Monday, Nov. 23 First Landfall in Mindanao
By: Arturo Valdez
The people of Limasawa were again at the shoreline when we
left the islands. I can still see the crowd who stayed until we were simply a
silhouette as we disappeared from sight after we made a southeast turn at the
edge of the island towards Surigao. As expected the seas was calm and the
“Amihan favorably brought us at the tip of Northeastern Mindanao. Finally, after
11 weeks and 33 stop-over’s we made our first landfall in Mindanao at Lipata,
noontime. Dark, low-lying rain clouds hung above us, a foreboding of an
impending stormy weather, but the smiles of the welcome party at the Port more than offset the inclement weather.
We sneak in and made it safely in Surigao before typhoon “Urduja” hit the
northeastern Mindanao area in the evening of Nov. 23. As expected the seas
started to get rough and big waves started to hammer the exposed Port of
Lipata. At 9PM, I decided that our present anchorage was not safe enough.
Amidst heavy rains and big waves, we lifted anchor and sailed to the more
protected port of Surigao City. The Port was already filled with vessels of all
types and sizes when we reached the dock - all seeking protective shelter from
the incoming “Urduja.” Through the help of the
Philippine Coast Guard, we found a safe berthing place to wither the storm.
We had our sleeping quarters just outside Lipata Port, a good 10kms away after
we moved to our present berthing place. I was in bed past midnight while
strong winds and heavy rains incessantly poured
the whole night.