Anchored position 12° 01.3 N 119° 58.9 E
D'Pearl Cove, Busuanga Is.
Our Christmas surprise came in the form of a weather change. Being here in the Philippines where tropical storms and typhoons occur on a regular basis we make sure to check the weather reports and forecasts several times every day. We had been watching an area of low pressure off to our westward in the same area where typhoon Bopha had formed. The weather check Christmas morning had the low moving in our direction but with winds in only the 30 knot range. In the tropics things can change rapidly, Christmas evening the low had now turned in to tropical storm Quinta. We were now looking at the possibility of quiet a bit more wind and that Quinta could further develop in to a Typhoon. The good news was that the system was still a good distance away giving us the opportunity to check forecasts the next morning and then make a decision on either staying in Coron or moving to a more secure location.
Boxing Day arrived and Quinta was still on course to pay us a visit. With winds of 40 plus knots and higher gusts we decide to move to here in what seems to be called D'Pearl cove. The trip from Coron was made in calm seas and the 16 miles took about 3 hours. There are two resorts here one "Vista del Sol" has installed a number of moorings that are free to use. Your payment for the mooring is in the form of patronizing the resorts restaurant. Here we saw very little of Quinta, some rain and gusty wind but nothing more.
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Friday, December 28, 2012
Saturday, December 22, 2012
UP AND RUNNING, SORT OF!!!
Anchored Position 11 59.7 N 120 11.7 E
Coron, Busuanga Island
Our broken computer is once again up and running with a new 500 GB hard drive. Rather than taking two weeks to get the hard drive it took only four days. Of course that was only the beginning! Mark, the local computer repair technician installed the drive and Windows XP but said that we could load the necessary drivers either from a disk that came with the computer or the internet. It turned out that we had no disk from when we had purchased the computer and trying to figure out the drivers and load then was near impossible. Back to Mark. This time he deleted the XP that he had installed and re-installed a version from a disk that had been given to us by our friend Phil in Thailand, thanks Phil. I explained the driver problem to him and he went through and installed all the necessary Toshiba drivers, except for sound, that was left for us.
The next day I began with the sound driver. I located it on the internet. The download only took TWO HOURS!!! We now had sound and it was time to then load our navigation program, radio email etc. The process was slow, thankfully I received help from an old friend, Dave on the sailing vessel Lightspeed, and finally managed. Anything such as Picasa or a security program that is necessary to load from the internet takes hours at the speed we receive here. Kathy now wanted to work on her Itunes music. Thankfully she had her whole library on her Ipod, now to get it also on the computer. As one would imagine this has not been a simple process and one in which she has spent the last three days trying to figure out. From what we understand Itunes only allows you to do this with music you have purchased, all the music we have has been loaded from disks which we still carry about. Kathy is now trying various solution from the internet but once again we are running in to two hour download times and then after installation told we also need something else. Any comment on a solution would be welcomed.
Being here in the land of typhoons we keep a daily weather check and are now watching a system though very disorganized at this time that is moving toward us. The weather gurus are not predicting a typhoon at this time but some weather models say we could have 30 plus knots of wind here as the low pressure system passes. There is a very sheltered anchorage about 15 miles away to which we may move tomorrow.
meanwhile we're just sort of hanging out and watching the little green bars move as the downloads continue.
----------
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Coron, Busuanga Island
Our broken computer is once again up and running with a new 500 GB hard drive. Rather than taking two weeks to get the hard drive it took only four days. Of course that was only the beginning! Mark, the local computer repair technician installed the drive and Windows XP but said that we could load the necessary drivers either from a disk that came with the computer or the internet. It turned out that we had no disk from when we had purchased the computer and trying to figure out the drivers and load then was near impossible. Back to Mark. This time he deleted the XP that he had installed and re-installed a version from a disk that had been given to us by our friend Phil in Thailand, thanks Phil. I explained the driver problem to him and he went through and installed all the necessary Toshiba drivers, except for sound, that was left for us.
The next day I began with the sound driver. I located it on the internet. The download only took TWO HOURS!!! We now had sound and it was time to then load our navigation program, radio email etc. The process was slow, thankfully I received help from an old friend, Dave on the sailing vessel Lightspeed, and finally managed. Anything such as Picasa or a security program that is necessary to load from the internet takes hours at the speed we receive here. Kathy now wanted to work on her Itunes music. Thankfully she had her whole library on her Ipod, now to get it also on the computer. As one would imagine this has not been a simple process and one in which she has spent the last three days trying to figure out. From what we understand Itunes only allows you to do this with music you have purchased, all the music we have has been loaded from disks which we still carry about. Kathy is now trying various solution from the internet but once again we are running in to two hour download times and then after installation told we also need something else. Any comment on a solution would be welcomed.
Being here in the land of typhoons we keep a daily weather check and are now watching a system though very disorganized at this time that is moving toward us. The weather gurus are not predicting a typhoon at this time but some weather models say we could have 30 plus knots of wind here as the low pressure system passes. There is a very sheltered anchorage about 15 miles away to which we may move tomorrow.
meanwhile we're just sort of hanging out and watching the little green bars move as the downloads continue.
----------
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Friday, December 14, 2012
CORON
Anchor Position 11 59.7 N 120 11.7 E
Coron, Busuanga Is.
As the northeast monsoon has returned we are glad to be sitting here rather than beating our way in to the wind. The winds calm at night but return during the day. Currently we have 15 to 18 knots with some gusts in the 20's. We are anchored directly off town with about a one half mile dinghy ride to the "Sea Dive" restaurant where we secure our dinghy while ashore. There is a more wind protected anchorage in a cove nearby but it would greatly increase the travel distance to shore and with the winds blowing make for a wet ride. So unless the wind gets to uncomfortable we'll remain here.
As I said before Coron town is quite small, the main attraction to the area is the scuba diving especially wreck diving. There are at least ten Japanese warships and merchant ships sunk by American planes during WWII in the area. The wrecks vary in depth from shallow to deep, so something for all abilities. As the only diving I still do is cleaning the boat bottom, I'll leave the wrecks to others. As our only real exploration around town was to find someone to work on the computer we're not to sure about the quality of provisioning. There is an open market that we have yet to visit, though we did get some nice mangoes at a small fruit stand the other day. It would be a wet ride to shore today so perhaps manana.
For the past two years we have spent the Christmas season in either a Muslim or Buddhist country where there is not much of a holiday atmosphere. Now back in a mostly Christian country it's nice to once again see decoration and lighted trees. Before leaving Puerto Princesa we got to see the annual tree lighting that included a 45 minute fireworks show. Here in Coron we can see one of the lighted trees from our anchorage. We do carry some decorations aboard Kathy tries to buy a new ornament in the various countries where we have spent Christmas's past. Kathy has our mini tree and others about the saloon and we get a daily dose of Christmas music.
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Our hard drive hookrd up to his computer and he's watching the readout
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Coron, Busuanga Is.
As the northeast monsoon has returned we are glad to be sitting here rather than beating our way in to the wind. The winds calm at night but return during the day. Currently we have 15 to 18 knots with some gusts in the 20's. We are anchored directly off town with about a one half mile dinghy ride to the "Sea Dive" restaurant where we secure our dinghy while ashore. There is a more wind protected anchorage in a cove nearby but it would greatly increase the travel distance to shore and with the winds blowing make for a wet ride. So unless the wind gets to uncomfortable we'll remain here.
As I said before Coron town is quite small, the main attraction to the area is the scuba diving especially wreck diving. There are at least ten Japanese warships and merchant ships sunk by American planes during WWII in the area. The wrecks vary in depth from shallow to deep, so something for all abilities. As the only diving I still do is cleaning the boat bottom, I'll leave the wrecks to others. As our only real exploration around town was to find someone to work on the computer we're not to sure about the quality of provisioning. There is an open market that we have yet to visit, though we did get some nice mangoes at a small fruit stand the other day. It would be a wet ride to shore today so perhaps manana.
For the past two years we have spent the Christmas season in either a Muslim or Buddhist country where there is not much of a holiday atmosphere. Now back in a mostly Christian country it's nice to once again see decoration and lighted trees. Before leaving Puerto Princesa we got to see the annual tree lighting that included a 45 minute fireworks show. Here in Coron we can see one of the lighted trees from our anchorage. We do carry some decorations aboard Kathy tries to buy a new ornament in the various countries where we have spent Christmas's past. Kathy has our mini tree and others about the saloon and we get a daily dose of Christmas music.
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OUR MINI TREE
ORNAMENTS FROM OUR TRAVELS
CORON TOWN
YOUR CHOICE MANGO FARM OR ISLAND
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
CATCHING UP
Anchor Position 11 59.7 N 120 11.7 E
Coron, Busuanga Is.
Our last entry was as we were awaiting the arrival of typhoon Bopha. Thankfully Bopha turned out to be a non event, at least weather wise, for us in Puerto Princesa. When Bopha made landfall on the island on Mindanao it lost most of it's power and once re-entering the Sulu sea to our east did not regenerate that lost power. In our anchorage we saw only winds to 28 knots.
What the threat of Bopha did cause was for us to make preparations for a major event. We actually moved to one of the Abonico yacht club moorings as in our anchored position we wanted to let out more scope on our anchor rode but due to other boats in the area it was not really possible. Next both headsail's were removed folded and stored. We wrapped a line around the main sail to further secure it under it's cover. All canvas shades were taken down. The outboard motor was taken off the dinghy along with the dinghy cover. To keep the dinghy from flying around it was filled with water. Everything that could not be put below was tied down, we were ready. Next was to sit and watch the various weather reports on the internet and wait. The arrival of Bopha was during the daylight hours of 5 December. We felt fortunate to have missed Bopha's full fury.
The result of the passing typhoon was to allow us to make our way further north to our present location approximately 160 miles northeast of Puerto Princesa without the wind on the nose. After passing the system caused first southwest and then variable winds along the coast of Palawan. The 6th of December was spent getting the boat ready to move again along with some last minute provisioning especially of fresh things.
December 7th we had a nice sail to North Verde Is. and a very protected anchorage. The next day it was back to motoring as we made our way to an anchorage at 10 32.614 N and 120 00.354 E behind a small island that was not even shown on our electronic chart program. There were actually 5 islands in the area not shown. The next day another 50 mile passage under "Miss Perky" power. It was during this passage that our primary navigation computer failed. I fired up our small notebook computer but it only is loaded with a different navigation program that I am not totally familiar with. After spending the previous night at an island that did not even appear on the electronic software we were a bit concerned. We did have paper charts of the area but they were of a rather large scale, useful BUT!! Next was to get out our ten year old computer named "psycho" for all the psychedelic color on it's screen. The screen has been water damaged so we use a monitor. Having not been out of it's case for six months "psycho" was back in service. One slight problem was "psycho" had not been updated with the latest tracks that we were using. Hey the early explorers sailed here with no charts, we should be able to move about with limited ones, you just use the old eyeballs. That night was spent at Cabulauan Is. 11 23.061 N and 120 05.064 E. For our last days trip here to Coron I was able to load the tracks into the anchorage area and we had another pleasant motor boat trip.
Coron is a small town, though the largest on Busuanga Is., after a peaceful night at anchor our first priority was to locate someone to look at our primary computer. Did I mention that most things on it were not backed up!! We were given a shop name by someone from one of the local resorts and dropped the computer off to see what could be done. The technician, Mark, who I would guess was self taught immediately started work on it. He said that he could down load our info and save it and hopefully then re-format the disk. As it turns out the hard drive is corrupted. A new drive has been ordered from Manila and we've been told about two weeks.
For now we'll enjoy some of the things to do around Coron along with the usual boat stuff.
----------
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Coron, Busuanga Is.
Our last entry was as we were awaiting the arrival of typhoon Bopha. Thankfully Bopha turned out to be a non event, at least weather wise, for us in Puerto Princesa. When Bopha made landfall on the island on Mindanao it lost most of it's power and once re-entering the Sulu sea to our east did not regenerate that lost power. In our anchorage we saw only winds to 28 knots.
What the threat of Bopha did cause was for us to make preparations for a major event. We actually moved to one of the Abonico yacht club moorings as in our anchored position we wanted to let out more scope on our anchor rode but due to other boats in the area it was not really possible. Next both headsail's were removed folded and stored. We wrapped a line around the main sail to further secure it under it's cover. All canvas shades were taken down. The outboard motor was taken off the dinghy along with the dinghy cover. To keep the dinghy from flying around it was filled with water. Everything that could not be put below was tied down, we were ready. Next was to sit and watch the various weather reports on the internet and wait. The arrival of Bopha was during the daylight hours of 5 December. We felt fortunate to have missed Bopha's full fury.
The result of the passing typhoon was to allow us to make our way further north to our present location approximately 160 miles northeast of Puerto Princesa without the wind on the nose. After passing the system caused first southwest and then variable winds along the coast of Palawan. The 6th of December was spent getting the boat ready to move again along with some last minute provisioning especially of fresh things.
December 7th we had a nice sail to North Verde Is. and a very protected anchorage. The next day it was back to motoring as we made our way to an anchorage at 10 32.614 N and 120 00.354 E behind a small island that was not even shown on our electronic chart program. There were actually 5 islands in the area not shown. The next day another 50 mile passage under "Miss Perky" power. It was during this passage that our primary navigation computer failed. I fired up our small notebook computer but it only is loaded with a different navigation program that I am not totally familiar with. After spending the previous night at an island that did not even appear on the electronic software we were a bit concerned. We did have paper charts of the area but they were of a rather large scale, useful BUT!! Next was to get out our ten year old computer named "psycho" for all the psychedelic color on it's screen. The screen has been water damaged so we use a monitor. Having not been out of it's case for six months "psycho" was back in service. One slight problem was "psycho" had not been updated with the latest tracks that we were using. Hey the early explorers sailed here with no charts, we should be able to move about with limited ones, you just use the old eyeballs. That night was spent at Cabulauan Is. 11 23.061 N and 120 05.064 E. For our last days trip here to Coron I was able to load the tracks into the anchorage area and we had another pleasant motor boat trip.
Coron is a small town, though the largest on Busuanga Is., after a peaceful night at anchor our first priority was to locate someone to look at our primary computer. Did I mention that most things on it were not backed up!! We were given a shop name by someone from one of the local resorts and dropped the computer off to see what could be done. The technician, Mark, who I would guess was self taught immediately started work on it. He said that he could down load our info and save it and hopefully then re-format the disk. As it turns out the hard drive is corrupted. A new drive has been ordered from Manila and we've been told about two weeks.
For now we'll enjoy some of the things to do around Coron along with the usual boat stuff.
----------
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Saturday, December 1, 2012
WEATHER WATCH
Here is the latest weather that I have downloaded showing the projected track of Bopa, that once entering the Philippines will also be called Pablo. Of course the Typhoon has not looked at what the weather gurus have predicted may decide to deviate. I try to look at the projections several times a day. For us in Puerto Princesa the further north the better.
UNDERGROUND RIVER TRIP
With a bit of luck these photos of our trip to the Underground River will make it to the blog. The internet is very frustrating here. The first views are taken from the web
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| ALWAYS HAPPY WITH A BEER |
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| LIFEGUARD TOWER |
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| WAITING FOR THE TOUR |
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| LOADING A BANKA |
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| OUR CAPTAIN |
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| rEADY TO HEAD FOR THE CAVERN |
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| READY TO BOARD |
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| UNDERWAY |
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
DENGUE FEVER
Anchored Position 09° 45.8 N 118° 43.7 E
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
We seem to have gotten stuck here in Puerto Princesa, having been here now six weeks and still counting. The plan was a stay of about two weeks and move on further north, well it seems that as usual those plans are laid in floppy jell-o.
Our first set back was whatever flu type bug that was affecting the yachtie population when we first arrived. The major setback was caused by a small mosquito bite and my coming down with Dengue Fever. This was not a fun thing at all. Headache, joint ache, fever, chills and a very strange rash which put me lying down for about eight days before I then started to feel better but took perhaps another week to be my chipper self again. I'm glad that is over!!!
We are enjoying our time here. Prior to my Dengue outbreak we took a short road trip across to the west coast of Palawan to visit what is listed as one of the seven modern natural wonders of the world. The Underground River of Puerto Princesa! We made this a two day trip. You first get your permit for the trip in Puerto Princesa. We then had a trike driver take to a tour operator to organize things. The trike driver's reward from the tour operator a five kilo bag of rice for each person he brought in. When your daily wage is 300 to 600 pesos, that's 7 to 14 $US a day those bags of rice were quite important to him and his family.
We were picked up from the Abonico Yacht Club where we left our dinghy and it was a two and a half hour drive across the island to the village of Sabang. Our river tour was the next day so we first found a room for the night and then a walkabout along the beach and through the village. Rooms for two varied from $20 to $200 US per night. Prices in the resorts varied greatly. We stopped at a beachfront hotel bar where a beer and bottle of water were almost $5 US later I bought eight beers, one water and a small bottle of rum for $9 US. Hey the resort hotel did have a nicer view. The room we did get was oceanfront for $125 US with air conditioning and TV. We got to watch the US election results and a replay of a US gridiron game. Hey the first real football I've gotten to see in several years.
The next day we met with our tour group at 9 am, they had departed Puerto Princesa at 5 am, we then boarded a local "banka" for the fifteen minute motor to where the underground river is located. The "banka's" are long and narrow with outriggers on both sides. They range in sizes from ten to perhaps sixty feet and are the boats used for pretty much everything here. It was a fun experience to ride in one. Once on the actual river tour we were in a small paddle powered "banka". The underground river itself is basically a river flowing through the limestone mountains creating a scenic series of caverns. It runs about five miles though the tour just takes you a small distance but it was well worth the trip. On return to Sabang we checked out of our hotel and made the return trip with the tour group. We were happy not to have done the whole tour in a single day.
We have lately been busy with some never ending minor projects. We are ready to head north to some other areas BUT!! First we figure it would be easier to get our next visa extension here, so we are waiting for payday, 1 Dec. We don't know if this is just a go in and fill the papers out deal or if it takes a couple of days. It will give us 59 more days though it costs about $150 US per person. The next issue is what is now tropical storm and soon to be typhoon "Bopha". Yes today it's 1800 miles west of us but moving closer as it intensifies. We will be keeping a weather eye open.
----------
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Puerto Princesa, Palawan
We seem to have gotten stuck here in Puerto Princesa, having been here now six weeks and still counting. The plan was a stay of about two weeks and move on further north, well it seems that as usual those plans are laid in floppy jell-o.
Our first set back was whatever flu type bug that was affecting the yachtie population when we first arrived. The major setback was caused by a small mosquito bite and my coming down with Dengue Fever. This was not a fun thing at all. Headache, joint ache, fever, chills and a very strange rash which put me lying down for about eight days before I then started to feel better but took perhaps another week to be my chipper self again. I'm glad that is over!!!
We are enjoying our time here. Prior to my Dengue outbreak we took a short road trip across to the west coast of Palawan to visit what is listed as one of the seven modern natural wonders of the world. The Underground River of Puerto Princesa! We made this a two day trip. You first get your permit for the trip in Puerto Princesa. We then had a trike driver take to a tour operator to organize things. The trike driver's reward from the tour operator a five kilo bag of rice for each person he brought in. When your daily wage is 300 to 600 pesos, that's 7 to 14 $US a day those bags of rice were quite important to him and his family.
We were picked up from the Abonico Yacht Club where we left our dinghy and it was a two and a half hour drive across the island to the village of Sabang. Our river tour was the next day so we first found a room for the night and then a walkabout along the beach and through the village. Rooms for two varied from $20 to $200 US per night. Prices in the resorts varied greatly. We stopped at a beachfront hotel bar where a beer and bottle of water were almost $5 US later I bought eight beers, one water and a small bottle of rum for $9 US. Hey the resort hotel did have a nicer view. The room we did get was oceanfront for $125 US with air conditioning and TV. We got to watch the US election results and a replay of a US gridiron game. Hey the first real football I've gotten to see in several years.
The next day we met with our tour group at 9 am, they had departed Puerto Princesa at 5 am, we then boarded a local "banka" for the fifteen minute motor to where the underground river is located. The "banka's" are long and narrow with outriggers on both sides. They range in sizes from ten to perhaps sixty feet and are the boats used for pretty much everything here. It was a fun experience to ride in one. Once on the actual river tour we were in a small paddle powered "banka". The underground river itself is basically a river flowing through the limestone mountains creating a scenic series of caverns. It runs about five miles though the tour just takes you a small distance but it was well worth the trip. On return to Sabang we checked out of our hotel and made the return trip with the tour group. We were happy not to have done the whole tour in a single day.
We have lately been busy with some never ending minor projects. We are ready to head north to some other areas BUT!! First we figure it would be easier to get our next visa extension here, so we are waiting for payday, 1 Dec. We don't know if this is just a go in and fill the papers out deal or if it takes a couple of days. It will give us 59 more days though it costs about $150 US per person. The next issue is what is now tropical storm and soon to be typhoon "Bopha". Yes today it's 1800 miles west of us but moving closer as it intensifies. We will be keeping a weather eye open.
----------
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Tuesday, October 30, 2012
AS PROMISED PHOTOS
We're still anchored in Puerto Princesa and with luck I hope that these photos will upload
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| VILLAGE BOAT HEADED TO TOWN |
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| OUT FISHING |
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| DALAWAN VILLAGE |
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| LOCAL BOAT AT RIO TUBA |
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| KATHY MAKING HER WAY THRU THE WATER VILLAGE |
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| BATH TIME |
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| ANOTHER BATH AND READY FOR TONIGHTS FIGHT |
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| HAPPY |
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| LOADING SUPPLIES- RIO TUBA |
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| TRICYCLE TRAFFIC |
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| THE MAGIC BUS |
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| READY TO GO |
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| LOCAL CRAFT |
Friday, October 26, 2012
RAIN
Anchored Position 09° 45.83 N 118° 43.7 E
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Not a busy week here aboard Po oino Roa as we remain anchored in Puerto Princesa. Kathy did also manage to come down with whatever this "bug" is and we are now both in recovery. It seems that it has affected the whole fleet of yachties here.
We have had quite unsettled weather lately. I guess that is what you would call rain all day today. First has been a change in the monsoon from the southwest to the northeast. We had hoped to be further to the north before this change but it will be what it will be. Next affect the weather was a low pressure area forming to our east and moving across the central Philippines. It stayed a low pressure area until making it to the wast of us where it is now a tropical storm ready to impact Vietnam. such is the weather here that they hay tropical systems about nine months a year. Hey it keeps us on our toes and watching the clouds.
So with the "bug" aboard Kathy has been watching her movies and I reading, no junk but a little of Jules Verne, Mysterious Island. Having several thousand books on a Kindle comes in handy now and then.
We now hope to get moving once again soon.
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Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Not a busy week here aboard Po oino Roa as we remain anchored in Puerto Princesa. Kathy did also manage to come down with whatever this "bug" is and we are now both in recovery. It seems that it has affected the whole fleet of yachties here.
We have had quite unsettled weather lately. I guess that is what you would call rain all day today. First has been a change in the monsoon from the southwest to the northeast. We had hoped to be further to the north before this change but it will be what it will be. Next affect the weather was a low pressure area forming to our east and moving across the central Philippines. It stayed a low pressure area until making it to the wast of us where it is now a tropical storm ready to impact Vietnam. such is the weather here that they hay tropical systems about nine months a year. Hey it keeps us on our toes and watching the clouds.
So with the "bug" aboard Kathy has been watching her movies and I reading, no junk but a little of Jules Verne, Mysterious Island. Having several thousand books on a Kindle comes in handy now and then.
We now hope to get moving once again soon.
----------
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Monday, October 22, 2012
ARRIVED CHECKED-IN
Anchored Position 09° 45.83 N 118° 43.7 E
Puerto Princesa, Palawan
It seems that I am always trying to catch up with our goings on. So here is an update of our last week. We still have only limited internet so no photos yet.
We had a short motor from the anchorage off Malanao Island to here in Puerto Princesa with calm, no wind conditions. We made our way in to the back area of this large natural bay to the yacht anchorage. There are about 20 yachts here, a couple that we have known since Darwin, Australia and have not seen for the last six months. We were able to catch up a bit and get some information on the Puerto Princesa area.
On Wednesday the 17th the first order of business was to look into a problem with our fresh water pressure pump. The system had been acting up and I now had the time to give it a look. I changed out the pump along with some other plumbing issues and things once again are working. Next we launched the dinghy and made our way to shore. Here the dinghy dock is at the Abonico Yacht Club, a waterside restaurant run by an ex-pat Australian and his Philippine wife. There is a 500 Peso charge at an exchange of about 40 to 1 U.S. only about $12 for use of the facility where they have bar, restaurant, wi-fi etc. From there we were given a ride to the town by Cissy the owners wife. We did a bit of shopping to see what was available before a tricycle ride back to the yacht club.
Thursday after pouring some of our stored on deck diesel fuel found us heading off in the other direction from town to a newly opened shopping mall with a fancier grocery store and a station where we could begin to replenish our fuel supply. Kathy said the grocery store was nothing special but I did find a large "Best" hardware store. I'll have to make a trip back for a few odds and ends. We did also get diesel at a price more like that in the US of what would be $4.75 per gallon. Twice what we had been paying in Malaysia.
Friday the 19 th was the paperwork "cha cha" day and our official check-in to the country. We had been forewarned of what to expect and the necessary papers to have ready. First was immigration. There the girl almost seemed upset when she started her list of the papers needed and Kathy just kept handing her what she requested. Several were different from what we had ever had to show before. No problem we were given our twenty-one day entry visa. Of course we need to return in the next few days to get a 38 day extension. The first 21 days were free, the extension will be U.S. of about $75. When the extension expires we apply again and get 59 days for about $105 U.S. every 60 days. Next was another trike trip to customs and a fee of 115P or a little less than $3 U.S. We had been told that there could possibly be a man at the bottom of the stairs going up who wanted 500P or $12 U.S. and it was a scam, we were not approached. The "cha cha" complete we returned to the boat.
Saturday dawned as a non day for me it seems I had come down with a variation of some flu like sickness and spent the day sleeping.
Feeling better on Sunday we had an important project to do. The covering on the leech and foot cords on our headsail were coming apart and needed replacing. First, down came the sail. We were fortunate enough to have been give a large section of an old main sail when we were in the Marshall Is. so we had repair material. This was cut into strips, folded over the edge of the sail and sown. Kathy certainly has put her "sailrite" sewing machine to good use. Repairs completed the sail was then put back on the furler and hoisted. Sunday is a buffet dinner at the yacht club and after a nap I felt well enough to accompany Kathy. It was a very good dinner.
Today has been a rest day as I am still recovering, but it seems as if Kathy may be catching it. Time will tell.
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Puerto Princesa, Palawan
It seems that I am always trying to catch up with our goings on. So here is an update of our last week. We still have only limited internet so no photos yet.
We had a short motor from the anchorage off Malanao Island to here in Puerto Princesa with calm, no wind conditions. We made our way in to the back area of this large natural bay to the yacht anchorage. There are about 20 yachts here, a couple that we have known since Darwin, Australia and have not seen for the last six months. We were able to catch up a bit and get some information on the Puerto Princesa area.
On Wednesday the 17th the first order of business was to look into a problem with our fresh water pressure pump. The system had been acting up and I now had the time to give it a look. I changed out the pump along with some other plumbing issues and things once again are working. Next we launched the dinghy and made our way to shore. Here the dinghy dock is at the Abonico Yacht Club, a waterside restaurant run by an ex-pat Australian and his Philippine wife. There is a 500 Peso charge at an exchange of about 40 to 1 U.S. only about $12 for use of the facility where they have bar, restaurant, wi-fi etc. From there we were given a ride to the town by Cissy the owners wife. We did a bit of shopping to see what was available before a tricycle ride back to the yacht club.
Thursday after pouring some of our stored on deck diesel fuel found us heading off in the other direction from town to a newly opened shopping mall with a fancier grocery store and a station where we could begin to replenish our fuel supply. Kathy said the grocery store was nothing special but I did find a large "Best" hardware store. I'll have to make a trip back for a few odds and ends. We did also get diesel at a price more like that in the US of what would be $4.75 per gallon. Twice what we had been paying in Malaysia.
Friday the 19 th was the paperwork "cha cha" day and our official check-in to the country. We had been forewarned of what to expect and the necessary papers to have ready. First was immigration. There the girl almost seemed upset when she started her list of the papers needed and Kathy just kept handing her what she requested. Several were different from what we had ever had to show before. No problem we were given our twenty-one day entry visa. Of course we need to return in the next few days to get a 38 day extension. The first 21 days were free, the extension will be U.S. of about $75. When the extension expires we apply again and get 59 days for about $105 U.S. every 60 days. Next was another trike trip to customs and a fee of 115P or a little less than $3 U.S. We had been told that there could possibly be a man at the bottom of the stairs going up who wanted 500P or $12 U.S. and it was a scam, we were not approached. The "cha cha" complete we returned to the boat.
Saturday dawned as a non day for me it seems I had come down with a variation of some flu like sickness and spent the day sleeping.
Feeling better on Sunday we had an important project to do. The covering on the leech and foot cords on our headsail were coming apart and needed replacing. First, down came the sail. We were fortunate enough to have been give a large section of an old main sail when we were in the Marshall Is. so we had repair material. This was cut into strips, folded over the edge of the sail and sown. Kathy certainly has put her "sailrite" sewing machine to good use. Repairs completed the sail was then put back on the furler and hoisted. Sunday is a buffet dinner at the yacht club and after a nap I felt well enough to accompany Kathy. It was a very good dinner.
Today has been a rest day as I am still recovering, but it seems as if Kathy may be catching it. Time will tell.
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Monday, October 15, 2012
MOVING ALONG
Anchored Position 09° 27.97 N 118° 37.48 E
Malanao Is.
We continue northeast along the coast of Palawan toward Puerto Princesa. We have only a short 20 miles to there tomorrow. The last two days have been nothing special as we have just been motoring along with calm seas and no wind. We troll a fishing line but have had no success though we did observe a couple of schools of breaking fish. Most likely some sort of small tuna.
We have seen no other yachts since leaving the Tuba river though that should change tomorrow in Puerto Princesa. Once there we will do our official check-in, re-provisioning etc. Hopefully we can also get the internet connection sorted out and post some photos.
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Malanao Is.
We continue northeast along the coast of Palawan toward Puerto Princesa. We have only a short 20 miles to there tomorrow. The last two days have been nothing special as we have just been motoring along with calm seas and no wind. We troll a fishing line but have had no success though we did observe a couple of schools of breaking fish. Most likely some sort of small tuna.
We have seen no other yachts since leaving the Tuba river though that should change tomorrow in Puerto Princesa. Once there we will do our official check-in, re-provisioning etc. Hopefully we can also get the internet connection sorted out and post some photos.
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Saturday, October 13, 2012
NO WIND
Anchor Position 08° 48.08 N 117° 49.25 E
Brooke's Pt. Palawan Is.
Today was back to using faithful "Miss Perky" as forecast there was no wind. Though sitting in this anchorage that is not a bad thing. With wind from the prevailing southwest direction this time of year it would not be the most pleasant spot.
We spent yesterday ashore in the town of Tuba River. The yachties from the other two boats there were our guides. The photos will have to come later as the internet connection is far to slow here. On securing the dinghy to the supports of a house out over the water we then climbed a rickety ladder to then wander along a planked walkway to the shore. This walkway started amongst houses then past stores until finally reaching land. These are referred to as water villages.
Once on solid ground we made our way along a dirt road to an intersection where we were able to have our first experience riding in a Philippine tricycle. A 125 cc motorcycle with a covered sidecar. Not real roomy. Kathy sat facing forward and I backward. The locals sometimes jam as many as 6 in one. Our ride of about 10 minutes was 20 peso's each or about $.50. The trip was half on dirt roads and half paved. We got off in an area of the open market shops selling pork, chicken, fish along with fresh produce and bakery goods. We also make usage of an internet cafe. Before heading back to the waterfront area we had lunch. A large plate of noodles in a sauce with some small bits of pork and pork liver. Plenty for both of us though it needed quite a bit more meat for only $2.50 US.
Another trike ride later we found some produce that we wanted and a beer bar. Four San Miguel's four US $'s.
We found our way back to the dinghy as we had separated from our guides. Another trek through the shops and houses. The tide had dropped and the climb down to dink now included two more rungs on the ladder, each about two feet apart and one of which was broken. One of the kids from the house gave us a hand and we manage without a problem. An adventure filled day.
Tomorrow we continue on along the coast of Palawan.
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Brooke's Pt. Palawan Is.
Today was back to using faithful "Miss Perky" as forecast there was no wind. Though sitting in this anchorage that is not a bad thing. With wind from the prevailing southwest direction this time of year it would not be the most pleasant spot.
We spent yesterday ashore in the town of Tuba River. The yachties from the other two boats there were our guides. The photos will have to come later as the internet connection is far to slow here. On securing the dinghy to the supports of a house out over the water we then climbed a rickety ladder to then wander along a planked walkway to the shore. This walkway started amongst houses then past stores until finally reaching land. These are referred to as water villages.
Once on solid ground we made our way along a dirt road to an intersection where we were able to have our first experience riding in a Philippine tricycle. A 125 cc motorcycle with a covered sidecar. Not real roomy. Kathy sat facing forward and I backward. The locals sometimes jam as many as 6 in one. Our ride of about 10 minutes was 20 peso's each or about $.50. The trip was half on dirt roads and half paved. We got off in an area of the open market shops selling pork, chicken, fish along with fresh produce and bakery goods. We also make usage of an internet cafe. Before heading back to the waterfront area we had lunch. A large plate of noodles in a sauce with some small bits of pork and pork liver. Plenty for both of us though it needed quite a bit more meat for only $2.50 US.
Another trike ride later we found some produce that we wanted and a beer bar. Four San Miguel's four US $'s.
We found our way back to the dinghy as we had separated from our guides. Another trek through the shops and houses. The tide had dropped and the climb down to dink now included two more rungs on the ladder, each about two feet apart and one of which was broken. One of the kids from the house gave us a hand and we manage without a problem. An adventure filled day.
Tomorrow we continue on along the coast of Palawan.
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Thursday, October 11, 2012
A FINE DAY!!
Anchored position 08° 30.41 N 117° 25.67 E
Tuba River, Palawan Is.
We awoke early after a quiet night off of Balabac Town. We had seen stars most of the night and now had partly cloudy sky's with wind out of the west. We had no real destination in mind just to keep moving along toward the northeast.
Once clear of the anchorage we hoisted a reefed main and unfurled our headsail. Sailing again!! We progressed along Balabac Island and then into the area between there and Palawan Island. This area is filled with small islands, reefs and sandy shoals. Our course was a zig zag through these. The wind stayed consistent from the westerly quadrant and even as we made course changes to avoid obstacles we continued to sail along. We passed several possible anchoring spots but with the favorable sailing conditions just kept on going. Our wind varied from 12 to 23 kts during the day and the wind angle from a close reach to dead down wind.
We arrived here in the Tuba river about 3 pm after a very fine day. There are two other cruising boats here both headed toward Malaysia and waiting for some light winds to go that way. Tomorrow we will launch the dinghy and visit the town. We have been told that there are plenty of provisions to be had here. We can also take the local taxi's, a motorcycle with sidecar, called a tricycle to a mining town which has more goods. The mining town also has an internet cafe.
We have been able to connect here but due to the distance from the cell tower it really does not work. So once again I am using our sailmail provider.
Tomorrow a land adventure!
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Tuba River, Palawan Is.
We awoke early after a quiet night off of Balabac Town. We had seen stars most of the night and now had partly cloudy sky's with wind out of the west. We had no real destination in mind just to keep moving along toward the northeast.
Once clear of the anchorage we hoisted a reefed main and unfurled our headsail. Sailing again!! We progressed along Balabac Island and then into the area between there and Palawan Island. This area is filled with small islands, reefs and sandy shoals. Our course was a zig zag through these. The wind stayed consistent from the westerly quadrant and even as we made course changes to avoid obstacles we continued to sail along. We passed several possible anchoring spots but with the favorable sailing conditions just kept on going. Our wind varied from 12 to 23 kts during the day and the wind angle from a close reach to dead down wind.
We arrived here in the Tuba river about 3 pm after a very fine day. There are two other cruising boats here both headed toward Malaysia and waiting for some light winds to go that way. Tomorrow we will launch the dinghy and visit the town. We have been told that there are plenty of provisions to be had here. We can also take the local taxi's, a motorcycle with sidecar, called a tricycle to a mining town which has more goods. The mining town also has an internet cafe.
We have been able to connect here but due to the distance from the cell tower it really does not work. So once again I am using our sailmail provider.
Tomorrow a land adventure!
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Wednesday, October 10, 2012
EVERYTHING NEW
Anchored Position 07° 59.56 N 117° 04.05 E
Clarendon Bay, Balabac Town
Today we made the long tedious passage of 8 miles from Dalawan bay to here in Clarendon bay and Balabac town. Now being here in a new country there are lots of things to deal with.
First we need to check in with officialdom, but that can only be done at a port of entry. That would be Puerto Princessa which is still 150 or so miles away. Now in some countries not leaving your boat and going directly to a port of entry is strictly adhered to, others allow you to make your way there even if it takes several weeks before officially entering the country. Thankfully the Philippines is on of the latter.
Next to consider is MONEY! Here we use the Philippine peso which has an exchange rate of about 40 to 1 US dollar. Lots of math to do when you go to the store and something costs several hundred peso's, though not as bad as when in Venezuela where it was like 1300 to 1. We did manage to exchange money before leaving Kudat in Malaysia. A good thing as there is no bank or ATM here. So once at anchor off Balabac town we were ready to go ashore and do some shopping. Our main concerns were bread, eggs and anything fresh.
In town, one long street with perhaps 100 stores that all have the same goods for sale, we found our essential food items. I even managed a couple of San Miguel lite beers.
Next to find in this modern world is a SIM card for our phone and perhaps find out how to connect up with the internet. Here, this was accomplished at the pharmacy. A phone SIM card was 50 pesos. We have an unlocked phone so you just plug in the new card and buy time. We then bought 950 P's worth of time. We have been told that the phone service here is expensive so we'll see how that works as we go. Our friends Jack and Sandy from "Zorana" had given us a "smart bro" dongle to use for the internet here. We were able to charge that too and now we are into the modern age. Cell phone and internet!!!
We greatly enjoyed wondering about this small town, it reminded us of the same friendly feelings of most Latin American countries. The people were smiling and appeared quite happy. Lots of the shop workers spoke English. Now it is we that need to learn a bit of the local Tagalog language.
Back on the boat we managed to get the internet working a challenge for us who are not very computer literate. The connection is slow but we can get the most important things weather reports, email and sports, well Kathy does also get her facebook.
Tomorrow we plan to continue on toward Puerto Princessa and our official check-in but we are truly looking forward to our stops in between.
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Clarendon Bay, Balabac Town
Today we made the long tedious passage of 8 miles from Dalawan bay to here in Clarendon bay and Balabac town. Now being here in a new country there are lots of things to deal with.
First we need to check in with officialdom, but that can only be done at a port of entry. That would be Puerto Princessa which is still 150 or so miles away. Now in some countries not leaving your boat and going directly to a port of entry is strictly adhered to, others allow you to make your way there even if it takes several weeks before officially entering the country. Thankfully the Philippines is on of the latter.
Next to consider is MONEY! Here we use the Philippine peso which has an exchange rate of about 40 to 1 US dollar. Lots of math to do when you go to the store and something costs several hundred peso's, though not as bad as when in Venezuela where it was like 1300 to 1. We did manage to exchange money before leaving Kudat in Malaysia. A good thing as there is no bank or ATM here. So once at anchor off Balabac town we were ready to go ashore and do some shopping. Our main concerns were bread, eggs and anything fresh.
In town, one long street with perhaps 100 stores that all have the same goods for sale, we found our essential food items. I even managed a couple of San Miguel lite beers.
Next to find in this modern world is a SIM card for our phone and perhaps find out how to connect up with the internet. Here, this was accomplished at the pharmacy. A phone SIM card was 50 pesos. We have an unlocked phone so you just plug in the new card and buy time. We then bought 950 P's worth of time. We have been told that the phone service here is expensive so we'll see how that works as we go. Our friends Jack and Sandy from "Zorana" had given us a "smart bro" dongle to use for the internet here. We were able to charge that too and now we are into the modern age. Cell phone and internet!!!
We greatly enjoyed wondering about this small town, it reminded us of the same friendly feelings of most Latin American countries. The people were smiling and appeared quite happy. Lots of the shop workers spoke English. Now it is we that need to learn a bit of the local Tagalog language.
Back on the boat we managed to get the internet working a challenge for us who are not very computer literate. The connection is slow but we can get the most important things weather reports, email and sports, well Kathy does also get her facebook.
Tomorrow we plan to continue on toward Puerto Princessa and our official check-in but we are truly looking forward to our stops in between.
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Monday, October 8, 2012
A TROPICAL SAILING DAY
Anchored Position: 07°53.62N 117°04.4E
Dalawan Bay, the Philippines
As planned we departed from the Malaysian island of Balambangan this morning. We had a planned destination of Clarendon Bay at the south end of the Philippine island of Balabac a distance of 35 miles. We got a last minute weather report, winds predicted to be 15 to 20 from the west and possible squalls. Our first few miles were to be a motor as we needed to navigate through some shallow reef areas.
Once out in the open we had a westerly wind of about 12 kts. and hoisted a double reefed main as we were expecting squalls. 15 minutes later the first one arrived. The wind stayed westerly but at 30 to 35 kts for the next hour. It's always great fun to go up to the mast and tuck in another reef. Needless to say Kathy is kept busy with things in the cockpit and steering while I'm at the mast.
The remainder of the day kept the excitement level high, as the wind continued in anywhere from 12 to 28 kts. along with 2 meter seas for most of the passage. The good news was we were SAILING! Due to the wind angle and perhaps a bit of set from the current we altered our destination to here in Dalawan Bay, only about 6 miles further. Once we reached the lee of the island the seas calmed but we kept a nice sailing breeze. After perhaps only five sailing days in the last 2 years we did not at all mind the blustery conditions.
Dalawan is a very deep protected bay from these conditions, the southwest monsoon. A short time after anchoring we were approached by a local fisherman in a very small dugout canoe. He just wanted to chat a bit and find out where we were from and headed to. His catch was one small, about 7 inch grouper and a number of other small fish. He asked, in very good English if we would like some coconuts, yes! He returned a short time later and with 8 large drinking coconuts, we gave him a couple of fish hooks along with a hat and a bag of sugar and flour. There was no begging on his part just a trade.
We have already started to see the friendliness of the Philippine people, such a nice change from Malaysia. We plan to stay here tomorrow and make a trip to shore, more on that in the next installment.
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Dalawan Bay, the Philippines
As planned we departed from the Malaysian island of Balambangan this morning. We had a planned destination of Clarendon Bay at the south end of the Philippine island of Balabac a distance of 35 miles. We got a last minute weather report, winds predicted to be 15 to 20 from the west and possible squalls. Our first few miles were to be a motor as we needed to navigate through some shallow reef areas.
Once out in the open we had a westerly wind of about 12 kts. and hoisted a double reefed main as we were expecting squalls. 15 minutes later the first one arrived. The wind stayed westerly but at 30 to 35 kts for the next hour. It's always great fun to go up to the mast and tuck in another reef. Needless to say Kathy is kept busy with things in the cockpit and steering while I'm at the mast.
The remainder of the day kept the excitement level high, as the wind continued in anywhere from 12 to 28 kts. along with 2 meter seas for most of the passage. The good news was we were SAILING! Due to the wind angle and perhaps a bit of set from the current we altered our destination to here in Dalawan Bay, only about 6 miles further. Once we reached the lee of the island the seas calmed but we kept a nice sailing breeze. After perhaps only five sailing days in the last 2 years we did not at all mind the blustery conditions.
Dalawan is a very deep protected bay from these conditions, the southwest monsoon. A short time after anchoring we were approached by a local fisherman in a very small dugout canoe. He just wanted to chat a bit and find out where we were from and headed to. His catch was one small, about 7 inch grouper and a number of other small fish. He asked, in very good English if we would like some coconuts, yes! He returned a short time later and with 8 large drinking coconuts, we gave him a couple of fish hooks along with a hat and a bag of sugar and flour. There was no begging on his part just a trade.
We have already started to see the friendliness of the Philippine people, such a nice change from Malaysia. We plan to stay here tomorrow and make a trip to shore, more on that in the next installment.
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Sunday, October 7, 2012
ENROUTE PHILIPPINES
Anchored Position 07°16.117N 116°59.581E
This should be our last night spent in Malaysia. This morning we departed Kudat on the northeastern tip of Borneo and are now anchored 25 miles north in a large bay on the island of Balambangan. As usual it was a motor boat ride with less than 8 kts of wind. We can see some lights ashore though not many. We did have some local fisherman come by shortly after anchoring. They spoke no English and their leaky boat had no engine but a propeller shaft. They spoke in Malay and rubbed their stomachs. They did have some large clams in the bottom of the boat but were basically begging and not offering to trade. We had bought some small bags of sugar and flour and they were given these. Perhaps gifts such as these will help feed their families.
It is a calm night and tomorrows destination of Clarendon Bay at the bottom of Balabac Island is 35 miles away and in the Philippines. We still have limited internet here but are now primarily relying on weather from our subscription to "Buoyweather" along with the "grib" files that we download through our sailmail provider. The forcast for tomorrow is wind of 16 to 20 kts. meaning a beam reach. We'll see! Here in the Philippines we will be in an area of potentially volitile weather. They can have tropical storms here about ten months out of the year rather than only 5 for the rest of the world.
One of the great things about Malaysia has been both the phone and internet service. We're not sure what to expect in the Philippines but will see in the near future.
Tomorrow a new country and new adventures!!!
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This should be our last night spent in Malaysia. This morning we departed Kudat on the northeastern tip of Borneo and are now anchored 25 miles north in a large bay on the island of Balambangan. As usual it was a motor boat ride with less than 8 kts of wind. We can see some lights ashore though not many. We did have some local fisherman come by shortly after anchoring. They spoke no English and their leaky boat had no engine but a propeller shaft. They spoke in Malay and rubbed their stomachs. They did have some large clams in the bottom of the boat but were basically begging and not offering to trade. We had bought some small bags of sugar and flour and they were given these. Perhaps gifts such as these will help feed their families.
It is a calm night and tomorrows destination of Clarendon Bay at the bottom of Balabac Island is 35 miles away and in the Philippines. We still have limited internet here but are now primarily relying on weather from our subscription to "Buoyweather" along with the "grib" files that we download through our sailmail provider. The forcast for tomorrow is wind of 16 to 20 kts. meaning a beam reach. We'll see! Here in the Philippines we will be in an area of potentially volitile weather. They can have tropical storms here about ten months out of the year rather than only 5 for the rest of the world.
One of the great things about Malaysia has been both the phone and internet service. We're not sure what to expect in the Philippines but will see in the near future.
Tomorrow a new country and new adventures!!!
----------
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Thursday, October 4, 2012
CHECKED OUT
Anchored 06° 53.42 N 116° 51.73 E
Three weeks and no blog activity. I must be slacking. So now as we have moved further along the coast of Borneo to the town of Kudat and actually checked out of Malaysia, here's a bit of catch up.
First my compass repair has failed! The threebond gasket material did not hold up to the long term immersion in the karocene. The card does rotate and you could if necessary use it to follow a course but a new rubber diaphram is now on the shopping list.
Our next anchorage was near the city of Kota Kinabalu, the largest city in the Malaysian state of Sabah. We had a reasonable anchorage off Taujang Aru. Where there was a pier to tie the dinghy and easy bus transport to the city itself. The buses were cheap only 1 RM or about $.33 US. and they ran to all needed locations.
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| OFF TO SHOP |
As always we had some necessary boat fixes to do here. I finally found a good repair shop to have both the watermaker and washdown pumps motors fixed. They are now working. This is especially good news for the watermaker as it has been a thorn in my side for quite a while.
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| GREAT SUNSETS |
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| THE DINGHY MAKES A FINE LAUNDRY TUB |
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| GRAVITY FEED TO FILL OUR PROPANE TANK |
The next morning we moved down to the area where we presently are and met up with old friends on the "Katie Lee" that we had not seen since 2009 in the Marshall Islands. We were able to exchange information as they are headed east and us to the Philippines where they had spent the last 2 years.
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| NOW THESE ARE PRAWNS!!! |
A day after our arival here in Kudat, our friends from "Dreamweaver" arrived. It was John's birthday so we had a bit of a gathering aboard their boat, several blenders of Margarita's and then out to dinner.
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| BIRTHDAY BOY |
We have now been in a Muslim country on and off for the past two years and along with finding a beer in a restaurant pork is rarely seen. This area of the market had plenty. The butcher even threw in a slab of liver which the cats have very much enjoy.
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| HARD TO FIND A BEER WITH LUNCH THOUGH LOTS OF ACTIVITY AT THE SNOOKER TABLE |
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| AN OLD CHINESE PHARMACY |
that are spinning away on either side of the Philippines north of us. As we wait for a weather window to head north we continue with our daily activites. In preperation for heading north I cleaned the bottom today and having caught rain water last night Kathy was able to keep up with her never ending laundry.
We have gotten some Philippine pesos and are ready to move as soon as weather allows. It may be a while until we have internet again but I will try to update as we go with text and then fill in photos later.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
OUR COMPASS AN UNUSUAL REPAIR
Anchored 05° 36.8N 115° 37.42E
For the last several days we have been anchored in the above location. We left Labuan after a big shopping day for duty free items, beer, wine and rum. We continued our move northeast and anchored at Pulau Tiga or survivor island as it hosted the 2001 "Survivor" TV show. We visited the resort where the production crew stayed and were hopeful to spend a few days there enjoying the clear waters and perhaps a jungle walk. Alas, the weather gods had something else in mind, a strong southwesterly blew up and after a sleepless night rocking and rolling about on a lee shore we moved to our present location. This has been a calm and secure anchorage and we have managed to relax and complete a few projects.
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| TAPED OFF AND READY FOR EPOXY |
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| SEALED, WE HOPE!! |
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| A SMALL HOLE IN THE DIAPHRAM |
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| I JUST KEEP TAKING THINGS APART |
So the compass has been re-installed and as tomorrow we are moving again to Kota Kinabalu we hope to find more kerosene to eliminate the "bubble".
This was not what I would reccomend as a "do-it-yourself' fix but here where there are no professionals to do these sorts of things we just try to do what we can.
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