Kitesurfing palawan

[nick]

Hej!

Jag kikade på Kiting runt Palawan tidigare i år. Det ser inte helt idealiskt ut där borta. Det fanns ett kite center i Puerto Princessa, men det verkar blåsa dåligt där. Jag kikade även på att ta mig upp runt El Nido, men hade inte tillräckligt med tid. Det är lite bökigt att ta sig dit. Jag ska åka runt en massa vid senare tillfälle. Nu blir det favorit i repris på Boracay en månad i februari.

Gillar du inte Boracay? För mycket kiter?

Åker du till Palawan o tar båten så får du inte missa att stanna på Cuyo island. Har ej varit där själv, men det ska vara världsklass på kitingen, men dåligt utbud på boende, mat och andra nöjen.

En tysk kille jag känner åkte och rekade lite runt Palawan. Det var i.o.f.s. i april, men han åkte tillbaka en kortis nu i oktober. Om du orkar läsa så har jag har klippt in hans rapporter. Ser det konstigt ut så har jag klippt bort en del personliga grejer…

Först från April 2011:

“As promised short feedback from my palawan trip. On wednesday we flew from caticlan via mnl to pps. There we stayed in nice hotel Puert Pension for 1.5k. On thursday we made the Honda Bay island trip ( fully organised to 3 different islands) snorkling was not good but nice islands and good wind for 10m kite. The next day we booked the same tour but i took my kites with me. On Snake island i was the only kiter with my 15m but i was slightly overpowered. Still a very nice experiance because of white sand, green flat water and no people. Disadvantage was the schedule of the tourboat and the problem how to start and land the kite. Anyway these islands are very good for kiteboarding but one has to charter its own boat to be flexible and it should be minimum 2 kiteboarders for safety reason. Yesterday we were at esmerald beach near Microtel hotel (3.8k a night) about 10km from puerto princesa were some locals do kiteboarding. Also nice beach but that day no wind. See Mark from http://www.kiteclubpalawan.com/. But in fact he closed his shop and has in my opinion no real business . He prefers Cuyo because of stronger wind for 9m wind. Difficult so say how consistent the wind is in Honda bay. Now we go for coco loco island and i m just in the van. i hope we survive this cracy driving.

Update:

Now we are in van from Roxas to El Nido. Also cracy driver, very dangerous. We spent 8 days in coco loco and it was perfect weather, kiteobarding, food, everything, every day wind for my 15m and 10m but mostly 15m. I think we were lucky with the wind because normally the NE wind blows only nov till march. Very basic cottages, no ac, water slightly salty to shower, no internet, not many guest, very clean water and beach, very romantic, no other kiter, but probably resort will close in july because of expiry of 25 year lease agreement.”

“The best thing for you would be cocoloco Island. I liked it very much and attach some pics. This island would be perfect for you to set up a kite station. There was a diving station there but the guy had nearly no business. However if this spot would become a kiteboarding destination that could change. But to stay a winter there would become boring I guess. Anyway I attach some pics. The good news is that from what I heard that its still possible to go there (island not sold yet). I’ll go there again end of November, maybe also some days to Boracay. Are you planning to go Phillies again this year?”

“The problem with these islands like cocoloco is that there are not so many of them, some are on the western coast of Palawan and I’m just checking out were to go for my next 2,5 weeks stay in the philies starting 24th of November. Some links for you to check out. If you google around you will read that these affordable island resort are always at risk to get sold to an korean or japanese investor.
http://coconutgarden.palawan.net/cont.html
http://www.bluecoveresort.com/contactus.php
There might be Wind although its on the West Cost of Palawan and they confirmed by email but I still dont know if they are on the N/E side of the relevant island. All other locations like west or south would bring me to the decision not to check them out. My time is too pretious.
The other thing I’m checking out is Curon like these links:
http://www.kiteboarding-philippines.com/tours/
http://www.travbuddy.com/Banana-Island-Resort-v478645
Still not sure what I’m doing this time. Boracay is nice for some nightlive, travelling in Palawan is only good with a nice girl.

One thought of starting a business there:
I think there is a market because in kite forums there are many inquiries about alternative kitespots in the philies but nobody knows were to go and I personally stay silent to preserve my cocoloco island. The problem is 6 month season only if you dont offer diving. Then you can expect for sure problems with the local owners who will not support you to invest but who will try to get the last € out of you. I think a local partner would be mandatory for success (but only if that persons is really trustworthy). Then I think you really must be committed to that job – personally I would go crazy staying eg 1 year on an island with a diameter of 400 m.
I would really like to visit your own kitestation and get a discount – just joking.
With regard to new kites – maybe I should also invest in new stuff but I just invested in Powder Skis and and a second mountain bike. Search in youtube in my clips: mobile8585″

” Since the north east Monsoon comes from N/E I also think the east coast of Palawan should have the better wind which turned out to be true in cocoloco and in El nido area on the other side there was sometimes no wind at all.
The curon thing looks not bad, the boss of these guys is german with a filipina living most of the year in the philies. Last year they orginizes kiteboat trips in that area and I called him last year. Finally I did not book with him because 5 days on such a banka in that area scared me (I read a lot of accidents in that aerea due to heavystorms and not well maintained bankas. Theyare not really fit for offshore trips but in the phillies they take more risks then somewere else. Effectivly I think their last season was not well booked and they did not make all trips they offered.
This year however looks better because they seem to offer daytrips from a resort. Maybe I check the resort out this out this year.”

Nu en minirapport från Oktober 2011:

“We returned from 9 days Coron island cruising. Very nice area there and normally plenty of wind but not when we were there. Even in boracay at that time no wind.”

[misscarlsson]

Go information! tack!
jag har varit på boracay i 4veckor nu och jag känner mig väldigt nöjd och vill härifrån. jag tycker att boracay är najs i helhet men själva kitingen är inte den bästa, för mycket folk.. jag tar nog flyget till coron och sen åker jag till banana island och ditaytayan island till en början! jag var faktiskt på cuyo för 2veckor sen, det var riktigt grymt! det är så jag vill ha det, en mysig by med riktigt bra förhållande till kite och inget folk! cocoloco låter najs, blir kanske en tripp dit!

[hagakitesurf-se]

misscarlsson;678540 wrote:

Go information! tack!
jag har varit på boracay i 4veckor nu och jag känner mig väldigt nöjd och vill härifrån. jag tycker att boracay är najs i helhet men själva kitingen är inte den bästa, för mycket folk.. jag tar nog flyget till coron och sen åker jag till banana island och ditaytayan island till en början! jag var faktiskt på cuyo för 2veckor sen, det var riktigt grymt! det är så jag vill ha det, en mysig by med riktigt bra förhållande till kite och inget folk! cocoloco låter najs, blir kanske en tripp dit!

Kan du berätta mer om cuyo… fundera på att åka dit nästa vinter(ett av alternativen vi väljer på) vi tänkte åka 2-3 månader.. blir det drygt att vara på cuyo hela tiden tror du? Är det bra plattvatten? För mycket offshore?(rescue boat)

[saami]

Jag var på cocoloco några dagar i februari förra året och jag vet inte direkt om jag skulle rekommendera den lilla ön som kitespot… Visserligen kiteade jag inte (det var nästan stiltje just den veckan, också i Cuyo och på Boracay), men jag funderade på möjligheten att kitea där. Problement är att det är en extremt smal strand runt ön (förutom just på läsidan av ön, men där var det total vindskugga), och ett extremt grunt rev på nordost-sidan (mot vinden). Vidare så är det långt till land om något skulle gå fel och du driver förbi ön med kiten i vattnet.

Fast med en kunnig kompis för att launcha och landa, och nån på hotellet som är beredd att gå ut med båt och hämta upp dig, skulle det nog funka.