Still in Puerto Galera

Andy: “Smell my ear”

Me:  “huh?”

Andy:  “Smell my ear.  Does it smell like dead shrimp?”

Me:  sniff, sniff.  Switch sides…sniff, sniff.  “nope, you’re good.”

The romance is come and go on Savannah…

(In full disclosure, I have to say, he has had dead shrimp in his ear before and they do smell horrific)

He had just come up from one of the nastiest bottom cleaning jobs in a while.   Savannah’s paint is crap.  I would love to hear from any other aluminum boat owners as to what they put on their hulls and how well it works.  We’ve painted our bottom three times in the past four years….it’s getting ridiculous and expensive.

Anyway, he was cleaning it because we were getting ready to leave Puerto Galera and we had enough crap on the bottom to slow us down a couple of knots.  Then it started to rain, and the wind began to blow…hard.  So we decided to wait.  Today we got up and were about to leave and it continued to rain, and the wind continued to blow…hard.  It’s probably fine weather to leave in (I’m convinced Puerto Galera has it’s own weather system here and as soon as we get out of this bay it will be totally different) but it’s a pretty busy shipping channel out there and we don’t exactly know where we’re going…so we decided to wait.  Judging by the forecast, it will be a few more days before we get out of here.  We’re all stocked up, ready for a two or three week sabbatical from any kind of town.  Let’s hope we’re still stocked up when the weather breaks.

In the meantime, we’ll just sit here and stare at each other a little longer, reminding ourselves how cool it is to be on a boat, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with each other, all the time….

Super Typhoon Hiayan

From yesterday's weather report

Wow…the Philippines have really had their rear ends handed to them this year when you talk about natural disasters.  A major earthquake hit a few months ago and this week, the fourth typhoon of the year will crash through the Visayas, the central part of the country.  Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Chinese word for a petrel seabird… also known as the largest typhoon this year.  Once it hits Philippine waters it will be known by Yolanda…not sure why they rename it?  It’s a category 5.  Wow.

The eye passed right over Kyangle yesterday, one of the northern islands/atolls in Palau.  Further south, Andy had Savannah all tucked into a tight little hole with one other boat and he and Jake hunkered down.  Winds were supposed to reach 40 – 65 knots where they were depending on how close it passed.  I was a nervous wreck.  There was absolutely nothing I could do.

To compound my worry, we have several friends on their own boats riding it out in the Philippines right now. 

Savannah, with ALL of her lines out.

So what do we do in a typhoon?  Typhoons are pretty regular in this part of the world so the first thing we do is find multiple “typhoon holes” – coves or anchorages known for their near 360 degree protection from the winds.  I say multiple because other people will have the same idea and you don’t want to be the last one trying to find cover.  We retreat to our chosen spot a day or two ahead of time so we have time to put out the lines and secure everything.  In Pulawat, last year for Bopha,, we put all four of our anchors out and tied several lines from the boat to some hefty coconut trees on land.  This year for Haiyan, Andy put out all four anchors and tied many more lines to the trees.  They stocked up on groceries and rode it out.  If I were there I would have tried to convince him to leave the boat and go to a hotel, but that didn’t happen.

I checked the various weather sources non-stop for 24 hours, pretty much making myself crazy.  My brain would tell me they’re fine, but that didn’t stop this worrier from worrying.  I knew it would be a while before he could communicate with me so my coping mechanism was a bottle of wine, a good friend and the CMAs....imagine my relief when I got an email right before settling down in front of the TV last night that said all was good.  Palau saw wind gusts up to 75 mph, but Savannah never saw anything over 25!  Whew, am I glad that’s over.

It’s not time to stop praying yet…we still have friends in the Philippines, and well, the whole rest of the country.  

5/1/10 - Weather

We were finally able to get a good weather fax.  It looks like we´re leaving today.  In an effort to make myself more useful on the boat in areas besides cooking, cleaning and schooling, I decided to read up on weather and ask my extremely knowledgeable husband a few questions about reading weather faxes.  Sometimes he gives a bit too much information.  I never noticed this until we got out here away from everything and into subjects I don´t know very much about.  The exchange went like this...

Me:  What´s a millobar?
Andy: It´s a way of measuring ambient pressure by measuring millimeters of mercury in a vacuum.

Me:  Huh?  Uh... but what is it?  What does it do?
Andy:  There was this guy that developed a way of measuring atomospheric pressure by creating a glass tube that was full of mercury.  He had a vacuum at one end and the other end was open ot the atmosphere.  As a high pressure moved in, it would push the mercury down into the vacuum end and you could see the rise in pressure and vice versa when a low came through.

Me:  (long pause) Well...duuhh.  I new that.  How does it help me read the weather fax?
Andy:  The higher the number, the higher the pressure, the more fair the weather.
Me:  Oh right.  Thanks.
Andy:  Sure ( I think I saw him roll his eyes)

I´ve been accused of a lot of things, but being stupid was never one of them.  For some reason though, just about everything on this boat is in the realm of "I don´t get it."  Weather being one of them.  Next, I think I´ll ask Andy how the watermaker works.