We’ve finally finished crossing the Paciic Ocean

Bangka

Technically speaking we actually finished crossing the Pacific Ocean once we reached Palau.  From Palau to the Philippines

Our first view of the Philippines

it’s actually the Philippine Sea.  However, for all intense purposes we consider the Philippine Sea part of the Pacific and have now officially reached Asia.

Yes, we’re now in the Philippines.  We left Palau at the end of February and 4 days later we had completed the 550 nautical mile crossing to the Philippines and laid down our anchor south of Guiuanat the north end of the Surigao Straits.  There we met an Italian resort owner

La Luna resort, Guiuan

with whom we spent a day cruising the local food markets preparing for a feast.  We returned to the small resort (4 rooms) and spend much of the afternoon cooking and chatting in the kitchen.

Cooking Italian style

The rest of the evening was spent out on the patio overlooking the sea and sunset munching down on squid, clams, octopus, pork and of course beer for the Italians, gin and tonic for me and water for Connie.  The resort, La Luna, is exquisite.  Small enough to be intimate and modern enough to meet most expectations

Taking a shower

for a small remote resort.  We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 day visit of the area and we have

after a shower it’s bath time

to thank our host for the time he spent with us.

Crossing the Phillipine Sea had been done in company with an Italian registered vessel singlehanded by Marcello.   We had met Marcello first in Pohnpei and have been crossing tracks with him ever since.  We’re now both anchored off of the Cebu Yacht Club in Lapu Lapu City. Travelling in company with another yacht is a real pleasure.  Although we didn’t see each other on the way over from Palau we did arrive within 12 hours of each other.

Marcello relaxing

From Surigao to Cebu we sailed together for 6 days sharing anchorages, snorkeling together, exploring the land and enjoying the shore excursions.  And now we’re both in Cebu City.

Wow – we’re getting a hit of city life.  After 7 months in towns and villages with populations of no more than a few thousand we are getting a dose of the asian urban life.  That is noisy, dirty, smelly, overpopulated but on the positive side full of life, great restaurants, movie houses, shopping, french cheeses, italian pasta, museums, markets with every possible kind of vegetable and fruit etc etc.  Yes, overload but are we complaining.  One can only survive on taro, breadfruit, bananas and coconuts for a limited time.

We’re glad to be hear not just for the urban hit but now we’re into sailing that doesn’t include huge seas, long passage making and challenging landfalls.

waiting for a lift home

We can anchor every night if we want and get a full nights sleep – a real bonus!  We don’t have to be laden down with tons of supplies and full water tanks but can stop as often and as for long as we like.

We’re going to be in Cebu until the end of this weekend and then off north and westwards towards Palawan.  We’re looking forward to more great snorkeling and beach walking along with spending some time enjoying Philippine hospitality.