A beaut day yesterday with a short run of only 20NM to Corong Corong Bay, 11 10.062 N, 119 23.618 E. Not much of a sail but very pleasant conditions for a motor! The bay is in an area called El Nido which is very beautiful with many limestone karst islands, white sandy beaches and clear water - very similar to Phang Nga Bay in Phuket. It has become evident by now that most of the reef life has been killed off due to the locals using dynamite or cyanide to catch their fish. The dynamite stuns the fish which they then collect from the water while the cyanide not only kills the fish but also other reef life including corals. The reef can recover from the dynamite but not so easily from the cyanide.
Tourist bangkaWe went ashore late yesterday afternoon to walk the few minutes through a gap in the limestone hills to El Nido town itself. A dry and dusty, busy little spot with the usual shopfronts selling all sorts of goods and services. I bought some coconut which was freshly 
grated while I waited which this morning was made into some coconut candy to give away to visiting children. At 4.30 the Catholic Church bell rang out across the town - pity the poor bell-ringer who was in the tower with the bell pulling the rope! We were with our friends Leo and Anne plus their visitors so decided to stay the evening to have dinner in a beachfront restaurant where we tried the local chicken and pork adobo - meat cooked in soy sauce and vinegar - very salty!
By the time we arrived back at the beach and our dinghies the tide had gone out and we had to carry them across the reef to the water. Luckily one of the girls had a mobile phone with a torch!!
Today, more boat maintenance in exotic locations - Jon installed a new automatic bilge pump to replace the one which had just decided to go U/S and then installed a new 12 volt power point to run the adaptor for the laptop.
