Posts Tagged ‘Pass Island’
A Few More Islands
Thursday, November 30th, 2023
November, 2023
After being anchored in Culion for a while, I decided to move to a slightly better position as I was swinging a little close to an unoccupied mooring buoy. So far, no one had come to claim it, but it’s always possible that the owner might return at some inconvenient moment and I would have to move away. I had been putting this off because I was feeling a bit lazy and the prospect of hauling up 60m of chain in nearly 20m of water was not encouraging. But now I felt that the time had come and I did what had to be done.
Four or five days later, when I switched the lights on that night, I noticed that they seemed awfully dim. After about half an hour, they died completely. Oh dear. I checked the voltage of the house battery and it was fine. Then I had a look at the battery that is dedicated soley to the job of starting the engine. Oh dear again. After making the move away from the mooring buoy I had forgotten to disconnect the starter-battery and for 5 days it had been our only source of power. It is an almost new 70ah battery and had always been kept well charged and ready for action. Now it couldn’t light an LED lamp. I had to see if the house battery (200ah Trojan golf cart, 8 years old and feeling it) was up to the job of starting the engine. The starter motor made a few feeble, disbelieving attempts and gave up.
Normally, the starter battery gets recharged while the engine is running and the solar panels are connected only to the house battery. I changed the connections so that all the solar power was now going to the starter battery. Luckily we were having some lovely sunny weather and it only took 3 days to get it fully charged again, with it’s tiny green indicator light glowing brightly. I checked to see if it would start the engine and all was fine once more. Now I could go for a little trip to explore some other islands. A working engine is quite important here as the winds are a bit fickle, there are coral heads and shoal patches to avoid, and many tricky fields of pearl-farm buoys to negotiate.
I set off early the next day heading for Pass Island about 13 nautical miles away to the NW. The first part of the route was strewn with islands and pearl farms and I was grateful to be able to use the ferry track that I had saved from our trip to Coron for the first four miles. Once through this tricky area I was able to switch off the engine and had a pleasant sail for the rest of the way. Getting closer to Pass Island there were once again many pearl farm buoys and the way through was not easy to see. I preferred to sail through them without using the engine as Speedwell’s long keel slips quite easily over the joining lines if I accidentally find myself snookered by them.
It was a Monday and there were only two tourist bancas drawn up on the beach. I found a good place to stop in 15m and dropped the anchor. A perfect little tropical island, white sand beach, palm trees and coral reefs for snorkeling. I spent a few days there just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful water. The tourist bancas would arrive at about 11 and set off back to Coron about 3’ish. Internet access was reasonable and I was able to watch the weather and plan my next stop.
Black Island looked like an interesting place, with caves, a beautiful beach and spectacular steep cliffs. It lay about 10 miles further north and as the wind was very light NE I should be able to get there with the help of the engine.
When I arrived I spotted a red mooring ball that I had been told about and was happy to pick it up rather than try to anchor in about 30m. The tourist bancas come right up to the beach with a stern anchor to hold them off. The wind had picked up a bit and there was some swell with waves crashing against the nearby rocks. I decided to wait till next morning before venturing ashore.
Next day, I used the kayak to get ashore as it’s easier to launch and recover. It was still early and I was alone on the island, apart from a few caretakers. I found a shady place to leave the kayak and wandered off to find the caves. Along the way I saw hundreds of monitor lizard tracks in the sand and a bit further on there were a few to be seen around a ‘viewing area’ where some food had been set out for them.
Their bodies are about a metre long with a tail as long as that again. Quite intimidating, but they seemed more scared of me than I was of them and any that I spotted foraging around the trees, scuttled off too quickly for me to get a picture.
The caves were really impressive. The main one had a few wooden steps at the entrance for easy access and once inside there was still enough light to see clearly. I hadn’t really thought ahead and had only brought my sunglasses and no torch. Still, it was quite beautiful, no grafitti, no litter and best of all a truly lovely pool. I had a refreshing swim in the cool, clear water. Magic.
Then a walk to the end of the beach and on my way back the tourist boats started arriving. I headed back to Speedwell for a cup of tea.
My next stop was Maltatayoc Island, about 8 miles south again. We had a lovely, gentle sail and anchored off the deserted beach and sandbank in 11m. What a perfect spot. The water was so clear I could see the anchor on the bottom. When I went ashore, three friendly little dogs came to greet me. They seemed healthy and well-enough fed, so someone must be living there to care for them, although I didn’t see any people around. I relaxed at this comfortable and beautiful anchorage for three days.
The forecast was for some stronger wind and it was time to look for a more sheltered spot. Coral Bay on Popototan Island looked promising and it was only about 5 miles away. The wind was still very light, but I hoped to be able to use the sail. Unfortunately the tide was against us and we found ourselves drifting inexorably backwards. So, engine on. When we reached Coral Bay it looked really good. Nice protection and only one or two secluded resorts with very little traffic. It was rather deep and the best I could manage, without getting too close to the reef or private moorings was 17m. Another problem was that internet access (Smart) was virtually non-existent. I was only able to get a weak signal by hoisting my phone to the top of the mast and using it’s hotspot on my tablet. No Netflix tonight.
The bad weather arrived as forecast and I was glad that I had found a protected place to wait it out. It brought some heavy rain and I was able to top up all the water tanks, with enough over to do some much-need laundry and wash my hair properly.
But now it was time to head for the town of Coron. I needed to reprovision as all my fresh stuff was long gone and the cans were becoming boring. We would have to motor-sail again as the wind, though light, would be against us most of the way with little room for tacking.
I found a good place to anchor when we reached the town, grateful that the depth, at 8m, was reasonable. It was a short row to a perfect little floating dock where I could leave the dinghy while I explored the town and did my shopping.
Before getting loaded down with my purchases, I wanted to walk to the top of the hill which has a big cross and a CORON sign which lights up at night. Very pretty. There are steps all the way up which are nicely shaded with lots of trees. Resting places with benches at regular intervals. When I got to the top, the view was spectacular. I could see tiny Speedwell anchored way down there.
Back down in the town, I found a good place for lunch and got my shopping done. Last stop was the fresh market which is pretty isolated on the devastated foreshore which has been cleared of all the old buildings in preparation for some planned new development. At the moment it looks like a dusty Martian landscape.
Now I am watching the weather forecasts and waiting for the rather strong winds that we are getting at the moment, to moderate a bit before heading down to El Nido.