Sailing 'Round Malaysia, Brunei and Philippines

[Ianriley]

Hi please can anyone let me know where I can get some books for these areas, I want some recommendations where to stop and visit.

Also where to get the nautical charts for this area. If anyone has experiences good or bad in this region please get in touch thanks.
Ian

[bewitched]

Cruising the coral carpet is the one for the Philippines. It's a bit dated now but a very enjoyable book.

Northern Palawan and Busuanga in the Philippines and the NE coast of Sabah are pretty hard to beat as cruising grounds. There is a need for a little more independance than say Thailand or the Malaysian peninsular. But that makes it all the more special. These areas are all perfectly safe.

Charts. Malaysia they are all accurate. Philippines, they are a few choices. The official NAMRIA charts are basically a rehash of a US Navy survey dating from the early to mid 1900's, with a few updates for lights (which are often not lit) and the odd TSS. To my knowledge, they still don't produce an electronic set. I ended up making my own georeferenced set from the US survey which I still use for anchorages. I haven't found anything approaching the accuracy of these old charts.

The Cmap that we cruisers love has nowhere near the detail necessary although there is a new S57 set doing the rounds which is a bit better. I have found the Navionics charts on my phone to be by far the best option. If I was equipping my boat from scratch, I'd seriously be looking at a tablet and the Navionics charts as my primary. For the Philippines

[undercutter]

We found the Navionics charts to be excellent for the North and East coast of Borne. If you can get your hands on a copy of The Cruising Guide to SouthEast Asia Vol 1 you will be Golden. Good Luck.