Port Barton, on the northwest coast of Palawan, is a fantastic place, although swell can be an issue during the N.E. winds. Available charting of the area is woefully inadequate though. There is a row of shoals extending roughly across the 10-fathom line on the way to the small bay off the town. There are a few more scattered about but they are easier to avoid.

Thinking to improve this situation, I lifted the position of 2 of the shoals off the paper chart and put them into a handheld GPS and set off in the dinghy to find them. One was pretty well where it was supposed to be but the other took a bit of finding. Entering their actual positions in the GPS I then established a waypoint between them. They are about 4 cables apart so there is plenty of room.

Then entering waypoints for the bay just off the town beach and also for outer Port Barton I created an easy route into and out of the commonly used anchorage.

The waypoints are: Port Barton #1 (the outer one) 10* 27.4 N / 119*08.5 E

Port Barton #2 (midway between shoals) 10* 25.85 N / 119* 09.45 E

Port Barton #3  (off the beach) 10* 25.15 N / 119* 10.2 E

After passing #2 there are a couple of shoals off to your starboard if inbound, so don’t deviate too much from the track to number 3.

As a bonus, the 2 reefs that you pass between have descent coral for snorkeling at shallow depths.

These are located at: 10* 25.645 N / 119* 09.36 E   and   10* 25.9 N / 119* 09.6 E

Simon Adam
SY Free Bird

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