February 26, 2004
Tomorrow at 6:00 we will depart Palau for the Philippines, a 3-4 day trip if the wind is right and all goes well. We expect it to.
Palau has been a good stop, maybe the best on the cruise this year. It is absolutely beautiful here, with endless channels and cozy anchorages, clean water, excellent swimming and diving, nice people. Palau is like we dreamed cruising would be when we started this lifestyle eight years ago. Today we are in town, we went to the fuel dock yesterday and filled up our diesel tanks, and while this anchorage in town is nothing to complain about, being very very scenic and peaceful, the one we just left was pure magic. Close to town itself (you go out the channel and take the first right, then the first left turn) it was back in a hidden cove, completely private and looking untouched, surrounded by rock cliffs, jungle, birds and fish, in clear, calm water, and only 5 minutes dingy ride from town itself with restaurants, shopping, and cold beer. What a paradise. We went there to do some swimming one day, and we just stayed for nearly a week.
So Palau will be remembered as a good stop. Oh, we had some mechanical problems, which we fixed, and we scratched our keel on some coral, and Judy has had a bad back problem, just now getting a little better, but it has been a good stop. We hope the next one, and we really are looking forward to it, will be as good.
The trip to PI is between 500 and 550 miles, and if the weather forecast is correct, it should be a straightforward trade wind sail. We should be there by mid week.
We'll let you know.
Fred & Judy, SV WINGS, Republic of Palau
07N 134E
