O Captain! I'm Captain!

San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas to Maricaban Bay, Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines
31 October 2012

I’m Paraluman’s first mate and my husband, Raul, is the skipper or captain. That means that he’s at the helm, makes all the decisions and shouts out orders which I carry out immediately. He stands behind the wheel and the navigation instruments while I do all the physical non-thinking work. I run around the boat, pull the lines, grind the winches, set the travelers, lift and drop the anchor.

Windsurfing, still my alltime favorite kind of sailing because it's sooo fast!

I’ve been sailing for 20+ years- windsurfing, hobie cat and dinghy sailing, crewing for a keelboat for 10+ years, and recently started kiteboarding. But there’s something about helming a big keelboat like Paraluman that intimidates me until now. Being used to windsurfing where control is within reach of my own hands and feet and the response is instantaneous, I still can't get used to Paraluman’s size and am easily frightened when she heels or it’s time to gybe or tack.

Raul, my husband and captain

Our past sailing trips are always relaxed and made up of short hops between destinations. We never sail at night and break long trips into several legs. We aim to be anchored safely by mid-afternoon so we are grilling our steaks and drinking our vodka tonics by sunset.

The Joy of Doing Nothing

November 2012
Maricaban Bay, Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines


I sailed into beautiful Maricaban Bay, Busuanga, Palawan on a full moon and left on a full moon.

I spent almost 5 weeks living by myself in Paraluman in my favorite place in the Philippines, in clear blue waters ringed with lush rolling hills. Alone but never lonely, my days were dictated not by my To Do list or the traffic situation, but by the weather, the sun and the moon.

View from Hunter's Peak. Paraluman is the faint blue line.

I start each day by watching the sunrise and end with the sunset. On calm windless days, I swim laps around the reef, kayak to the mangroves or snorkel with the friendly resident school of jacks. On cool windy days, I run on the beach, climb Hunter’s Peak for a panoramic view of the bay or wrestle the sand rake from the maintenance guy so I can rake the beach myself. Then I go to work- load fresh water, refill fuel tanks, charge the batteries, operate the generator. I clean Paraluman inside and out, and Putol, my trusty dinghy. Cook, wash the dishes, do the laundry. Read the news, check email and manage the city household remotely. During the hottest hours of unbearably scorching days, I take a nap as moving alone becomes an effort. Without planning to, I lose weight and get stronger in a way that I couldn’t in Manila despite hours in the gym and watching what I eat.

Back to the Rat Race

28-29 August 2010
Maricaban Bay, Busuanga - Sablayan Bay, Mindoro - San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas
Philippines

Paraluman, our home away from home

The trip home from Busuanga to Pugad (our home in San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas) is 115 nautical miles (approx 18 hours). We did not want to travel at night though or be anywhere near the infamous Calavite Passage at an unpredictable time so we broke the trip into 2 days. The first day was 58 nm in 8.5 hours from Busuanga to Sablayan Bay, Mindoro. Ahhh, the joy of sailing- quiet, crisp blue skies, steady 16-18 knot wind with waves and current on the same direction as ours. (click here to read why sailing on this day was extraordinarily delightful).

The second leg, the final day of our trip, was 85 nm in 12 hours. We crossed the notorious Calavite Passage which brought a certain dread for Raul and me. Located at the northwestern tip of Mindoro, it is a notoriously treacherous passage and brings trepidation to every boat that passes through. To understand why, imagine all the wind and water from the entire South China Sea flowing into/from the one and only funnel into/from the Philippines from the west. You get a monster of a washing machine of water, waves and wind.

Baby Come Back

28 August 2010
Maricaban Bay- Sablayan Bay/South Pandan Island
Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

We left Maricaban Bay at 7am for our homeward leg, home being San Teodoro, Mabini, Batangas. Mariel stayed behind to fly back to Manila from Coron. She leaves for a 10-month student exchange program in Germany in a week’s time and opted to spend some time with her friends before then. Moreover, she was “sick of being with her parents all day and all night” for 11 days.

Mariel fooling around with our dinghy, Putol.

I should be pleased that Raul and I have the boat to ourselves now. We have more space in our snail home where you can hear every burp and fart. There’s one less mouth to feed (she’s vegetarian and my husband is a carnivore so cooking is always a double effort). We no longer have to hide our illegal substances or control our sexual urges. I can now play my own music anytime. No more messy clothes and clutter everywhere.

Happy Birthday To Me

27 August 2010
Illutuk Bay- Maricaban Bay
Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

After a day and night of non-stop pouring rain and gusty winds, we woke up to a spectacular orange sunrise which led to a shining sun and crisp blue skies. It’s my birthday today.

We sailed to Maricaban Bay and moored at the El Rio y Mar Resort. I had 4 frozen margaritas of different flavors over a sumptuous lunch of grilled prawns which I didn’t prepare and wash dishes for. It’s my birthday today and I’m taking a day off from my vacation.

Drinks and lunch at the bar at the end of the pier surrounded by water in El Rio y Mar.

It's Payback Time

26 August 2010
Gutob Bay – Illutuk Bay
Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

It was a risk to do this cruise during the habagat (monsoon) season. So far we’ve been extremely lucky and blessed with fair weather. We’ve had a squall here and there, nothing bad, just enough to cool us down and wash our deck. But the weather’s been too good to be true and the habagat is now rearing its ugly face.

One of numerous squalls during the habagat season

We woke up to heavy rain clouds threatening to burst at any moment. Approaching Illutuk Bay, there was a squall approaching our way and it was a bet whether we would get to the narrow entrance before it did. It was quite a tricky entry with a shallow reef at port (left side) and required hugging the rock wall on starboard (right). Once past the entrance, we needed to maneuver through a tight and winding path with 5 turns within 1 nautical mile- the equivalent of a water slalom course. We were faced with uncertainty whether we should proceed and risk navigating through the delicate entrance and twisting turns in a squall (the rock wall on the right looked painful…), or wait indefinitely outside the entrance in 8-10 foot waves for the squall to pass. The entrance is a strong tidal stream and it was not a smart idea to be there in rough conditions. We opted for the former and, luckily, we made it through before the squall hit. (If you want to read a hairy close encounter with a squall, click here).

7,107 Islands. So Little Time.

24-25 August 2010
Puerto de Sol- Pass Island- Popototan Island- Mangenguey Island- Gutob Bay
Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines

We are getting used to this cruising life and becoming more confident with our sailing skills. We have been visually navigating using the charts and uhhmmm… our eyes instead of plotting our course in the electronic chartplotter. We use basic triangulation, the kind we learned in high school but works just as well. We are not so paranoid and harsh on ourselves anymore over sailing rules and safety precautions.

That’s because we’re too engrossed with enjoying this amazing scenery around us! There’s an endless parade of tropical paradise islands wherever we look, in different shapes and sizes, with immaculate white beaches, snaking sand bars, verdant hills, graceful birds and vibrant marine life.

We see an island that attracts us? We simply sail to it and drop anchor.