 |
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Since the Fishing Guru came a bit short on hearing the sound of screeching Shimano TLD 25’s during the adventure, he decided to set out on his own in search of fresh food. After the beast was all fixed up and a few business trips were out of the way, Sean decided to lift anchor and head up north .... way north to San Vicente, Cagayan. The trip up was a 3 day trip with stops in Dasol Bay and Caburao. The weather was very cooperative, and we were doing 32 knots most of the way while not fishing. The weather pretty much stayed that way for 2 weeks! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Day one started off at 6am with the fishing crew (Sean, Ronald, and Marj) and the Bills who we dropped off in Subic to check out their new ride, which should be nearing completion. We had a quick bite to eat, got some fuel and decided to shoot off north. Nobody we know is very familiar with travel by sea in this area too far past the Agno river, so our plan was to go as far as we could until 3:30 pm or so, and seek a suitable anchorage. The plan worked fine, and we arrived in Dasol Bay, found a resort with acceptible rooms (but no food), and managed to refuel. I actually forgot the name of the resort, but they had Aircon Rooms, and the obligatory Karaoke machine for indigenous guests. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The next morning we set off with a similar plan - fish up to Bolinao and then power it up so as far as we can until around 3:30. Crossing the Lingayen Gulf proved to be a bit tedious due to wind and choppy seas, but we managed to get north of Vigan to a place called Cabugao, which is about 1/3 of the way between Vigan and Laoag. There is a small resort with a sloping sandy beach suitible for anchoring. It is also directly on a good secondary road, so refuelling is pretty easy. This resort also had food - not everything on the menu was available, but a good 60% was, and they have a nice freshwater pool. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On the third day of our journey, we also had very good sea conditions, so we decided to go all the way to San Vicente, instead of stopping in Pagudpud. I was a bit surprised to see a windpark for power generation just past Bangui Bay on the Northwestern tip of Luzon. We started to see fish jumping around here, but decided to keep going so we could get organized at the fishing camp. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Upon arrival at the fishing camp we discovered that the next day was the start of the Philippine Gamefishing Foundation’s annual International Billfish Competition, and immediately entered. This proved to be very entertaining, even though the bite could have been better. The PGFF guys are a pretty fun & friendly group of guys. They have several competitions every year in different locations throughout the country. The next event is in Puerto Princessa - I hope they get their website up soon so that more people can track their events! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Day one produced me a 57lb sailfish which put me in 3rd place for the day. One the first time anglers took first place with a catch of 65lb+. We still had three days left, and I wasn’t to hold the position for long. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Day two produced “wala” for the Shakara team, but on day three the rest of the crew met us in San Vicente for support! We didn’t manage to land any billfish, but did manage to get a few decent sized dorados and a wahoo, which counted for the national all-species competition which was a parallel event. Pictured here are Paul and I together with a wahoo and a pair of dorado’s we managed to bring in on a double strike! We have been practicing this season and managed to make no mistakes on the double strike! Tequila says that one shouldn’t target dorados because they mate for life, and in this case how true! I think Paul is getting “hooked” on fishing now as well! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Even though Paul and I didn’t land any billfish on day three of the competition, we took th liberty to have our picture taken with the total booty of the competition. To the right is a picture of the participants from the Philippines, Taiwan, UK, and the USA! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On the left is a picture of our support crew, Ronald and Buddy, without whom we couldn’t have managed the trip! They are in the initial stages of preparing dinner! On the right is the view we had every morning at about 5:00 am on the way to the fishing grounds! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On day 4 of the competition we managed to pull out another pair of Dorado, but no billfish. This was good for dinner, but obviously put us out of the running in the Billfish competition. Anyhow, we weren’t out to win, but just to have fun, which we did! As the PGFF competition came to an end, the group from Papa Ciel Nuyda began to show up, and this was the actual reason I made the journey up north. This is a great group of guys that introduced me to San Vicente two years ago, and actually inspired me to start travelling around this amazing country in search of fish! We were to stay another week at the PGFF camp to chase down more fish! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
As luck would have it, I landed an 83 lb. sailfish the day AFTER the International Billfish Competition ended! This would have probably kept me in running for place three. At any rate it was the biggest fish of Papa Ciel’s annual competition! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Jorel also landed a nice sized sailfish on Shakara! JJ also managed to get a tuna which he wouldn’t let us put soy sauce and wasabi on because he wanted to weigh it! All in all it was a great day! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
On the last day of the Papa Ciel competition, the Shakara crew had to depart heading west to get closer to Manila. With ters in our eyes, we said goodbye to the others at 3:30 and shot off west toward Pagudpud, rounded bangui bay where we changed our fuel filters, and proceeded south to Carubao where we were in familiar turf to add some fuel and get a bite to eat. Once our fuel tanks and stomachs were full, we decided to press on instead of spending the night in attempt to do the trip to Manila in just two days. Our plans were foild about 20 miles south of Vigan when really nasty black clouds began approaching fast and the seas began to turn rough. We found a nearby little hideaway called Port Esteban which was a bit protected from the sea and decided to head in. There was even a nice breakwater, but I forgot that the Philippines is one of the few countries that would build a $100,000 breakwall that is only two feet deep on the protected side. Fazit: I smashed two of my propellers! When the storm subsided, we promptly moved the boat to a sandy area nearby and began to change the propellers underwater in the dark. Thanks to the resourcefullness of Ronald and Buddy, we managed to complete the task in order to leave early the next morning. When we were finnished shanging the props, the coppers showed up and started asking questions. Apparently they don’t see many boats like Shakara up that way, and thought we were smugglers. We showed them the broken propellers and our freezer full of fish, so they believed our story, which still must appear to be pretty strange to them. once they were convinced we weren’t drug runners, they showed concern about the safety of the poor foreigner sleeping on the boat, so they parked their patrol car within eyeshot of the boat for the night. This is yet another example of the genuine hospitality that I have experienced all over this country! Worn out from 13 days on the boat, we set out with a contingency plan of stopping in either Bolinao or Iba, but were actually determined to make Manila in one day! We set out at 4:15 and headed south toward San Fernando, and then across the Lingayen Gulf, which was equally rough as it was on the trip up. After Bolinao the sea turned into rolling swell, so we pegged the green meanies and headed south at 33 knots for a while. Confident that we had enough fuel, we shot right past Dasol Bay and Hermana Mayor. Just west of Hermana Mayor we spotted a whale shark almost the size of our boat only about 5m away from us! By the time we slowed down from 33 knots, all we could then see was the beautiful creature swimming slowly away into the depths. Even though it was only for a econd, it was one of those breathtaking things one only experiences seldomly in life. We got near Iba at around 12 noon and decided to just push on to Subic in order to top off a bit of fuel and get a bite to eat. South of the Capones Islands is familiar turf, so I was a bit mor comfortable and confident that we would manage to get home, even if it started getting dark. At around 1:30 we pulled in to Subic Bay, filled up 100 litres of Diesel at Watersports Venture, had a burger and a beer at Vascos, and headed off to Manila. At 5:30 we were in MYC, unloaded the boat and headed home. I think I was sound asleep in “sanctuary” by 6:45, and didn’t leave the apartment for a day and a half! Another successful 1,000 + mile journey! |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||