From Magnificent to Menacing in Minutes

20 August 2010
Uson Island to Coron Island to Bauan Bay, Bulalacao Island
Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

Raul bought bait from this fisherman. We couldn't help but stare at him because he was so dark, almost black. Coron Island.

Cruised down the entire western side of Coron Island the whole morning, mesmerized by the seemingly unending towering limestone cliffs. There is a marked difference as we sail south. While the northern part of Coron Island is lush and green with foliage, the southern side is much less verdant and thus the limestone cliffs look grayer, more forbidding, and much more spectacular, rising up to 2,000 feet. They seemed to go on and on and on… until we rounded the southern tip and found a peaceful bay where we anchored off as close to the cliffs as we possibly could. Took our dinghy, Putol, for a drive and let ourselves get lost in the nooks and crannies of the cliffs. We hardly spoke as we did not want to disturb the silence and we could only stare in wonder at these magnificent cliffs, breathtaking and bathed in sunshine in sharp contrast to the hovering clouds in the distance.

Majestic Coron Island

Halfway thru lifting anchor at 2pm so we could get to our next destination early, our electronic windlass died! What is this with us and our anchor? It’s only day 2 and this is our second problem with it. We were at 60 feet depth and still had 80 feet of line to pull with the last 60 feet made of chain, meaning we were not safely anchored anymore but could not go anywhere at the same time. Raul tried to repair the windlass in every way he could unsuccessfully, and soon he was opening manuals, dismantling engine boxes, sticking his head into the bowels of the boat to check the electrical circuit, etc… to no avail. All this time, the “hovering cloud in the distance” was quickly approaching, a squall in this habagat season. The limestone cliffs which an hour ago were magnificent, now looked menacing, and a place I didn’t want to be in in a squall and a stuck anchor. Finally, painful inch by painful inch, with a combination of brute animal strength, desperation and teamwork, with minutes to spare before the squall hit us, Raul and I successfully lifted the anchor manually (!) and were on our way to Bulalacao, our next destination.

It was a heart-pounding tension-filled moment with no room for panic and despair as we had only ourselves to fix the problem. But isn’t this what life is all about? How something can change in an instant? And it’s up to us to rise to the challenge, focus, focus, focus, and move on.

Hang on! Squall coming!

Spent the night in Bauan Bay, beautiful and very protected inlet surrounded by mangroves and some pearl farms. God was feeling somber today as His sunset was muted but not any less beautiful- a brilliant yellow amidst impossibly numerous shades of gray. I took Putol to check out the mangroves up close but the corals were too shallow and sharp. Spent the evening on deck mesmerized by water like glass and an almost full moon, not a soul in sight. Just the sound of birds and, I could swear, monkeys.

15 nm from Uson Island to southern Coron (watch out for reefs- they are well marked in the charts) and another 10 nm to Bauan Bay., Bulalacao Island, where we anchored for the night at 70ft. mud bottom. Gets shallow very quickly so watch out.