Safe and Sound

Hi Everyone,

Randal and I are safe, dry, and waiting out the bad weather in Illutuk Bay, Calauit Island, Busuanga. This is a very protected cove and one of the best typhoon anchorages in the Philippines. We are not in the direct path of the typhoon but are getting strong winds and rain. The seas outside the bay have to calm before we will leave so we may be here another week. There is not a cell phone tower with SMART, (our phone service) so we can just communicate with a very slow email which is transmitted through Brunei. Email goes through our single sideband radio which bounces off the atmosphere. Sun spots can block it and radio traffic can make it very slow. We are about 500 ft from shore where there are some small native homes. There are other similar homes dotted around the bay as well so we aren't marooned out here alone. Small bancas go by and we wave and they wave. There is a wildlife preserve here and as soon as the weather is good enough we will go for a tour. While on Romblon Island we met a Brit, Tony Parkinson who helped establish the preserve when Marcos was president of the Philippines. It was originally a way to save threatened species. Tony is a very interesting man who can tell you about David Attenborough, Joy Adamson, Diane Fossey because he knew them. While on Romblon our guide took us to meet Tony and see the spectacular view from his home.

Our new, huge, wonderful anchor is doing a super job and we are making a giant doodle on the chart plotter as it captures the boat's swings around on it. If I ever get to have wifi again, I'll try to send a photo.

We are surrounded by the preserve lands and small mountains (blocking the wind) and, other than the wind, it is very quite. Randal and I have watched the last game of the 04 and 07 World Series that I have on DVD. We run the genset to generate power but use it sparingly though I have done laundry and will bake bread this morning. If we just had some fresh fruit and veggies it would be just grand!

This is definitely a lesson in weather. You do what it says! The sun is coming out!!!

Ru