Jeff's Log ~ Monday, April 21st, 2008

Roxas, Philipnes

Yesterday turned out to be a good experience. Scott invited the English lady named Rose Marie to come along with us for a sail up the coast a ways. She readily agreed and Mark picked her up from her “palace” as we nicknamed her houseboat at about 7:30AM. After they were aboard, we loaded the outboard and the dink and pulled up the anchor, leaving Port Au Princessa behind us. Unfortunately, we did not have any sailing breeze, so Rose Marie got just a plain old boat ride. She didn’t seem to mind, however, and we all had a good time chit-chatting while we motored along. Scott decided that our planned destination would be too rolly, so we went on to Roxas (pronounced row hawz).The dink got launched and I took Rose Marie ashore to meet her friend and catch the bus back. I met her friend David who is the charcoal supplier for the area. I had also taken the fuel cans, as there was a gas station 30 meters from the sea wall steps. David helped carry the fuel to the dingy and invited myself and Mark to have a couple of beers. I took the fuel back out to the boat and brought Mark with me upon my return.

We sat in a little ocean side bar and had a couple of beers with Rose Marie and David. While we were sitting there, you could just tell that we were the talk of the town. Lots of people kept strolling past the door and peering in. There were even a couple of real old guys who could barely walk that went back and forth a couple of times. I was feeling like a celebrity. We had calamari and some chips, as well as several beers and did not have to pay. David picked up the check for us. It started getting late and we didn’t want to be late for Donna’s spaghetti dinner, so we thanked him and said goodbye. He gave me his number and told me to call if we needed anything at all.

Donna’s spaghetti was great, with lots of meatballs and sausage in a slow cooked home made sauce. It made a nice end to a good day. Today we left about 8:00 with the dingy in tow, rather than lifting it on deck. Our charts proved to be unreliable, and the water was very murky, so reading the bottom was impossible too. We did hit the bottom, and the grinding noises were very disturbing to me because of all of the work that had been put into the bottom in Thailand. The bottom was rock or hard coral, and I am pretty sure there will be no paint left on the bottom of the keel. I really felt worse for Scott because things like that really frustrate him. Later in the day, we came through another shallow area, but the water was clear, and we could easily read the bottom and avoid the coral heads. Scott and Mark picked a great spot to anchor for the night in a secluded cove.

There is a nice breeze, and absolutely no roll or swell. If I didn’t know better, I would think we were tied to a dock behind a sea wall. The native Filipinos are stripping the trees from the island, though, and that really is too bad. The islands for the most part are very lush and green, but if they continue their slash cutting, it won’t be long until this place looks like Haiti. On the way into this area, I could see a couple of places where the land was sliding into the sea because of that. The Filipinos that we have met are very genuine people. The crime rate here is very low. David told us that the people are poor, but content, and I added happy as well. David looked me in the eye and told me I was right.