Heading North towards Puerto Galera

After Maasin, we made a series of overnight stops to rest.

Lavis Point 10.28.3587N 124.43.4372E We anchored in 15 feet of water in front of a mangrove-y beach and small village. We didnt go ashore, just waved and smiled to the curious fisherman. We did see some GIANT jellyfish in these waters.

Matlang 10.53.1758N 124.27.3369E We anchored in front of a small village by the nickel plant, just for the night. This village looks like it was hit by the super typhoon. We had several kids yelling at us from the beach Americano! Americano! We decided this would be a good place to drop of some of the books, clothes and toys Jake had decided to give away. We went to shore and were met with some very appreciative folks. A few hours later some other kids were yelling to us. We gave a bag of candy to a fisherman to take to the kids.the Americano! chant turned into Thank you! Anything you have here would be appreciated. If youre willing to go the extra 10 miles or so, Lonely Planet promises a culinary treat at the town of Ormoc. Its set back in the bay and supposed to have a few WWII wrecks scattered around, with no real tourism for divers. The wrecks were marked on our charts, so it appears to be pretty easy to find if you have your own equipment. The waterfront is supposed to be a pleasant place to grab a beer and meal to enjoy the sunset.

Malapascua Island North of Cebu, known for the Thresher Sharkstouristy, but nice. This is what all of your friends think you do every day.

We anchored right in front of the beach, slightly behind the dive boats, in about 20 feet of water at high tide. We had northerly winds when we pulled in. Unfortunately, at bedtime, they turned east ( and the tide decided to go out contrary to winds) and made for an extremely uncomfortable evening. We pulled our dinghy up on the east side of the beach where you see most of the local boats. We tied an extra long painter to a coconut tree. No one bothered the dinghy in the two days we were there. There are no roads, only small paths that you walk through the island. The main path that goes along the beach goes by all the resorts. If you go to the west side of the island and take the path inland, youll get to the village. Youll find many small stores that contain a fair amount of things you might be out of by nowfor us it was beer, soda water and fruit. We found lots of fresh fruit and a variety of beer. We were bamboozled a little by some Filipino math, but I take that as entirely my fault. Just check their calculations. We definitely got the foreigner prices (and then some again, my fault).

DIVING: Andy dove with Evolution Resort. With the park fees, extra nitrox fees, and the dive itself, it came up to 1850 pesos. That was with your own gear. The thresher shark dive is EARLY in the morning. He had to be at the resort at 4:45. Sightings are not guaranteed but he got lucky and saw three huge ones 8-9 feet. He said it was truly amazing and well worth the effort. This resort does four dives a day and you can decide at any time what dives you want to do (the boat comes in after every dive). There are plenty of resorts and dive shops on the island. Most looked like stand up operations. Many European tourists. We were one of a handful of Americans. Our dive guidebook says there is a wreck off the lighthouse (WWII landing craft) that is easily snorkeled as well as a nice dive. We were going to move our boat up there and explore it as a family, but the winds were too shifty and the anchorage looked uncomfortable. If weather permits, this might be an easy way to dive on your own, as well as easy access to see the lighthouse on shore. There is another site (Lighthouse West) that the book says you can swim to from the wreck. We dont have coordinates, but it said it was best in the afternoon, good for pygmy seahorses as well as mandarin fish. FOOD: We ate at Angelinas Italian Restaurant for dinner. It was good although not quite what we expected based from what we read in our guides. Fresh seafood and handmade pasta. We both had the rissoto, which was a little bland, but the seafood was good. Jake had the gnocchi with a four cheese sauce and it was excellent. Prices were resort prices, but we still got out of there for right around $20US, including a caraf of their house wine (drinkable). You might need to ask directions for getting there as its not intuitive.off the beaten path. There is another resort and

restaurant right next to Angelinas, although I have no information on what they serve or how it is. The Craic House at the Evolution Resort was really good. The tuna burger was the best tuna burger Ive ever eaten. Spicy and huge. They serve crepes (both savory and sweet), fish and chips, salads, sandwiches a strange mix of things, but all very tasty. Nice atmosphere. We checked out a few other menus and they all seem to cover everything from pizza to stir fry to german sausages for about the same prices (250 400 pesos). A few of the resorts had pools that you could use for 500 pesos/person or 300 pesos if you bought drinks. We thought that was kind of steep considering there was an ocean 50 feet away, but they all looked clean and well kept. INTERNET: Every resort had internet and would give out the password, but the connection to the island was spotty at best. When asked, they all gave the same answerUmmm.our internet is down right now? Sometimes its up? You can try. We had the best luck at Ocean Vida. They also have a 2 for 1 happy hour at 4:00 where you sit on the beach in bean bags and lounge aroundnot a bad deal. We had no luck at all from the boat. We got signals, but no connections. MONEY: There is no ATM, however Ocean Vida did change money. The rate was 42 pesos/$1, where the exchange rate at ATMS ran about 45 pesos.

There is a lot of boat traffic here with all of the diving, but no one seemed to be too interested in us other than just lookie loos. We felt the boat was safe while we were ashore.

South Gigante Island, Panay 11.33.966N 123.20.716E We were headed for South Gigante, off the tip of Panay. When we were almost there, we saw what looked to be a group of lone islands with beautiful beaches, so we anchored in front of one of those (20 ft, sandy bottom, good holding) in hopes of burning some trash and giving Jake a chance to play. It turns out, its no where near uninhabited. There are people living in caves up from the beach. While this was a picturesque setting, it was interrupted by some happy hour dynamite fishing. While appalling, it was fascinating to watch. We took a short dinghy ride to circumnavigate the island and found a small cave to explore. Other than that, due to the private property, we werent able to partake in the beach (although we didnt try).

Masbate 11.54.483N 123.10.576E We anchored in about 16 ft of water on a rocky bottom. We spent a very rocky night as the wind shifted against the tides, and moved on the next morning. We received several inquiries (even one over the radio) as to what is the problem with your yacht? We interpreted that as Why the hell would you stop here? and Is there something we can do for you? They were very friendly people, if curious.

Sibuyan 12.17.248N 122.38.517E We anchored in 20 ft, sandy bottom in front of a very tiny village. We attempted to go to San Fernando, but due to the winds and tides coming from the west, we anchored off the point, a little east in front of a VERY small village. We went ashore and handed out some candy to the kids and make sure it was ok to anchor there. We were hoping to see some of the island as this is supposed to be the Galapagos of the Philippines, meaning many species of animals here (spoken highly of by the inhabitants, some Peace Corp volunteers we later met, as well as our Lonely Planet guide).but due to weather, we didnt feel it was safe leaving the boat unattended for any extended period of time.

Romblon We anchored in 10 feet of water on the northeast side of the island in Romblon Bay, near Romblon town. Due to weather, we chose the north end of the bay. There is a yacht club being formed, putting in some moorings, but the two in the north bay were taken when we arrived. There may be one other area to anchor for short drafted boats (further into shore between the two moorings), other wise, this is a very deep anchorage (>100 ft). There are two other yacht club mooring balls in the south anchorage, south of the white channel marker. They are 100 pesos a night and can be paid for at the Rupublika Bar in town. Dennis Shepard is the founder of the yacht club and as of the time we were there, it was still in its infancy (they do a lot for the local community, but not many yachts coming through as of yet).

In the north bay, you can park the dinghy at the yacht club ramp, however, theres not much here to see other than the marble factory. If you do find yourself here after dark and the gate is closed, Dennis told us Leonardo lives across the street and can open it for you. We took our dinghy into town (about 1 km) and docked it at the wall with the rest of the boats. There are a number of places to park, all were safe. As you go into the south part of the harbor, youll see a large brick wall jutting out, with blue tarps over some huts. The blue tarps are slaughter houses (youll smell it as you come in) and the large area is the landfill for the island. We were able to drop our trash off here pretty easily. If you park on this side of the ferry dock, youll find town by going to the right, over the bridge.

ATM: There is one ATM in town, across the street and down a little bit from the Rupublika Bar. On the weekends, we found it to be without money. We tried to change our US dollars at the money changer in town, but they never had a rate from the bank and kept telling us to come back. We found we were able to change our money at the bank (not a quick process, but easy) for only slightly less than the ATM.

FOOD: Romblon Deli Painted a bright orange and on the corner of the main road overlooking the water, this place is easy to find. We only ate breakfast there (the next day they were remodeling), but it was good and we were able to buy a map here for 90 pesos (a little steep I thought considering we could get two beers for that price, but it was helpful so we splurged). This is said to be the place to get all information on tourism. We met a local Peace Corp volunteer here and ended up getting our info that way.

Republika just a few doors down from the Romblon Deli. Another ex-pat bar/restaurant and the home of the yacht club. The food tends toward European and the menu seems to change every day. They have fairly decent pizza for 300 pesos. Very friendly service.

JD & G Italian Food If you kept walking along the main road past the deli, youll see this restaurant on the left. We had lunch here and really enjoyed it. Its a family owned restaurant (as is most, Im guessing) and prides themselves on homemade pasta. Well recommend it with one caveat.its just a little different. We really enjoyed our meal of lasagna and spaghetti carbonara, but couldnt put our finger on

why it was different. They claimed to have mozzarella, but Im guessing there was some of the velveeta-type processed cheese mixed in therenone the less, it was very good, and pretty good prices as well. We would go back if we were staying any longer and try their pizza (200 pesos). The atmosphere is nice and the service is excellent. We bought an extra lasagna and froze it for our lunch while underway. Worked out great.

Assuming you parked across the bridge, if you turned back toward your dinghy from the deli, you would find a number of restaurants that served more local food. These smelled delicious and seemed to be filled most of the time. We ate some of their grilled meats (kabob type) and really enjoyed them.very cheap. It was always easy to find Jake a snack.

PROVISIONING: There are a number of small stores all through town that sell a little bit of everything. Mostly plastic packages of noodles, snacks and nuts. We found some canned fruit, peanut butter, jam, boxed cheese, etc. Weve had a very hard time finding anything dairy other than milk. If youre a cheese hound, stock up before you get to the PI. There is a market just north of the police station. You can get everything you need from a meat and veggie standpoint here. It was reminiscent of the markets in mainland Mexico. Fresh meat, fish, veggies.we had fun here. Veggies: baby bock choy, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, garlic, ginger, pumpkin, cheyote Fruit: mango, watermelon, apples, grapes (high dollar), oranges Beer: There is a place at the corner of the road where you turn to go to the fort. They sell beer by the case. If you have bottles to turn in then you can forgo the deposit. Rum, Gin and Vodka is pretty darn cheap all over. We found most stores to sell it here in Romblon.

TO DO: Fort San Andres Still assuming you parked near the dump, right before you cross the bridge going into town, there is a road that turns left. Go down that road just a small way and youll see steps on the left. Follow these steps up to Fort San Andres, built in the 17th century. We didnt find much in the way of historical explanations, but found it a nice walk with lots of mosaic works along the way.

Church On the main street in town (Rizal), youll see a church from the 17th century. The plaques here do more to explain the history behind the church as well as the fort. Marble Romblon is known for its marble. Youll find many shops in town in the Shopping Center that sell all kinds of carvings for very cheap. You can also take a trike up to the Marble Factories. We were told 100 pesos was more than generous for asking them to take you there, wait for you and bring you back. Dont expect too much in the way of factory but it is very interesting to watch how they carve some of these massive structures (as well as crank out small dolphin after dolphin) with no mask or eye protections what so ever. They have shops up here as well, although I found the stores in town to have more refined pieces and surprisingly, cheaper. There are a number of beaches around, just a short trike ride away. There are a few dive shops at the resorts but we didnt check them out. LAUNDRY: I saw a few signs for laundry in town, but did not check into it. But it appears it is possible to get it done here. Baton 12.55.7936N 122.03.223E Our charts showed a shallow anchorage here. We found it, but it wasnt near as big as it showed on the chart. We anchored in 15 feet of dead coral. Not the greatest anchorage in the world. When we left the next morning, it looked like maybe the next bay over might have had a better anchorage, certainly a prettier beach. There are a series of buoys right at the edge of the shallow spot where we anchored. We thought it was a net and went around it. After further investigation, it is a bunch of buoys strung together with a long piece of rope. Not sure of the purpose, but if its still there, you need to go around it. There is a small village here. It looks like there is a spring or some sort of water catch right in front of where we anchored. People were doing laundry and paddling over to fill water jugs. If youre short on water, this might be an option. There is supposedly good diving here, but no facilities so you must have your own gear. We couldnt find anyone with the intel on exactly where the good diving was. Andy dove around the boat and to the drop off by the anchorage. He found quite a few creatures that were new to him. With some intel, it has some potential.

Marinduque 13.20.157N 121.49.835E We anchored in about 20 feet in grey sand. We did not go to shore. There was a small village and lots of fisherman and a long night of Kareoke. Andy went diving under the boat and found tons of little creatures in the sand. He saw a wonderpus, juvenile lion fish, nudibranch, crocodile fish and many other little creatures.