A Two Week Cruise To Busuanga

By Tequila Mike

Many people don’t have too much time to spend on their holiday cruise so I’ll give you an idea which could take one week but would be great on a two week cruise.

The destination cruise area is Busuanga Island, which is the most northern of the Calamian group of islands in the very north of Palawan. The area is really still unspoilt except for the immediate vicinity of Coron town, which should be avoided except for the good provisioning available here.

The itinerary I describe here, I have completed maybe 20 times and combines beaches, islands and resorts all in one cruise. The waypoints I include are basic and not to be used for navigation, merely to show the approx locations of the places described. I’m also assuming this cruise will be undertaken during the Amihan or north-easterly wind season, i.e. November to May.

An early morning start from PG and a due west heading takes you towards Calavite point, passing Del Monte point which is due south of Golo Island light house (useful for the return as you will see!) this is sometimes a wild area with currents and strong winds confusing the sea, either that or no wind at all and flat calm for the 40 miles to Calavite lighthouse. If the wind is strong NE then you will find smooth flat calm between the light and the south point of Calavite where the wind will kick in again very strong. There is a bay with a small village 3 miles south of Calavite light, which is a good anchorage in The NE but may be a little rocky if there has been a NW swell for a few days. Otherwise head over to the shelter of Mamburao, being careful to give Mamburao reef a wide berth!

30 miles or so south is the lovely private island of North Pandan, owned by two Swiss French guys who love to party. The island sometimes has a mooring available but better is to anchor in the sandy area off the NE point near the bar/restaurant in 8 metres of sand and sea grass. Don’t anchor in coral as this a protected island, any doubt, the listen in on Ch 68 and phone numbers are all in the list below this article. They will buy ice and beer etc for you from the mainland if you like and the island is very reasonable for food, drinks and accommodation if you would like to have a break ashore.

20 miles or so to the east is the vast marine park of Apo Reef. This is a fantastic reef covering about 27 sq kms and if the weather is not rough there is a safe anchorage inside the main reef to the east of Apo Is lighthouse. Please visit the ranger station and give them a bottle of something to ease their lonely existence. They will also ask for a small fee for snorkelling or diving. This money is put to good use conserving the reef, as you will see the first time you stick your head underwater!

33 miles south of here is the main island of Busuanga. The only safe anchorage on the north side of this island is the peaceful Maricaban Bay Marina Resort where there are seven moorings available for 150 Pesos per night. The good news here is that once that is covered, the beautiful swimming pool, bar restaurant, showers, towels etc are available to all the crew on the yacht free! It’s a lovely place to relax. The drinks and food are Manila prices because everything is shipped from there. This and the sister Island resort of Club Paradise are up market resorts but they will make you feel very welcome thanks to the influence of yours truly who set up the moorings. Let me know if you encounter any problems please, but do be aware that your first visit will be from our security guards who will be very courteous and help you to a mooring. They will carry Armalites but we are remote islands and our security is for everyone’s benefit and peace of mind!

There is a very strong mooring available off the SE tip of Club Paradise (Dimakya Island on the charts) for large boats to 100 tons or more but it’s normally free and it’s a good idea to motor the 3 miles from Maricaban Bay to the island for some snorkelling, diving or lunch during the daytime before returning to the tranquil mooring. Both resorts have an amazing amount of wildlife and bird population: giant monitor lizards, Calamian deer, mouse deer, huge fruit bats, night herons and thousands of birds, Maricaban has a troop of monkeys in addition and Bear cats. There is also the second largest WW2 Japanese shipwreck here at 2 miles from Maricaban. 500 feet long it is a good wreck for two dives. Talk to the dive shop in Club Paradise for help with directions, or better still, go with them!

From here I suggest a slow cruise along the coast going west and then south around the Pinnacle rocks heading for a night at anchor in Calauit Island bay (Illuktuk Bay on the chart). This is a very peaceful anchorage and a typhoon hole. It is also the base camp for the Calauit Safari tour. Hundreds of animals were brought by Tony Parkinson (SY Riva) from Kenya for the Marcos family to create a sanctuary. You will find Giraffe and Zebra among many other species on this island tour, which is very reasonable. They do the safari in the evening and early morning and need notice. I suggest you go ashore in the evening and arrange the early morning trip, its cooler!!

Heading south around the island there are some stunning, and for me the most beautiful, small islands where the sea is always calm, even in the westerlies. Stop at South Cay and Maltatayoc Islands on their east side where you can anchor and sit back onto stunning white sand beaches and enjoy some good snorkelling. These islands are mostly deserted but there are caretakers on some and they will ask you normally for 50 Pesos each for the privilege of having a private island. This goes for the islands’ upkeep and cleaning so please give without discussion, actually a lot of the islands are owned by an Englishman and he’s told me he has set phones on some of them for emergencies now.

A good anchorage in this area is Coral Bay Resort on the south side of Popototan Island in a sheltered bay. Head in and anchor no shallower than 13 mtrs at the head of the bay as the reef comes up fast. Just off the large second pier in is where I go. They may or may not have drinks or dinner available but it’s a very quiet spot.

Next day, head through the islands towards Conception town being careful of reefs and pearl farms (see note below). Safe anchorage in 14 mtrs water 500 mtrs SW of the pier, don’t get too close, reefs everywhere close in! I include this anchorage for two reasons: The Pierhouse lodge right on the pier is a very relaxing reasonable place to hang out and eat, drink and check out the waterfall, and is run by Swedish Mike and his lovely wife Liz who really does provide great food. The beer is also the coldest in Busuanga!

Lovely sunsets from the veranda, with the sun going down behind the anchorage. The other reason is that there is an ice plant on the NW tip of Kaniki Island in front of Conception, Mike will tell you where it is or will get ice for you. He can also arrange for stuff to be sent from Coron the following day via jeepney if you don’t want to head into Coron. Sat phone available.

From here we follow the coastline and the pearl farms around the island to another stunning resort called Sangat Island Reserve (Tangat Island on the chart). English Andy and his lovely girls have a 1,000ft limestone backdrop to their resort on a beautiful beach with a very good coral reef in front. Lots of monkeys and monitor lizards and again very peaceful. The generator is only run from 18:00-22:00 so nights are silent (no chickens, dogs, jeeps or karaoke!). Diving the Japanese wrecks from here is perfect because Andy is not more than 20 minutes from any of them. Sat phone available.

Coron would be the next stop on this trip although I will add another weeklong trip from here going around the island to the south in one of the following issues. It’s only about 15 miles to Coron and easy enough except for the two shoals to be wary of south of the Uson Island entrance going north. As you see the town from the passage in you will pass a resort painted yellow and blue on your starboard, called Divelink, from here head straight for the town and especially a large cream coloured hotel with three stories and double steps down to the water on either side. This is Sea Dive resort, owned by Jim, an American who is always happy to welcome yachties and is the best and easiest place to tie up your dinghy when ashore. Anchor in 10 mtrs near the large bankas in front of Sea Dive, but, again be careful of the reefs here. If in doubt, anchor out and change later after local advice as to how far to come in. Seriously smelly muddy anchorage, be prepared to wash a lot of chain on departure! Town is also very smelly but provisioning is very good here and transportation by ship and plane to Manila is very easy and cheap!
Recommended bars/restaurants: Sea Dive, L&M Pe bar, Bayside Divers lodge, Kalamayaan Inn, Kokosnuss restaurant resort (out of town but great food and quiet rooms!), Discovery Divers Island resort (also another good anchorage where they will help you, look for a Trader 40, a blue and yellow ketch and a 36 foot classic racing yacht and you’re in the right place. It’s the anchorage before you get to Sea Dive. Banaue Café and the Old House up and down are also good restaurants.

PEARL FARMS

The first time you are confronted by what looks like a solid sea of mines, do not fear, they are actually very easy to navigate. These floats are set out in “long lines“ and when closer it’s very easy to see from the float spacing. At the end of the long lines are large anchoring floats, sometimes small platforms, the actual pearl net floats are small, round and black and they are spaced much closer than the anchoring floats. All long lines are navigable along their length and every 100 mtrs or so you will find they end and leave a large space before the next one. These are channels and are navigable. So to get through these farms you can do a criss cross route or go around, and one thing which helps is you can always go to the landward side of the lines if you like as the nets are hung in 10-20 mtrs of water and they don’t like shallow. You will also find you will have an escort boat to help if needed; these are guards as this is big money. If in problems, just shrug and point to where you want to go and he will lead you through the best way, it’s his job. Do not stop ever in these farms, they’re armed and suspicious, but over the last few years they’ve become more used to yachties and sometimes I even get some smiles! They’re really not such a problem and because of them all sea life is protected by the farms from illegal fishing methods. You will also note that submerged reef points and rocks will have solitary buoys marking them for the safety of the public, very helpful, stay outside these buoys if you see them.

Departure from Coron anchorage is via a tricky passage through the reefs of Coron to the Eastern passage out, (take local knowledge before attempting the town reefs, it’s a tight channel!!) and wends your way out of the limestone crags of Coron Island to your starboard. You may also want to stop at lovely Cayangan Lake on the north side of Coron Island but this must be arranged in Coron as the local Tagbanua natives have control now of their ancestral domain and fees must be paid. Well worth a visit though. Talk to Seadive Lodge for a no hassles day trip to this lake and also the Coron town Hot springs, cheap and fun!

From here you can go inside or outside Dinaran Island and Mataya reef, heading NE for Tara Island. Anchor in sand on the West side at the south end next to the village or further north inside a large offshore rock inside the reefs, be careful, and when you leave here beware a submerged shelf way off from the last rock on NW tip of Tara. Stay at least 500 mtrs from everything.

During the NE I would suggest to return to Pandan and then Calavite. If the wind is howling, head for a bay on the south side of Golo Island about one mile west of the light. Coming from the south you will see a high ridge going west from the light, where it drops down to almost sea level is the anchorage. Sand and coral but out of the wind and waves and you are already well advanced into Calavite passage for the return the next day through the wind and waves, this can be brutal.

Later in the year I will do another extension trip ton return via S. Mindoro, Boracay, Romblon and Marinduque to take care of the SW winds.

Phone numbers:
PGYC 043-4420136
Club Paradise 0981-991797
Swedish Mike Conception 0985-409241
Seadive Coron 048-5509207
Tequila Mike 0919-5244978

Waypoints: East North
Del Monte point 120°05’ 13°33’
Calavite light 120°17’ 13°27’
Pandan Island 120°45’ 12°52’
Golo Island 120°22’ 13°39’
Club Paradise 120°05’ 12°13’
Maricaban Bay 120°06’ 12°17’
Pinnacle Rocks 119°50’ 12°20’
Calauit entrance 119°52’ 12°16’
South Cay 119°53’ 12°02’
Conception 119°58’ 12°03’
Sangat Resort 120°03’ 11°58’
Coron anchorage 120°12’ 11°59’

Here are two additional trips for people with more time to spend exploring this beautiful cruising area:-

The first extension starts from Coron town since provisioning is easiest to do here after the first part of the cruise. There are no stores or ice plants for the next week!

Head over to Culion town and anchor in about 13 mtrs of water 100 mtrs to the east of the main commercial pier. There is a small protected harbour for dinghies on the other side of the pier where your dinghy will be safe while you go ashore. This town is famous for its history as the leper colony of the Philippines dating back to the 1800’s. There is a very interesting museum if you can find the curator and key, and the old lookout by the large church on top of the hill provides a wonderful view. The hospital is the best in the area, and have no fear of leprosy, you would be hard pushed to find anyone with this. The town is clean and the mayor is a young man with a vision for his area, go and meet him and have a chat, he likes to receive people in his town.

The waters around Culion are also very clean and reefs easy to spot, unlike Coron town! From here I would suggest you cruise through the Inland Passage heading west and south towards Bulalacao Island for the night. The inland passage is really interesting, take it slow, do stop at tiny private Malcapuya Island, it’s lovely and you can come over the reef on the south side and anchor in crystal clear water in sand and snorkel around the perfect protected reef, it’s not far to travel on each day of this extension. Anchor in Bauan bay on the NE corner of Bulalacao island, it’s safe and protected. You could take your dinghy through the mangroves in the south of this bay to the multi coloured shoals on the south of the island to watch the sunset, look for the bangkas coming through to find the channel.

A few miles away is the southern tip of Coron Island which you should round and drop anchor just off a stunning bay surrounded by 1000 foot cliffs, only a dinghy can enter this spot, and try not to land as this is part of the Tagbanua tribal lands and you may be asked for cash, it’s really a good place to dinghy around taking photos before heading back for lunch on the yacht! The natives in this whole area will normally have some fish for sale if you’re interested.
A favourite place for me to stay from here is inside the horseshoe of Ditatayan Island to the SW of Bulalacao, although some people have complained about flies there recently. There is a stunning sandbar off the north tip of this island with a huge area of turquoise water, sandy bottom which would be a good place for a night if it’s very calm.

From here, head for the south of Culion Island and pass inside the little island of Calipipit and the large island just off the south tip of Culion. Again I repeat to be alert for reefs, the charts are good for this area but just take care, they’re easy to spot in this clear water. Turn the corner and head north for the entrance to Halsey harbour, there is no problem with the south passage into the entrance, the channel is 100 mtrs wide at minimum so no need to go around and approach from the west.

The best place to anchor here is at the end of the south fork (bay on the chart). This is very peaceful and the villagers will come out and offer you huge prawns for a very good price, suggest no more than 300-400 pesos a kilo. This whole bay is huge and worth a couple of days motoring around to check it out, it’s also a good typhoon hole, and at the village in South Bay you will find a large pipe which pumps out drinking water all day long from a spring ashore.

Head north from here and it’s a quick trip to Galoc island, and if you feel like being a little daring, take the passage to the south of Galoc and North of Culion to head back into Coron entrance just south of Coral Bay resort again. I have been right inside the shoals half way through this passage and the colours in the water are great if the sun is high. Take great care here.

For a no hassle passage go north of Galoc and pass by Coral Bay resort, stop here for the night or carry on for Concepcion or Sangat island resort, (see last issue). Another nice place to stop is just to the east of tiny Pass island in a bay on the west side of Lamud Island where German Jojo and his wife Margie will welcome you. There is a mooring here or anchor in front of the bar in about 15mtrs water. A good reef and good restaurant for lunch or an overnight stop. From this anchorage, do not head east as the reef between the islands is awash!!

That’s it for now folks! Next article will be an extension cruise via Boracay, Romblon and Marinduque back to PG which would be fine in NE and SW wind seasons.

Tequila Mike

WAYPOINTS
Bauan Bay 11 46 00 N 120 10 50 E
Calis Point 11 49 00 N 120 16 00 E
Cullion Town 11 54 00 N 120 01 00 E
Ditatayan Is. 11 44 00 N 120 06 00 E
Halsey Hbr. 11 45 00 N 119 56 00 E
Popototan Is. 11 59 00 N 119 52 00 E