March 7, 2006-The Seaplane Shortcut

Seaplane

We're at Coron, in Palawan province, in the Philippines, anchored out of town a bit behind an island and tucked up close to it to keep out of the chop which the east wind kicks up around here.

We take the dingy to town when we need to go to the market, but the distance makes the trip a little tedious, particularly when the wind is up. Going around the island in the face of a good chop is sure to get you wet.

Su Ying & Dave Short

Su Ying told us however, about a shortcut through the mangroves behind the island which cuts off about a third of the trip, mostly the choppy part. I call it the seaplane shortcut, after a derelict old seaplane which is half sunk in the mangroves near where the short cut starts; but you can't always get through due to low water when the tide is out.

The Seaplane makes a good tidal gauge. Su told me, "Watch the float on the right wing. If it is visible the tide is too low, but if it is underwater then the tide is high enough to take the shortcut".

Shortcut

Once when we went through some men had a pipe floating on the water across the shortcut; they were filling the water tanks on the island for the resort. We had to wait until they filled the pipe and it sunk to the bottom of the channel.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Coron, The Philippines

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