Cebu will have cloudy skies and light to moderate rain until Friday, then sunny weather over the weekend, according to the state-owned weather station.
The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said a low pressure area (LPA) was spotted moving southeast of Surigao City yesterday.
The forecast for the Visayas is cloudy skies with moderate to occasionally heavy rains and thunderstorms.
Coastal waters in eastern Visayas and Luzon will be moderate to occasionally rough.
A roll-on, roll-off (roro) vessel headed for Camotes Islands in north Cebu at 5:30 a.m. yesterday was forced to return to Danao City an hour later due to huge waves.
Three other vessels heading for Bantayan Island at 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. canceled their trips due to bad weather.
“The waves were very strong and huge. Water was already coming in, some of the vehicles on board were already filling with water,” said Marie Maningo, one of 223 passengers on board the MV Mika Marie 1.
Island Express 2, Island Express 3 and Island Express 5 which were supposed to sail from Hagnaya port in San Remigio town going to Bantayan Island at 3 a.m. canceled their trips due to strong waves and heavy rain.
Faustino Pepito Jr., Commander of the Philippine Coast Guard Station in Danao City, said they didn’t issue any warning to the ship captain because there was no typhoon. They also observed calm seas near the port area.
“The captain of the ship informed us in his communication that the waves were too strong that it would be too risky for them to continue sailing,” Pepito said.
It was only after 2 p.m. that the vessels resumed their trips to Camotes Island.
Pepito said there are usually five trips to Camotes Island daily but shipping firms increased their trips to eight for the Holy Week.
Additional trips were made by two shipping lines to accommodate passengers going to Bantayan Island.
The Coast Guard noted 1,600 passengers headed to the area at 10 a.m. yesterday. Metro Manila and the rest of the country will be partly cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms in the afternoon or evening.