Sailing in the Philippines

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

Has anyone checked in at Cebu, Tagbilaran, Lanang or Samal Isand?

Cebu try and get bribes off you. Go see customs rather than them coming to the marina avoids one of them. The health guy charges but thats normal. Immigration are harder - yachties get special treatment in the upstairs room!

You can't check it in Tagbilaran or any other smaller citys.

Some boats check in and out when they get to PP. Or don't check in at all and carry on to Malaysia. These are probably that boats that have been to the Philippines previously tho so are more comfortable doing it.

[gabilo]

Originally Posted by leightonyachts

Good news about PP, We have a good friend there who used to have a large sailboat. so it will be one of our places to drop anchor. Another question, after registering our boat, is it a one time deal? Or is there a time limit? Our schooner is also USCG documented.

In PP, just anchor at Abanico Yacht club, Cissy and John the owners will guide you through with all necessities.
When you approach you can call them on VHF 72 to guide you to an anchorage spot, be aware of shallow parts and reefs when you approach.

[SV Windrush II]

Originally Posted by gabilo

In PP, just anchor at Abanico Yacht club, Cissy and John the owners will guide you through with all necessities.
When you approach you can call them on VHF 72 to guide you to an anchorage spot, be aware of shallow parts and reefs when you approach.

thanks gabilo, all you guys are ` great help.!

[yachtdaemon]

Just a warning that sailing at night is a true nightmare. There are unlit bancas (fishing boats) near most villages and even miles from anywhere, mid-sea, you'll encounter fish traps and stakes. Most of the fishermen have inboard engines and hulls not built for outboards, so theft here is not as much of an issue as it is in other countries. That being said, we got slack and left our dinghy and outboard tied on behind in the water, and had them stolen in Coron, north of Palawan. Seemed like it was the local drunks looking for a ride home, as they just let it drift when they couldn't start it. It was found heading out to sea the next morning by a guy who worked in the marine park, and notified coastguard who arranged for us to collect it.

[jimbim]

We checked in at PP. Cost very little, though then forgot to renew a couple months later, and our visas expired. Stupid, I know. Had to pay a few folks to set things right -- Cissy and John at Abanico YC helped with that and it wasn't too bad. (Google Abanico YC to see the images - lovely place).

We checked out at Subic Bay and were charged hundreds of dollars and received no receipts. We vowed if we ever go back to not bother clearing in. We met cruisers who did this. No hassles, no fees. Taking a chance I suppose, but you can always pay your way out of these things if you get caught.

Our cm93 charts often showed us far from where we actually were, sometimes anchored on land, but the packet of raster charts that cruisers pass around are better. Don't blame Cmap, they just work off local charts, so in the Philippines they are way off, and in Japan they are exact.

Palawan was by far our favourite island. Wonderful place.

[gabilo]

Originally Posted by jimbim

We checked in at PP. Cost very little, though then forgot to renew a couple months later, and our visas expired. Stupid, I know. Had to pay a few folks to set things right -- Cissy and John at Abanico YC helped with that and it wasn't too bad. (Google Abanico YC to see the images - lovely place).

We checked out at Subic Bay and were charged hundreds of dollars and received no receipts. We vowed if we ever go back to not bother clearing in. We met cruisers who did this. No hassles, no fees. Taking a chance I suppose, but you can always pay your way out of these things if you get caught.

Our cm93 charts often showed us far from where we actually were, sometimes anchored on land, but the packet of raster charts that cruisers pass around are better. Don't blame Cmap, they just work off local charts, so in the Philippines they are way off, and in Japan they are exact.

Palawan was by far our favourite island. Wonderful place.

No hassles, no fees and always pay your way out ... I like your optimism but would not recommend to take that road. " ALWAYS" should read "MOST TIMES" because it might just that once not be the case. If your paperwork is ok and up to date there is no reason why you should have to pay hundreds of dollars to clear in- or out.

[Kestrahl]

Originally Posted by gabilo

No hassles, no fees and always pay your way out ... I like your optimism but would not recommend to take that road. " ALWAYS" should read "MOST TIMES" because it might just that once not be the case. If your paperwork is ok and up to date there is no reason why you should have to pay hundreds of dollars to clear in- or out.

Yes there is, you are in a county with a ton of corrupt officials and if you want your passports back they will make you pay. Its very unlikely anyone will care if you are not cleared in, the Philippine navy certainly didn't.

[wingssail]

We cruised the Philippines on two occasions (2004, 2006) with 8' draft, and used CM93 charts, not very detailed or accurate except for a few places, and paper. I am sure Bewitched's charts would be very helpful.

We found check-in check-outs to vary from place to place. The official fees are low but various places add charges, which go into the official's pockets.

Cebu, for example, was easy and low fees, no extra charges, San Fernando, on the west side of Luzon, was much more costly, they added $50 (USD) for each official we spoke to, and they popped out of the woodwork when we checked in. This problem has to do with the frequency of visits by yachts from HK whom don't seem to mind the costs, and they have established a precedent I guess. Puerto Princesa was moderate. You can avoid these by being very firm about not paying. Asking for receipts don't help, they will freely make you a receipt. The thing is, these people don't feel the same way about bribes. It is normal, usually charged and paid without guilt or bad feeling by either side, and they think you are a jerk if you complain. They might let you off but everyone in the office, who was expecting a cut, will feel they were cheated out of what it their due. On the other hand, when the guys in San Fernando saw that we were going to pay, they immediately rang up their wives and said, "Honey, we're going out to dinner tonight."

We had no problems with crime or security however hauling up the dingy and further, locking it well, at night is probably important. We think that Manila can be dangerous but we enjoyed our time there, took trains everywhere.

There are literally thousands of great cruising places, many with no yachts ever present there. Some popular spots we visited were General Luna, on the east coast, Cebu, Port Bonbonon (Negros), Borocay, Puerto Galera, Coron (Busuanga Island), El Nido (Palawan), Subic Bay, to name a few. We missed many others such as Vigan (anchor in Salomague at 17 46.3375 N 120 25.0304 E, there is a CM93 detail chart of here) and Dapitan, Port Taguilon, and Cagayan de Oro on Mindanao.

Weather can be bad (typhoons) any month of the year, so keep your eye on the weather and know where the nearest hurricane hole to you is at all times.

The people are wonderful. The Philippines are like Mexico 50 years ago in terms of cruising.

Note however that yacht parts and services are rare and importing parts usually requires a healthy "fee". You need to be independent and well stocked with spares and tools. Cebu, Subic, and Manila however have facilities and personnel.

The trip from Subic to HK was easy and HK is great to visit, one of the most fabulous cities of the world. On our second visit we left from Palawan to Borneo, (Kudat) part of Malaysia, also quite fun, and this was the path to Indo and Thailand.

[SV Windrush II]

Thanks Wingssail, your post was very helpful! We will be launching hopefully in May and will be doing sea trials through the summer here in the NorthWest. If any of you are in the area let me know. Would love to have you aboard on one of our sailings.

[kmason]

Has anyone ever sailed in from the SE and cleared in at Davao? I've heard this is a pretty nice city and easy to clear in as far as Philippine clearance is concerned. I was thinking of going the South Pacific route in the near future and coming up through the Solomon Islands, PNG and then on to the Philippines.

[bewitched]

A little note on the Bewitched charts:

If the ones you have are in lower case format, (xxxx.new.kap), then these are the first set I made and are on Luzon datum. So your GPS (WGS84) will put the boat typically 150m to the SE of where you actually are. I wish I could get these back and delete them, but the Gene was out of the bottle once I shared with 1 other boat.

The set to get hold of is in upper case format (xxxx.NEW.KAP). These have been shuffled to WGS84 and so should be OK.

Getting hold of a set once you arrive won't be too difficult.

Navionics and CMAP Edition 3 charts are OK for Philippines. CMAP Edition 2 is crap. (Edition 2 is the one that runs on OpenCPN. Open CPN can't run Edition 3, but the XP Maxsea that we are all ... erm... acquire.... does)

For busy places like Subic, Manila, Cebu etc Navionics & CMAP will probably be better. But for the out of the way bays, the detail is just not there and both myself and others have experienced random inaccuracies with CMAP set.

If you find them useful, pass on to others. If you find errors, let me know.

[SailingAsia11]

Im looking to be a crew on a sailboat here in the Philippines and willing to share cost does anyone know if someone is looking for a crew?

[SailingAsia11]

Im looking to be a crew on a sailboat here in the Philippines and willing to share cost does anyone know if someone is looking for a crew?
Cheers
Emily

[delmarrey]

Hi Emily,
Welcome to CF!
I'm here in Cavite right now heading back to the USA in a couple days. The boat's in SF right now but will be heading over in Nov. May have some opportunities if your still around next year.

There's several CF's here so stay in touch you may get some comm's.

Also it would help to provide some qual's and experience.

[Bruce626]

Bewitched wrote "The set to get hold of is in upper case format (xxxx.NEW.KAP). These have been shuffled to WGS84 and so should be OK.

Getting hold of a set once you arrive won't be too difficult." ==> Is there a URL from which they can be downloaded? I would really like to get a set. I have been here for almost eight years and not run into anyone who has them (to be fair my catamaran has been under construction for five years+ and is just now ready to go after some fixes from sea trial two). I am currently in Tambobo Bay if there is someone local who can help. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.