El Nido to San Vicente
Tuesday, January 16th, 2024
January, 2024
I spent about a week anchored at the fishing village of Liminangcong. It is a very well protected anchorage and the village has good shops for basic supplies, although getting ashore can be quite tricky, as the prevailing NE winds create a bit of chop which makes landing my dinghy in the only possible narrow bit of beach, rather dodgy.
The shore is mostly lined with stilt houses. A smaller village on the opposite shore, closer to where I was anchored was much easier to reach and also had some small kiosks with fresh fruit and veg. Both villages are very neat and tidy with no garbage to be seen in the streets and pathways.
Back to El Nido before New Year. This time I anchored at the slightly less crowded Las Cabañas Beach a little further along the bay. It was really good to be able to anchor in 5m over sand rather than the 20m I had to cope with at the main anchorage. I took a trike into El Nido town for my shopping and a bit more exploring. The towering cliffs of Taraw loom over all.
We got together for a BBQ on Tasman II for New Years.
Now the plan was to move on to Port Barton about 30nm further south with a few stops along the way. The weather was gentle and sailing slowly between these fantastic karst formation limestone islands is quite surreal. The water is sheltered from the ocean swell and makes for a rather beautiful sail.
We stopped for the first night at Liminangcong again and set off next morning as soon as the current had turned in our favour, heading for White Island. The wind was very light and we drifted down the sound until the turn into the Worcester Strait leading to open water, when the wind decided to head us, and I had to use the engine to make any progress at all. Once out of the strait the water was quite rough and we rolled along downwind, on the South China Sea, for the rest of the way. It was quite a relief to turn in to the shelter of the White Island anchorage.
Tasman II had arrived before me and they picked me up for a swim off the beach. We were met by some fishermen’s wives and their kids who invited us to join them for coffee. They were spending the holidays there and had some bamboo cabins under the coconut trees. A perfect spot. The men were working at repairing their nets.
Next morning we set off early again, heading for the anchorage at Village Bay on Boayan Island. The wind picked up to the high end of F4 and we rolled merrily along. The anchorage was marvellously sheltered but the swell was breaking on the small beach, again making it difficult to land a dinghy.
The last leg to Port Barton started off with a pleasant breeze and calm water. I relaxed and enjoyed just being on the move. Suddenly I noticed something odd in the water. Oh no! We had almost run right into an extensive pearl farm field. Hundreds of round black buoys strung together. I lowered two panels to slow down and tried to find a clear path through. On closer inspection it’s not too difficult to work out the pattern and sail between the rows of buoys.
The anchorage at Port Barton is quite shallow and the reefs extend a long way out. I stopped in 3.5m and had a cooling swim before rowing ashore to join Gary and Isniboy for a cold beer.
For a while now, I have been struggling a bit with the house battery which is not holding a charge at all, and now, is even having a hard time keeping the depth sounder and GPS alive. It was time for a replacement. I had bought the old battery (2 big Trojan 6v golf cart batteries connected in series) in Rio Dulce, Guatemala, back in 2015 and it was obviously ready for retirement. We made some inquiries ashore and it seemed that the only place I would find the right sort of thing would be at Roxas, a bigger town on the East coast of Palawan, about an hour by road from Port Barton. One of the trike drivers was having his lunch at the next table, and Isniboy, who speaks Tagalog, was able to help me organise a trip there to try to find one. We arranged to meet on the beach at 8 the next morning.
Tutui, the trike driver, was wonderfully helpful. After the spectacular drive over the mountains to the other side of Palawan, the jungle coming right down to the road, he asked around Roxas until we eventually found the one place that sold good solar panels and deep-cycle ‘solar’ batteries. I was thrilled to find exactly what I needed: a really heavy duty 100ah sealed, maintenance free battery. It was so heavy, I feared I would put my back out trying to lift it, but Tutui was able to carry it across the road to where he had parked the trike, and we were on our way again, back to Port Barton after a quick stop for lunch. Now the problem was how to get this monster back to Speedwell and installed. I am quite capable of making the connections, but there was no way that I could manage the weight of either the old or the new battery.
Gary and Isniboy to the rescue. They collected it from the trike and delivered it to Speedwell in their aluminium dinghy with outboard. I disconnected the cables and Isniboy was able to manouevre the awkward old Trojans out and get the new one in. Fantastic. Thank-you for all the great help!
Next day Tasman II sailed off on their way back to El Nido and I stayed for another day, sorting out a safe way to secure the new battery.
I had been told that there was a waterfall a shortish walk away and I decided to go and have a look. The walk turned out to be nearly 5k along the road, before reaching the start of a lovely trail through the jungle to the actual fall. There was a beautiful pool for a swim.
The waterfall itself was not overly impressive, probably because there has been very little rain lately. I stayed for a while enjoying the cool water and greenery then got a ride on the back of a bike back to Port Barton. I’d done enough ‘steps’ for the day. Something that I found a little unsettling was that every single person that I spoke to along the way was interested to know how old I was (!). I did a bit of reprovisioning in the village and got ready to leave for the town of San Vicente, about 11 miles up the coast.
There was a gentle NE wind blowing when we set off next morning and I was able to sail all the way. Some pearl farm buoys had to be negotiated and we found an easy passage between Dean and Savage Islands with the help of the satellite images. Reefs extend a long way out from San Vicente but there was a good place to anchor in 6m.
I rowed ashore next morning at low tide and the reefs were very visible. It was quite a long row, but I don’t think it would have been a good idea to anchor any closer in. I was very happy to find a wonderful floating dock which made a perfect place to leave the dinghy. I had brought my diesel cans with me and there was a garage just a short walk away from the dock. I had them filled and got a trike ride back to the dinghy. This must be one of the most convenient places I’ve found to get diesel. I left the diesel cans safely in the dinghy and went for a walk around the town.
There is a really good market, also very close to the dock, and plenty of small shops for basic supplies. The wind was picking up and I had a hard row back to Speedwell. It looks as though it’s going to keep blowing for a while and I’m glad to be in such a comfortable spot with good internet access.