We departed Cagayan Island on the morning of 12 July ...  the rest of the  'Adams Family and Friends Fleet' having left the previous day.  Our overnight passage was another one of light winds, on the nose, requiring a motor-sail.  Our rendezvous was Guimaras Island.  Located between Negros to the east and Panay to the west, this island boasts the best anchorages nearby to Iloilo City, the capitol of Panay.
 

Santa Ana Bay    13-24 July 2003

After a passage of 97.7NM at an average speed of 3.9 knots, we anchored at the location shown here.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The small village nearby our anchorage has a sari-sari store where the supplies of San Miguel Beer were replenished.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We hired a banca 'pump boat' for a shopping trip to Iloilo City, which has outriggers making boarding a challenge.

Two typhoons went through while we were there ... a small one 80KM to the north of us and then a supertyphoon went across the middle of Luzon.  These brought days of rainy weather, which filled everyone's water tanks to overflowing.  We managed to do another trip to Iloilo, this time using a van to the Jordan Wharf across from Iloilo and a pump boat across the strait - all during 20KT winds which made keeping dry a challenge.  Further improvement in the weather allowed us to have a BBQ on a nearby beach..
 

The banca we had previously hired was from the Baras Beach Resort in the next bay to the north of us.  As the weather was improving, we took dinghys to the resort for a luncheon and bit of fun.
 

Ahhh ... the good life goes on.
 
 

Alman Bay    24-25  July 2003

On 24 July the 'fleet' motor-sailed 13.3 NM to the southwestern point of Guimaras and anchored in Alman Bay.  This bay is reported to be one of the safest typhoon 'bolt holes' in the Philippines.  One look around was enough to justify this claim .... protected around the compass except for the southwest, shallow depth (6 to 8 meters) and mud bottom.  VALHALLA's anchorage location is shown above.
 
 
 

We caught this shot of SOUTHERLY CHANGE as she 'streaked' past us!
 
 
 
 
  Following what has become a ritual, we had a late afternoon BBQ on a nearby beach ... only to get drenched  during it .. but it didn't 'dampen' our spirits a bit!

At the suggestion of COLUMBUS (who else?) we motored 6.9NM around the southwest corner to the southern side of the island.

CABALAGAN POINT 25-26 July 2003

Our anchorage was in front of a home owned by the grandson of a former Philippine Vice President.  His father is a judge so he was named 'Jud G' Pena.  He invited us ashore for coffee and a tour of his palatial home ... which sports the mast from a destroyer on the roof.

Here's a view of our anchorage from the roof:

And Hank, from MAYA II, couldn't resist a climb....

On 26 July we said goodbye to the 'fleet' and departed the next day for an overnight passage back to Port Bonbonon, Negros.  This passage was 119NM at an average speed of 4.5 knots.  Our three week, 360NM sojourn had been fun and a good 'sea trial' for VALHALLA and her crew.