Monday 13 April Puerto Princesa

Our run down the coast into Puerto Princesa was a pleasant sail stopping at a different island each night but now we are in the big smoke, the capital city of Palawan in the very protected bay in front of the Abanico yacht club. From here we can see the city a mile to our south without having the wash of ships docking at the wharf and we have a safe place to leave our dinghy when we want to go shopping.

low key Abanico yacht club

Abanico yacht club charges a small weekly fee for visiting yachts to use their facilities. We chose to anchor though we could have used a mooring ball for another small cost, but with good holding and no apparent advantage we opted for the prepaid anchor and chain.

PP was always going to be our last stop in the Philippines. It's the closest port to Kudat in Malaysia. Our shopping list included enough diesel to reach Malaysia (where it's cheaper), some pig products for the freezer, some cheap gin and a visit to the dentist. Diesel was obtained by taking jerry jugs on a tricycle to the petrol station and ferrying then out to Jackster in the dinghy. Food and drinks came from the supermarket at a modern mall a mile from the yacht club and the dentist was a recommendation from a Canadian pilot who lives and works in Palawan. Her office was opposite the mall. Neither David or I have any problems – this was regular cleaning and check up. Personal maintenance to keep our pearlies in top condition.

PP is a low key city, not particularly big and more functional than pretty. The people are as friendly as any we've met on our travels and it was easy to find our way around. As always there are tricycles everywhere. We went in a couple of times and walked, it's too hot to stroll, looking around and stopping for a coffee when we needed a cool break. It's a city with shops and if we'd needed something in particular I'm sure we'd have found it.

A highlight of the yacht club, and this seems to be a recurring theme in our blog, was the restaurant. Pegie, a diminutive of Priscilla Gilberta, cooked up some fab food though her 'piece de resistance' was the Sunday lunch buffet. If you should ever find yourself in PP we recommend a visit to Abanico if only for the Sunday lunch.

So once more with all the tanks filled we were ready to leave the Philippines. We slipped out Monday morning and with one overnight stop and one overnight passage were back in P Banggi, Malaysia on Wednesday afternoon.