 |
| Puerto Princesa Bay |
There's a small yacht club called Abanico. The people there were friendly & helpful, food was good and laundry services were available. We spent a week working on the sail drive repairs (again!).
 |
| View of the bay from the Abanico Yacht Club |
On Christmas day, we had a nice buffet lunch at the Abanico Yacht Club before setting off in the evening bound for El Nido. It was a tough night. We had 25-32kts of wind. A strap at the top of the storm jib tore and a wire for the leg support broke.
My lunch did not sit well (even though it should've been digested by then) everything came out that night. Imagine me at the helm with a puke bucket in one hand, and holding on tightly onto the arm rest of the helms chair with the other, trying to keep calm and keep watch in terrible weather. It was a horrible sight, and an even worse feeling. But I had to suck it up and pull myself together because it was just Alex & I on this trip. That taught me to never have such a big meal before a passage ever again.
My lunch did not sit well (even though it should've been digested by then) everything came out that night. Imagine me at the helm with a puke bucket in one hand, and holding on tightly onto the arm rest of the helms chair with the other, trying to keep calm and keep watch in terrible weather. It was a horrible sight, and an even worse feeling. But I had to suck it up and pull myself together because it was just Alex & I on this trip. That taught me to never have such a big meal before a passage ever again.
The next day, we anchored between Verde Islands (N 10.05.488 E 119.13.499) and continued with repairs.
On the evening of 28th December, we headed for an anchorage in Dumaran. 46 nautical miles later, we anchored in Cynthia Bay (N 10.32.756 E 119.58.944), Dumaran in 6m of water. The charts were inaccurate plus it was a choppy anchorage.
 |
| Anchorage at Dumaran |
 |
| Dumaran |
 |
| Dumaran - Nice walk on the beach, lot of seashells and seaweed |
We set off again for El Nido on 30th December. 86 nautical miles of very rough seas. 16-20kts of wind from the Northeast. We anchored in Corong Corong (N 11.09.942 E 119.23.615) the next evening. It was too late for us to go ashore, so we spent New Year's onboard and set off some old flares as "fireworks". Happy New Year! Corong Corong was a nice anchorage, we managed to explore a little but there was no proper place for us to tie the dinghy securely.
 |
| Nice anchorage at Corong Corong |
On 2nd January 2013, we departed Corong Corong for Puerta Princesa (on the West side) to clear out. 54 nautical miles later, we anchored in Sabang (Underground River),(N 10.12.147 E 118.53.768). We decided that I will stay on board while Alex goes ashore to clear us out.
What a terrible decision that was! As the day progressed, the weather turned. It started to pour, the wind was blowing hard and waves were building. Raptor was like a gorilla trying to break free from its chains! I was so worried that our anchor chain would break. It was rough. Trust me, because the steering wheel fell off!
 |
| Bad weather |
Day turned into night, Alex still had not returned. I had no way of contacting him. At this point, I was a nervous wreck. Thinking of all sorts of scenarios of what I should do, could do in case something else happens. If I could see myself in the mirror, I know I would've looked like I'd seen a ghost! But all I could do was curl up on the sofa, hope and pray that Alex would be back soon..
Around 8pm, just as I popped an anti seasick pill into my mouth, I saw some flashing lights!
"Alex! Is that you?", I yelled.
-- Nothing. I could hardly see or hear anything in the dark with all the rain, wind and waves.
My heart started racing as I saw a shadow on the port side of the transom. I grabbed a torch to shine the light toward the transom and with a sigh of relief, it was Alex coming up from the water, onto the transom, all wet. He had swam over from the local fishing boat in which he had hitched a ride from. That very same boat then threw his backpack into our dinghy.
"What happened?", I asked.
According to Alex, they had tried to drop him off, but the waves were too rough, he could see our rudders jumping in and out of the water! It was impossible to get close. In the midst of all the attempts, the bowsprit of the wooden fishing boat punctured our dinghy. And so, Alex decided the best way for him to get on was to swim and climb onboard.
What a day! We weren't happy about what happened with our dinghy (one more repair on our never ending to do list), but I was glad Alex was back and we were both safe and sound.
 |
| Map of Palawan |
We departed Sabang for Malaysia the next day.