turtle swimming towards nesting beach

Images courtesy: John Smart

If you visited Puerto Galera in 1981, it would not have been uncommon to see turtles swimming along the shallow waters off the beaches and in the bays. The turtles would feed on the sponges and swathes of sea grass. Turtles would lay their eggs along the almost deserted beaches, especially along the peninsular beaches (from Coco Beach to Sabang Beach) and their young would stumble back into the water upon hatching, to commence their years of cruising the oceans.

Rowing La Mesa Dam: Serenity!

Images courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

Rowing is not a sport that immediately screams "Philippines!" but certainly one where the Philippines has had some medal success on the international sporting stage. Rowing on La Mesa Dam offers the most complete workout, in arguably the healthiest corner of Metro Manila.

Build Your Own Boat In 3 Days!

Image courtesy: PHBYC

Want to build you own boat and learn to sail it? All in one weekend? Now you can . . .

The Philippine Home Boatbuilders Yacht Club ("PHBYC") has announced the Family Boat Building Weekend 2017, to take place during the Philippine Independence Day holiday weekend, from 10-12 June.

Pursuit Racing At Its Finest

Image courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

The 2017 Puerto Galera Yacht Club ("PGYC") Easter Regatta was the 26th in the series and is now the longest running yachting event in the Philippines. Twenty one yachts joined in the sailing fun, along courses set across the Verde Island Passage. The weather gods blessed the event with three gloriously sunny days, serving up 10-20 knot breezes from a generally easterly direction.

Race Start Round The Volcano

Image courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

The Round The Volcano Race 2016, principal sponsor Club Balai Isabel, organized by the Taal Lake Yacht Club, is unique in all the World. Where else on Earth can you sail in a volcano lake that has at its centre an active volcano?

The Last Yacht In The Philippines?

Image courtesy: Girlie Cervantes

STOP PRESS

Through the intervention of Congressman Ricky Sandoval, the head of MARINA this morning confirmed that the proposed Memorandum Circular (distributed on 10th May, 2016), that aimed to regulate private Yachts and Other Pleasure Craft, will not be pursued in its present form. However, in the interests of on-water safety and security, proposals will be accepted for consideration by MARINA under the new administration.

Original Article . . .

Freediving the Tablas Blue Hole

Image courtesy: Juliet Solar

Another sailing cruise aboard S/Y Naya

What sets a Freediving Sailing Cruise in the Philippines apart from almost all other South East Asian countries is the tectonic jousts that happen almost daily between the “plates” that cover our Planet’s mantle. The result is that many of the island groups are separated by deep, sometimes very deep, stretches of water, close to shore. Perfect for a Sailing Cruise adventure for freedivers.

Freedivers are different, and on a sailing cruise very different from the other friends we have taken thus far. It is not just that freedivers carry no weighty scuba gear and tanks of compressed air (or more exotic mixes of gases), it is that their perspective on a “dive” is typically more about self-awareness than embracing the stunning filaments of Mother Nature’s creation beneath the waves.

idyllic anchorage at Banton Island

Image courtesy: John Smart

A sailing cruise aboard S/Y Naya

Fancy a sailing cruise in the Philippines? We will have to be friends first . . . in return you will enjoy some of the prettiest sailing cruise destinations in the Philippines and chance to meet some of the ocean’s most astounding creatures.

We set sail from Laiya, Batangas, with the intent of starting our five day sailing cruise by crossing to the island of Marinduque; to be specific, to the Tres Reyes island chain, off the southwest of Marinduque Island. However, the wind did not favor this plan and so, fairly early, we changed course for the volcano island of Sibale (also known as Conception and Maestre de Campo, depending on the map you use).