Back in Euphoria

With Typhoon Ruth past us and good weather we headed around the tip of Palawan to the small village of El Nino along with our friends on “Lost in Asia”. It is so good to have a buddy boat again. We hit a big squall just as we anchored the first night, the last vestiges of Ruth with torrid rains. the next day was sunny a bright for our rounding of the island. This is a remote area, no one to be seen and the scenery was spectacular. We made the cut inside the small island at the tip, reminiscent or rounding the tip of Washington State inside Tatoosh Island, it looked worse than it was. Once on the lee side of the island we had calm seas albeit for the huge long slow Northwest swell coming down for Hong Kong.

El Nino is a small remote town which draws some tourist trade. The area is dotted with small picturesque islands all hiding great diving. We enjoyed the village and the girls did some side trips then we anchored off one of the islands and did some diving and exploring. this is one of the most beautiful anchorages i have found as we were directly under a flat volcanic wall topped with palm trees. It also provided excellent protection from the NE winds.

The weather window popped up so off to Coron we went, again the massive although quite passive NW swell made for a rolly trip and a few got sea sick. Once inside the islands the going was smooth, we pulled into Coron Town just before dark. First stop was the famous Coron Hot Springs, one of my fav places. You take a trike ride about 20 minutes over rough road to the salt water hot springs, the driver waits while you soak for 300p (about 8 bucks). I so enjoyed returning to the springs.

As is the perils of my constantly rotating inexperienced crew, the girls got feeling too confined. i had done all i could to make sure they had time to enjoy things they liked but being on a crew does impose some limitations. This has been a repeating situation for which i do not have an answer. Also personalities sometimes clash and i find that once one girl is unhappy it spreads fast, often changing a great crew into an disgruntled one. the net result here was the two girls left the boat rather suddenly leaving me alone for a few weeks. this is not all a bad thing as i enjoy some solitude, such is the game.

i found an intriguing thing happened next, i seemed to suffer from some physical effects, rare for me as i am extremely healthy. In the whole of things this event created some very minor stress, nothing like i dealt with on a daily basis in my former life. i was bewildered by this experience until i realized that my body has gotten used to being euphorically happy for so long that it revolts at anything close to stress, i have just become spoiled i guess.

i left Coron Town and headed to one of my favorite places, Puerto Del Sol. No sooner did it tie to the mooring than old friends appeared with warm greetings. i did my rounds seeing friends again and was instantly invited to a great Solstice Party at Laura’ s Garden. Laura carved out a small oasis from the jungle with outdoor dining amongst the vines and trees. For the party she had a talented drum band perform, one of the best i have ever heard. At her request i had brought my guitar and after the show i played for a small group of remaining locals.

That night i slept like a log under the bright stars, all the physical signs vanished and i was back in euphoria where i belong.