We moved over here a couple of weeks ago, in front of Coron Town. We can now move around the Coron district with no papers, which is good. Here we have easy access to markets and even some places to eat that are open. All is going well. We?ve logged almost 70 dives since we?ve been locked down, so that is a bonus. Otherwise, it?s been fairly static. We are still waiting to hear from Malaysia on if we can get there as students since the kids are enrolled in the Penang School. Still waiting?and hoping for the best. We?ve also made a lot of friends here?so that has been great.

We have big news. We moved around the corner about 1NM from our last anchorage. :) All is still the same. Same resort, same restrictions, same people. No complaints. We?ve logged 45 dives here since we arrived, so that is fun. We did a nice dive yesterday, and found some more sea creatures we?ve never seen before, so that is all good. We plan on waiting here until Malaysia opens up for yachts. We?ll see how that goes?..

It?s about time for an update. While not much has changed with our location and situation?same place, same routine, same everything - we are looking to move over to another bay. The strict quarantine was lifted for this area three days ago?and we are considering a move. This has been a great location. Lots of diving, fun people and a great dog ashore. However, it?s probably due time for new scenery and to get rolling. The more time we spend in an area, the harder it can be to leave. We hope there will be positive changes in Malaysia later this month, as we really, really need to get rolling south. Fingers crossed??..

We moved around the corner to the front of the resort. Here we will stay for a bit while the winds are down and it is more comfortable. It?s also closer to the resort so the kids can kayak ashore to play with the dog. All is good, as we wait for three more weeks for the travel restrictions to ?hopefully? be lifted??..

All is going well here in Coron, Philippines. Nothing has changed. We are in the same spot. Doing the same thing, and overall we are just fine. We hope the restrictions will be eased so we can move around, but we won?t hear any news on that until end of the week. Certainly eager to get moving so we can get south and not beat when the winds change, but not so sure that will be a reality as we not only need Philippines to ease up restrictions, we need to have Malaysia open up to arriving yachts.

Little has changed here. The weather has been excellent every day, and the anchorage peaceful. We are eagerly waiting the middle of next month to see if the travel restrictions are lifted. In the meantime we are still diving and doing boat projects.

We are still in the same place. All is going well, and we feel fortunate to be here vs. other locations. It?s sunny every day, nice 15kts of breeze, and good diving and beaches?.so we will continue to be here for the next couple of weeks until hopefully the lockdown is lifted here in the Philippines?...

We had a good day yesterday. We found out from the locals more details on the retractions here in the Philippines. The government is restricting access to small villages and towns to only those that reside in those towns. For example, if there are two villages next door, there is a checkpoint between the villages and only people with ID cards that show they live in the village are allowed to enter/exit. In addition, one household member is designed the ?shopper?, and are given an ID card of some sort. Without the card, you cannot leave the house. If you leave the house, you can be arrested. At a minimum they are taking your picture and reporting the violation to the police. Very interesting times. While we enjoy this location, we are itching to get moving south?but will have to wait of course to see how this plays out here in the Philippines.

There?s been a HECK of a lot going on since our last update. I?ll do a better job updating our status. Currently we are in lockdown here in the Philippines. We arrived here 5 days ago from App Reef (an outstanding location, with serene beauty) to Coron, Philippines. Upon arrival we were greeted by the police that asked us what we were doing in Coron and that we needed to leave. We arrived one day before the official ?enhanced lockdown?. So, we decided it was best to leave Coron as we did not want to get ?stuck? in this town. We sailed around the corner, and eventually made it to Sangat Island Dive Resort. It is owned by an English guy, and he was very welcoming. The day before our arrival he was fully booked at 60 guest. When we arrived only two remained. All others had been evacuated. Andy told us we could stay no problem, and they had plenty of food on the island. Google the location. It?s beautiful. The bar is open every day for us and the two other guests, so we have a beer in the afternoon and stay in a ?quarantined? state for the next 30 days. All in all, we are in a great spot, good diving, hot springs about 100m behind the boat, and no one else is here?.so for now?all is great aboard Field Trip.

We?ve logged three dives yesterday here, and overall it was good diving. We?ll be leaving this afternoon for a direct run to Puerto Galera. We?ll log one more dive today before heading out around 4pm for the 90nm passage.

We?ve been on the move, and I?ve been delinquent on the updates. We are now in a bay on Romblon Island, and doing some diving. We?ll be here on the island for several more days before we head off to Puerto Galera. Diving overall has been average here in the Philippines. Some cool small critters, but the coral is poor. More updates later, but so far Indonesia is by far the best overall diving.

We are still here, diving and enjoying this area. We?ll be leaving in the morning for our next stop about 35NM to the NW. Light winds so probably a motor sail, but should be comfortable. More updates later.

We had some excellent diving the past couple of days, and have not moved to another anchorage that is also know for good diving. It is supposed to have good much diving by the pier, so we will move around the other side when the winds drop to give the pier a go for some diving. All good aboard field trip.

Michael surfed every day while we were in Siagro. We checked into the country yesterday. It was easy, and only required Customs and Immigration. No port authority, quarantine or any other officials. I was surprised it was so easy. We are not anchored at a great spot near a great dive site. We dove it twice, once this morning, and it is close to Raja Ampat in quality. Better diving than Guam, Yap, Palau, and thrilled to be back in diving country.

We had a good day getting settled here in PI, and found the food places and surfing spots. Michael, Sarah and I are going surfing this afternoon?and taking lessons?so it should be a blast. Weather is great, nice breeze and sunny skies. All is well.

We arrived to Siagaro and dropped the hook about an hour ago. All is well, and it is a beautiful day. I?ll jump in bed for some rest and then we?ll head ashore. All good aboard Field Trip and we had overall a great passage, albeit a bit slower than expected.

Well, it?s been a great sail so far. Finally, the wind has picked up significantly to 18-20kts. Good because we are now moving?but we don?t want to arrive at night so we are running with only our genoa to keep our boat speed around 5.6-6kts so we will arrive at daylight tomorrow morning. Everyone has had a great time, and in a way as usual after a long good passage, sad to be arriving as we are in a good routine aboard Field Trip. We?ll update tomorrow upon our safe arrival.

We are still having less than forecast winds?so it makes for some slow sailing. I know the winds are going to pick up?so when they do we?ll have more than enough. Until then, we are looking at an early AM Tuesday arrival to Siagro, Philippines. All is well onboard and we keep waiting for the winds to pick up?. :)

It has been a light air comfortable sail. We?ve been sailing slowly the past 36 hours, with light winds and calm seas. We just flicked on the motor about two hours ago when the winds all but died down to 5 kts out the NE. It?s not possible to really make much headway with the banging sails so we took a knee and started an engine. The winds should start to pick up soon?so it hopefully won?t be too long. Happy crew, happy wife?all is good. :)

We left yesterday around 2pm from Colonia, Yap, and are now well underway to Philippines. We?ve been having a great sail, with moderate trade winds, following seas, and happy crew. We expect to arrive Monday next week. The total passage is about 730NM, so it will be our longest passage in a while. Michael said he was sad this was his last long passage before school in the Fall. My mom is also aboard, so we have one extra crew. Watch schedule is easy with three adults, so we are enjoying the trip with extra time to read and rest.

We had a great time at the village celebration and left around 3.30pm yesterday for YAP. We sailed all night and are now about 2 hours away from the pass. It was a great sail?light winds, following seas and overall very comfortable. We will be here for several days before departing for the Philippines.

Today is the big day in the village. It is a full day of eating, dancing and playing games in celebration of their local church founder/priest. We made a couple of cakes and will be going ashore at 8am for church. It should be a lot of fun. We will probably leave this afternoon for YAP so we can arrive early in the morning on Sunday to clear in and get some things done before heading out to the Philippines.

We are still here at Ulithi and woke up to a blustery, rainy morning. We?ll take it easy today, and go ashore once this rain stops. Tomorrow is a big party, in remembrance of the founder of their church on the island, so it should be a blast. Lots of singing, dancing and food. We plan to leave either Saturday or Sunday afternoon form the 100NM trip to Yap.

We arrive to Ulithi and had a great welcoming from the local village at MogMog. All our friends were here, and the kids were on shore singing a song to Michael as we approached. It was great fun to be back with people we know. We?ll offload our stuff we brought from Guam, and get things started with fixing boats. All is well an we are thrilled to be back.

All is going much better as the sea state has settled and there are no 35kt squalls on the horizon. We are about 20NM from the entrance to the atoll, and should be arriving to the village in Ulithi by 2 or 3pm today. Everyone is doing much better and we are excited to see our friends here.

We?ve been getting more wind than forecast. It?s been blustery and the sea state rather confused?so not great for comfort aboard Field Trip. We will be arriving tomorrow around noon to Ulithi. Otherwise, all is OK?but we will be glad to get there!

We are departing in about an hour from Guam, sailing to Ulithi Atoll and then off to Yap. We expect to trip to take just over two days at 370NM. We will have following seas and winds of 18-20kts then entire trip. Should be a nice ride with good trade winds. We?ve enjoyed the American luxuries of Guam, but they come at a price?so we are glad to get going although we are leaving good friends behind. More updates as we are underway.