short dry grass.

The Calamanian deer are endemic to Palawan, and there are very few left in the wild.  Calauit is absolute heaven for them!  They are very tiny.  The females weigh around 25 kilos, the males 35.

A few sad and sorry creatures live in nasty wire enclosures.  I didn’t taken photos of them…but I should have, because they have a very equitable system here.  Each group of animals spends one month in the cage and then they re released, to be replaced by others, trapped from the park. (The monkeys NEVER get trapped twice!)

The porcupines also have one month of captivity before being replaced.  They try to get back into their cage for quite a few days after their release…I think they like the peace and security!  They too are endemic to the region, and are not popular with the farmers, as their only diet is root vegetables.

They are also breeding tortoises, and crocodiles.  I didn’t love the crocs as much as I loved the tortoises, such perfect little creatures!

We were back on 2XS by 9am, ready to make a very slow trip to El Rio y Mar, where we found a mooring at the far end of the beach.  It is very windy and I am so very much wanting to go for a long snorkelly swim but…I fear being washed away…

Philippines camouflage tree

12 degrees 11.451N

120 degrees 05.933E

Depth 20.7m

El Rio y Mar

PS I didn’t get washed away and I had a beautiful long swim, the first for a very long time.  Bliss!

Monday 30^th March

Another long swim this morning, oh so lovely…A yacht on the mooring closest to the coral, and to the resort, left early in the morning, so we swiftly took its place.  At lunch time we confidently turned up at the resort office… In October we had been welcomed with glad cries, offers of discounts, a modest mooring fee.  But…things have changed and it is now 500 pesos per day per person PLUS 200 peso per day mooring fee PLUS no discounts whatsoever, and fairly hefty meal rates.  So…we can’t stay in this lovely place after all…

We wondered why all of the other boats on the solid moorings had left so quickly.  Obviously they don’t want our kind around here…

27th March - windy weather - drama in El Nido

Friday 27^th March 2015

Evening sky from Alfaro resort

It is SO windy here!  2XS is steady on a big fat mooring and we are not rocking and rolling too much but I had to get up in the middle of the night to rescue my washing.  How good are pegs??  They were holding fast in spite of the whipping gusts roaring through the boat.  We also took down the tarps, which were threatening to break free and fly across to a faraway island.

Alfaro rooftops

Today we are both feeling better and we are trying to get ready to leave his sunny little bay.  This sunny WINDY little bay… But I think it is going to be even windier Out There…

Last night at Alfaro we had a struggle with the internet, a very nice fish dinner, and a bit of medical help from beautiful Sharon, the manager while Jimmy and Nenita are away in Spain.  She is a midwife but apparently there isn’t much call for midwives – WHY??  There are so many babies born here every minute.  

Anyway, all to Pete’s benefit.  She carries a little first aid kit with her and she was able to remove the remaining 13 stitches in Pete’s hand.

David and Jacqui have arrived in El Nido.  I have just received an email from them:

Thank you for your suggestion of where to anchor in El Nido.  We arrived in Corong Corong yesterday afternoon after an overnight stop in Linapacan to break up the trip.  Both days were good sailing days with winds blowing over 20 knots for most of the time.  Has it been the same in Busuanga?  There are 6 other yachts here and drama late last night when one of the big bangkas dragged its anchor through the bay.  With no-one on board, lights on and radio playing it dragged down on to a French catamaran before the yachties could push it away and someone was able to bring out the owner and crew from shore to re-anchor it.

Oh goodness how glad I am we haven't been in the path of one of these great big heavy wooden boats, unattended and loose in the bay!  And that Jackster was safe...

I am going to try to do battle with the internet and put up some photos on the last few blogposts…

And last but not least…happy birthday Meriloy!!

Meriloy with Claire in Bicheno

26th March - no more gastro - jellyfish - whale shark

Thursday 26^th March 2015

We are still moving around a bit gingerly but…so far so good, the gastro has gone!

Pete has spent the day struggling with the wind instrument indicator, which arrived in the mail in Hobart, brand new in a box.  Brand new until he opened it on 2XS and found it didn’t have several vital components… So he is trying to mate it with the old broken one and a sad and sorry task it is.

No cover plate...

I haven’t done anything anywhere near as creative.  A small bucket of washing, a tiny bit of dusting, the odd cp of tea/coffee.  And I am stonkered!  I did go in for a very brief did but there were so very many big pink jellyfish wobbling towards me that I didn’t stay in.

David and Jacqui have had a lot of trouble with these jellyfish clogging up their watermaker.  Not so funny!  But they are very pleased with their time here because when they were diving on the wreck Olympia they saw a big whaleshark, which circled them five times before gracefully making its way through the maze of pearl farms.  There was a dive boat nearby, with a load of paying customers who, alas, did NOT see the whaleshark, and who smiled grimly through their envy when they heard that both Dave and Jacqui had held the tip of its left fin.

25th March - Coron to 2XS in Busuanga Bay - day of gastro horror - and now all is well

Wednesday 25^th March 2015

From Coron we had quite a long trip in a big van along the coast to Puerta del Sol resort.  This seemed like the easiest place to get down to the edge of the water and to get a lift out to 2XS.  We could see it, gently bobbing on the big safe mooring, not far from Alfaros.

To make us even happier, right nearby was Jackster – our friends Jacqui and David, waiting for us.

LOTS of catching up.  They have been to Raja Ampat (Eastern Papua), a very remote and beautiful area with fabulous reefs, so they had much valuable information to share.  They also had very scary stories – coming across from Palau their beautiful big sturdy boat (an Amel, virtually indestructible,) was knocked right over by a big wave coming from the side.  It was all very unpleasant and they had many hours of anxiety looking for their little cat Polly, who had very sensibly hidden in a small tunnel behind the toilet area.

Pete and Dave

We had dinner at Alfaros, a few drinks, and made plans to meet again the following day… Alas and alack… Pete and I both woke early the next morning in a very sad and sorry state with explosive gastro… We spent the whole day either asleep, on the toilet, or leaning dismally or the back of the boat feeding the (very happy) fish… David and Jacqui were both fine, so we can’t blame Alfaros – we can still recommend it as a very pleasant place for a meal!

Jacqui and Marguerite

We went to bed before 7pm – actually this is incorrect; Pete hardly left the cabin and slept there all day, groaning faintly, in between bouts of horror.  It’s hard to believe how much sleep we were able to pack into our time, though.  I slept from 7-7, after a whole day of snoozing, reading, and horror.

This morning we are OK but…still wanting to sleep sleep sleep!

David and Jacqui came over for coffee and they have now gone, off towards El Nido.  They told us about their worst gastro experiences… After the East Malaysian farewell dinner in Tawau, apparently 75%o the fleet got very sick.  NOT John, Pete, Lindsay, Emma or me, I say happily and selfishly.  But Jacqui was ill for three days and poor Dave for FIVE!!  We found twelve hours quite bad enough…

Farewell to our friends 

Before we left Coron we did a few jobs in town.  Pete went to see his favourite technologist, Archie, who carefully took command of a widget which needs fixing.  

I was entranced by the Papa Francisco doll on the counter, carefully shrouded in plastic.  (The Pope is a total rockstar in the Philippines.) 

At the shop on the other side of the road we enquired after an advertisement in the window.  “What,” we asked, “are gando points??”  The very comely sales assistant said, “It means beauty!”  Well yes of course one would need to be beautiful to sell 2-minute noodles, chilli sauce and rice…