Things that had to get done before we could leave…….

Getting the Bottom Cleaned!

One of the reasons Randal and I want to learn to SCUBA Dive is to clean the bottom of the boat, the propeller, and the bow thrusters. If they get clogged with crustaceans and other living things, it either slows us way down and uses more fuel, or it clogs the bow thrusters so they might not work. During our last two trips to Silanguin we could tell the prop was dirty by how slow the boat would go at 1500 rpms. Tuesday morning, one of the local fellows, Glenn, a friend of Jordan’s our current boat helper, came at 9 am so we could go off to cleaner water and he could clean the boat bottom. It was overcast with some rain. But when you are working under water, rain isn’t a problem. Wind and waves would have been the problem, but it was fairly calm. We actually motored over a bit and anchored off shore of Vasco’s Restaurant.

Jordan came too. His job was to be ready to jump into the water to get Glen out if we had to move the boat for any emergency reason. You can’t start the propeller while someone is cleaning it, and to move the boat and control drift or direction, you need to have the boat moving and the propeller running. We had no emergencies and all went smoothly. Jordan went into the water to help clean the sides of the boat. That was good. Unfortunately he had borrowed Randal’s face mask and somehow managed to drop it to the bottom. We’re not sure why, but Glenn decided that the mask was irretrievable because of the current and murk. Oh well, things happen.

After our SCUBA lesson with Audrey I really think I could do the boat bottom cleaning. It isn’t easy scraping all of the barnacles and stuff off, but Randal and I would divide the work and take our time. If we did it on a regular basis, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. And cleaner water might not generate so much clinging stuff. Oceanography, zoology, geography, cartography…all of the ographies I wish I had studied, then I wouldn’t have to call it “clinging stuff.”

Randal and Glenn in the engine room where Randal is showing Glenn the sea chest. The sea chest takes in all of the water used to cool the engine exhaust, and for the air conditioning and geneset. Creatures, similar to our under the sink creatures, crawl up into it and it gets clogged. Randal was pointing out to Glenn that the opening under the boat needed to be cleaned too, so where about it would be located.

Get Ready …….. Get Set………

Go! Going down………………………….

The scuba vest is inflated so you float on the water. You deflate the vest, and that, plus the weights you wear let you stay under the water and not float up to the surface. The trick is to use enough weights and inflate the vest just right so you don’t sink or float back to the surface. Neutrally buoyant is the correct term, I think

Jordan cleaning the boat sides.

This little creature, scraped from the bottom of the boat looked like an oyster. My foot with my rope necklace now an ankle thing and my Red Sox rubber bracelet that is way too big for my wrist. Yup, I really do wear that stuff during the season. Worked last year! I bought a real chain for my Red Sox hat charm; the rope one sometimes untied itself.

To tell if your anchor is dragging you pick 2 points in the distance and watch if their relationship changes. (The tree and the notch in the mountain to its left.) If it does change, your anchor might be dragging. You have to do this because there are no lines painted on the ocean to tell you if you are in your space. You can use a radar ring on your electronic chart when you are anchored in a cove; it will beep if you move out of that ring. We did that in Hamilo Cove when we traveled to Puerto Galera and anchored over night. But we were too close to shore to make a ring that would work. So we just had to watch. I don’t really understand spatial relationships and need to work on seeing what I am supposed to see.

Job done!

You can see the rim of the volcano and the lake within it. Another volcano is within the lake with a lake in it also.  Like a Matruska Doll.  The green line is our banca ride across the lake and the red line is the pony trek to the volcano.  These photos are from Wikipedia.

This was a fun trip on the spur of the moment; little planning, just all adventure to see what we would see.  Carol, her driver Michael, Randal and I left Makati at 9 am and drove the 50 or so miles to Talisay, a small resort town that offers access to the inner volcano. It took almost 3 hours in the Saturday traffic, winding mountain road and a slight goose chase to find the best (reliable, won’t drown in their banca) resort to find lunch and hire our banca.  When you get to the main lake road in Talisay you are met by bunches of men waving signs advertising their boat services.  We finally settled on these guys and followed them wherever they lead us; at times back and forth and back and forth till we said “Stop, we’ll eat at the first place.”

Our “guides.”                                                                                                       All I can tell you is that the name of the small resort starts with a K and there is a large fish over the entrance. 

                                                                                                                           Carol and Randal look at the lunch menu.  We shared pork and rice for 5, but the 4 of us ate it all up. Pretty good too.

The resort had a fish cage where they grew talapia.  You can see across the water to the inner volcano area.  The volcano on the right is extinct. It looks a long way across, but it only took about 15 minutes.  It was calm and felt quite safe in the small banca.

The terrain  adjacent to our little resort.  Very lush.

A typical banca.  We took a different one than this, but they are all quite similar.

  It was overcast, better than bright sun and heat.

  Here we go.  Randal and Carol.  Michael and I are up front.

View from the banca.

  I know, not so pretty!  A strong contrast with our late afternoon trip to the Taygaytay Highlands.

But this was the little ranch area where we got our ponies for the trip to the volcano.  It was not lovely or scenic and we didn’t have much time for photos. 

Carol actually took this at the end of the trip.We actually could have walked but didn’t know that until we were there. 

The ride was an experience.  Right up there with my ride in China when Sallie rode the “zebra.”

El Kabayo Falls (Horse Falls)   Not really a good name if you think about it….

Carol wanted my opinion of the local riding stable. I had spent a year (1978) working in the stables at Lake Minnewaska near New Paltz, New York.  I was living with my friend Sheila at the time and when I left to go to library school she had to have her couch cleaned because it smelled like horses.  And  I once had owned a horse and my niece has a horse I helped care for….but I wouldn’t call myself an expert by any means.  But when we saw the guides leading several riders off to some adventure, the first rider’s stirrups were way too short and the second rider’s were way too long… and our friend Audrey later told me that many of the horses are not so well cared for because the stable doesn’t make much money so there is no money for good care.  This, unfortunately,  doesn’t just happen in the Philippines.  Luckily at Minnewaska, we babied the horses while the hotel fell to the ground…almost literally.  But some of the El Kabayo Stable horses looked round and well fed, some looked too skinny and the whole place looked like it was melting in the sun.  I don’t think my riding days are over, but after my pony ride in China, I’m a little more cautious.  So we left the El Kabayo Stable and drove over to El Kabayo Falls named for the stable, I guess since kabayo means horse.  They were actually having mountain bike racing and we had to watch out for bikes zooming passed us.

  We parked with the crowd of cars there for the bike races and walked into the “jungle” to get to the path for the Falls.

  See, real bikers!  But it was hot and dusty and I wouldn’t have really enjoyed this ride though Randal and I did once ride some of the Great Dismal Swamp just after a hurricane and it looked more like a jungle.  With billions of mosquitoes!!!

  In case you didn’t know the way…a sign.

  Not the biggest falls in the world.  C.C.

  There was a second level of falls and this fence kept you from falling off the little path.  C.C.

  Sitting, enjoying the shade near the falls.  C.C. 

Our Mt Samat hats which I have to put away until after baseball season.  Beth Souza, a New Bedford friend saw an earlier photo and made me promise to wear my B hat only. 

  Carol sitting by the falls.

  Pretty, but small.

One of the race spectators took this for us.

This was our last adventure for the day.  Carol came back to the boat that evening and she and Rob and Cath, our newest boat neighbors and Randal and I ate pizza and watched the movie Prairie Home Companion.

Randal and I have seen it 4 times, but really like it and that was our only movie that none of the others had seen. 

One more email about our trip….our photo safari stalking very tame water buffalo.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

It’s baseball season!  Between that and recent trips to Barrio Baretto by jeepney, I haven’t been making much time to email.  I think we left off with lunch at Balanga. 

After lunch we drove through Balanga but most shops and business were closed up.  Maybe because it was Sunday or maybe because it was the holiday weekend to memorialize the Bataan Death March.  In any case, not many people out and about on the main street.  We drove on a bit and came to the town of Orani.  Carol’s “Tita Mat” ( Aunt Matilda in Tagalog ) lived there and Carol asked if we would mind stopping.  Of course not!  Before arriving at Tita Mat’s home we stopped at the bakery she has owned for many many years and Carol loaded up on goodies. 

   Serious shopping!  Carol knew if she didn’t stop first, her generous aunt would give her all of the goodies.

I like the araro flour cookies but they are an acquired taste, very floury!                     These are chopped nuts and honey.  Everyone liked these.

                                                                                                                          You really do eat the paper that I guess might taste like communion wafers though I have never  had                                                                                                                                                      one so I don’t know why I think that….maybe Carol said that?  Hmmmm

Carol and I both roared at this sequence.  Randal said the case was just frosted over, that’s why his nose was pressed to the glass.  Cute!!!

  Carol points the way to her aunt’s house.

Right to left;  Aunt Matilda, Uncle, Carol, Cousin Mark, his wife

Mark,  Ian, Carol

  Off the front room is a small shrine.  Aunt Matilda is very religious.  With her bakery and I believe a small ice cream shop, she put 5 children through college.  She tried to get us to eat ice cream or anything, but we were still very full from lunch.  But she packed up mangoes from the tree in the yard and also garlic peanuts.

peanuts garlic salt.  Yum.  Bad breath!!!

Balanga is the capital of Bataan Province and Carol wanted to see what was there. Maybe because it was Sunday and a holiday weekend too, most shops were closed up, so there wasn’t much going on to see.  She had also asked the driver to suggest a place for lunch since there would be more choices here rather than outside Balanga.    Although it was a bit early and we said we weren’t so very hungry, after our order the waiter suggested we move to a larger table because a table for 4 was too small for the food we had ordered! 

  Here is where we started out

They made us move here.  We didn’t really order that much food, but things come in separate serving dishes and you put them onto your plate which can turn into lots of plates.  Rice has its own dish, meats have their own dish, etc.  Our waiter took the photo.

The Crown Royal Hotel and Restaurant

  This was interesting.  You know those rather dry, crispy puffy things you get at Chinese restaurants?  Well, they start our like tiny pieces of plastic.  Carol asked the waiter to bring some so we could see it and even take a few home to “blow up” which I haven’t done yet.  We dipped the cooked ones into vinegar and they sizzled and tasted much better than just eating them straight.  Try it.

  The hotel lobby.  I really liked the mural.  C.C.

  This section of the mural shows Mt. Samat and Balanga.  I’m not sure if the ships represent the coast of Bataan or if that is Manila.

  There was a piano in the lobby of the hotel. 

I tried to play Greensleeves which I have known by heart till I tried to play it here.  I couldn’t get past the first 5 notes and decided a public forum wasn’t the place to try.

Then we were off to Orani to visit Carol’s aunt.

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

I am signing the emails this way so if blogs disappear, maybe they can just be googled and we can find them again.  Oddgamer may come back, hopefully.    http://www.tabblo.com/studio/person/DoraMac has lots of the photos from mid-2007, but not much text.  http://oddgamer.wordpress.com/  has most of the old emails minus the photos.  One day it will get straightened out.

  Randal and Carol on the zigzag path. You can see the stones better.  They were underfoot too, though not so stuck out.  It did slow one down.  Good picture of the new hats. 

Not sure if that’s one of the bronze urns in front.  We weren’t able to get anywhere near the front of the building.  Really too bad

.

See the sign?  Unfortunately the small part of the museum we were allowed into was about as makeshift.  It was quite run down too.  No food, drink, touching exhibits or photos allowed.  You couldn’t really get close enough to the photos to see them or even read the material that went with it.  There was no official start of end point.  Not good.  Too bad. 

We could see the stained glass from a distance. This is with my zoom.  But again, we couldn’t enter the part of the Colonnade to see the windows or much else.  Just the basement museum. Nothing in the booklet explains the window’s images.   Too bad.

  Carol set up her tripod for this photo.  Randal and I have the same hats. I think the hanging lines are from the 18 Flag Poles that hold the USAFFE Division/Units colors.  But that’s a guess and I cropped most of it out anyway.    C.C.

Carol setting up the tripod for the photo.

This is not a photo taken by Carol. 

While she was setting up her camera I was taking a series of photos of her doing it.  I then tried to take a photo of Randal and me, you know stick the camera out arms length and “click.”  I took all of the photos of Carol setting up her tripod and then added this at the end instead of the photo she took and emailed it to her.  We tricked her into looking at her email while she was on the boat and we all really laughed.  I’m still laughing.

  Randal and I wait in the shade while Carol calls her driver to come get us and our matching hats. C.C.

Toyota SUV

Then it was on to Balanga for an early lunch.

Carol and I waited in the short line and took the elevator to the cross arms.  Neither of us wanted to admit to friends that we were there and didn’t do it. We weren’t afraid,  just impatient and there was a line.   In some ways that was the only reason to have done it.  There was nothing up there, and the view wasn’t so great and the line to go back down was as long as the one coming up, which makes sense.  But I’m glad that we did it and here’s proof.  Randal opted out and sat in the shade swapping stories with a Philipino women there with her family.  When Randal told us about her, he referred to her as an old woman.  Carol asked how old?  60 said Randal and Carol and I both had the same reaction at the same time!  Randal will be 60 in September.  We asked how he could call her old and he said, she just seemed old and her life story of caring for several “unwanted” children made him see her as “old.'”  Unfortunately just as Carol had been about to surreptitiously manage a photo of her with Randal,  it was our turn to get into the elevator. 

This is the inside of the cross arm.  Carol with her tripod and her new hat.  Did I mention that Randal bought us all new hats?  Randal and I have the same kind, Carol opted for the camouflage version.

  I had my camera strap around my neck!  C.C.

  I stuck my camera our the window and snapped this picture.  You can see the road up the mountain, the Colonnade from the back and a little side stage area and some of the zigzag down from where the cross is.

Our next stop was the museum in the Colonnade.

We’re walking down the hill from the Cross to the museum. 

You can see the Colonnade with it’s stained glass window.  C.C.

Carol made us pose for this photo and she really liked it.  You can see Randal sitting waiting for us to catch up.  We had commented that it was difficult to walk on the path because of the raised stones.  The little booklet we bought in the souvenir stand says this about the stones.  “From the Colonnade to the Cross is a 14-flight zigzagging footpath on the mountain slope, paved with bloodstones from Corregidor Island.”  I looked up “bloodstone ” and it said that in the Philippines red colored sandstone is called bloodstone. 

I guess that the 14 flight means the different sections.  C.C.

You can see the cross and the zigzagging path.  C.C.

  This photo was taken much later during the day.  But my sister requested it so you could see the cross in relation to the mountain and area.   “The Bataan Peninsula encompasses and area of  137,296 hectares.  Upland hills and mountain regions cover 80.9% of the total area while lowland and plains extend  to 19.1% ”   from the little booklet we bought at Mt. Samat.   C.C. 

From The Battle for Battan  by Prof. Ricardo T. Jose.   It shows Mt. Samat.  It also shows Balanga (silent g) the capital of Battan where we had lunch and Orani where we visited Carol’s aunt. To avoid the Japanese during the Bataan invasion, Carol’s parents, children at the time, escaped with their parents to the countryside.  I can’t remember if Carol said it was her mom or aunt who said the kids had fun!  Most families and neighborhoods evacuated together and all helped each other survive.  One of Carol’s uncles didn’t remain with the family and he was never seen again, probably killed by the Japanese. 

Subic Bay is also shown and Morong too where we have been with Bob and Audrey and Mariveles where we have been with Nick and Zaida.  When I had searched the web for directions to Mt. Samat they would tell me to go to Manila and  take the one hour ferry!  When we go to Puerto Galera from Subic you follow the coast line.  But you have to cross Manila Bay  just past the tip of Mariveles.  We don’t head into the bay, but just keep going south to the next island The Bay opening makes a large area of open water and that can make for lots of rocking and rolling!

To be continued

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

We had such a wonderful day in the Bataan Peninsular with Carol that I am going to send several emails about it.  Carol and I took lots of photos of the sites, of each other;  and of there are several of all of us taken by passers bye or with her tripod.  Carol is the CFO of Wyeth Philippines and her company provides her with a car and driver, not only for work, but for all of her excursions.  Sunday morning, at 7:30 on the dot, we met Carol and her driver in the lobby of the SBYC.  Then it was off to Mount Samat.  I had seen the cross from a distance on our Mariveles outing with Nick and Zaida.  When I read about it afterwards, I learned that you could ride an elevator to the cross arms for the view.  I had also read that the complex had a museum dedicated to the Bataan Death March and other World War 2 history.  When Carol was in Subic over Easter we had made a plan to visit Mt. Samat, something of interest to her, also.  Family ties to Bataan  was another reason for Carol wanted to make the trip.

It was a pleasant drive; not so much traffic and an experience driver who knew the area.  For this trip Carol had left her Volvo at the SBYC and we had a Toyota SUV instead, very roomy and comfortable.  It took a little over an hour.  When Carol had told the head of security for Wyeth Philippines she was going to hike up Mt. Samat he suggested we drive.  There are poisonous snakes and things….in the jungle area up the mountain.  I must admit I was a tad disappointed, until I got there.  It was dense jungle, not a path in visible, and straight up.  Now, one could have walked up the road, but driving was more sensible as well as safe.  I’m not sure I would have even liked driving up the steep, winding road unless I absolutely trusted the car to keep going up.  It was quite pretty; like parkway pretty.  You’ll see in the photos.

Some facts about the Mt. Samat Shrine:

It is a memorial to the soldiers, American and Philippine, who were forced to surrender to the Japanese on April 9th, 1942 and then forced to participate in the Death March through the Bataan Peninsular.

It is Pilar, Bataan, Philippines

Inaugurated 1970

The Cross:

The Memorial Cross is 555 meters above sea level made of reinforced concrete and steel.

The height of the cross is 92 meters from the base.

The height of the arms is 74 meters from the base

The length of the entire arm is 30 meters

The viewing gallery 18 ft wide and 90 ft long and about 7 ft high

The first 11 meters of the base is capped with sculptural slabs and bas reliefs of battles and historical events, above the base it “chipped granolithic marble.”

The Colonnade:  (Most of it was blocked off in preparation for President Arroyo’s visit Wednesday.  April 9th is the official holiday to remember the surrender of Major General Edward P. King, Jr. senior American officer to the Japanese and the beginning of the Death March.)  Because we could only enter the Colonnade from the back and see only a small exhibit in the basement, I am just copying what the guide book says with no comment. 

   “The Colonnade is a marble-capped structure with an altar, esplanade and a museum.  There are several historical depictions on the Colonnade which include the following:

Stained Glass Mural behind the altar

19 Scriptural Marble Reliefs and Parapet

18 Bronze Insignias of USAFFE Division Units

2 bronze urns symbolic of the eternal flame

18 flag poles with colors of USAFFE Divisions/Units and Inscriptions of the Battle of Bataan

I have to admit that 56 year after the event, most visitors were far from somber or sad.  It was a beautiful sunny day with a cooling breeze. 

The C.C. after a photo indicates that Carol took the photo.  Anonymous means a kind passerby took the photo.

Beautiful valley visible below. C.C.

  You can see some of the bas relief at the base.  Anonymous

  Carol’s photo of me gives a sense of the height.   Just over my head is Jose Rizal being executed, shot in the back by the Spanish.  C.C.

  The back side of the base.  The top right relief is a cameraman, but the guide book doesn’t tell what all of the sculptures are.   C.C.

Randal buys hats!  Randal wanted a hat to keep the sun off his ears.  We all got new hats.  C.C.

Carol and I wait for our turn up the elevator.  We are both wearing our new hats.  Anonymous

The clouds moving rapidly past the top of the cross made it look as if it were pitching forward!  Very disconcerting!!  The elevator up to the top was small and crowded.  We couldn’t see out of the windows.  The relief at the bottom, just over the door into the cross is Lapu Lapu.  C. C.  

“Lapu-Lapu was a native chieftain on Mactan , he was known as the first native of the archipelago to have resisted Spanish colonization. He is now regarded as the first National hero of the Philippines.”  from Wikipedia.

Hi Everyone,

  Randal and I are fine.  My Red Sox are not so fine.  3 wins, 4 losses and they are at the bottom of the AL East.  Only one way to go!  I have no sense of panic yet.  They’ll be fine.  It’s amazing how a World Series Championship the prior year calms one’s fears.

Our friend Carol Carino came back to visit this weekend and we have had a wonderful, too short time. This weekend is a holiday weekend to honor the memory of the  Bataan Death March.  Mt. Samat. in Bataan,  has a memorial and museum dedicated to the Bataan March and we went there Sunday. It was an all day Bataan adventure with Carol as the leader and her driver for the guide.  It was great!   Saturday we took DoraMac into the bay to test our new anchor, and the redone “fish” which, sadly,  still aren’t perfect, but are getting better.  Everything needs to be tested to make sure it will work; and then it will be galvanized.  Our friend Greg came with us too, to help and offer advice and support.  The weather was slightly overcast so that made it nice; not so hot!  That evening we all went back to our new favorite restaurant,  Aresi for a meal of good food and conversation. 

  Earlier this week we had tested the anchor in the sand on the beach.  Nick had suggested this test and it did seem to go well.  Some of the sand was really too hard for the anchor to dig into, so that part of the test didn’t work out.  Here are some photos of the test with Nick and then the bay test with Carol and Greg.

Arriving at the beach with the anchor.  Nick and Randal make a plan.

We didn’t bring the real anchor chain, but just a heavy duty rope for the test.

Attaching the line to the suv.

The anchor has dug into the sand.  The man on the right owns the Lighthouse Hotel and also the sailboat, Purpose Driven.  Randal had sat with him at the last awards dinner for the races.  I opted not to go to the dinner.

First the anchor had been pulled straight back. 

This test pulled it sideways to see if it would turn itself around and dig in.  It dug in well enough to spin Nick’s wheels.

  The anchor

  This is actually not far down the beach from our land test.  We needed to get into shallow enough water and the depth goes from like 100 ft to 5 feet very sharply and that is only a very slight exaggeration.

  The anchor seemed to work well.  We had forgotten our washdown hose so the anchor is a bit mucky.

  Randal, Greg, and Carol on our way back to the SBYC

Ruth Johnson

DoraMac

Last Saturday I walked over to the Olongapo Cemetery to take race photos.  I didn’t get any race photos, but I did get some river photos that I like.

  The Kalaklan Gateway, one of several gateways into and out of Subic.  It is an odd experience; but one more of an issue for Filipinos than westerners.  I just walked through either way, any gate.   This is looking out from Subic towards Olongapo.

  The Olongapo side of the river

A boy and his small banca. 

A very reclusive scavenger.  Not far from here, around the point on the bay side is a public beach. There is a tower with a navigation light overlooking the bay entrance and it was there that I tried to go for photos.  But it was closed to the public and had a guard. 

This might be one of my favorite photos of the area. 

How many guys does it take to move one thin line?  These 5 plus 2 others.  You can see how they keep the sun off; they do look like terrorists!  But obviously they aren’t.  They were parading along single file holding the wire over their heads.  When they saw that I had taken out my camera, they preferred to pose.  At this point I had already crossed back into Subic and was on my way down Dewey Avenue back towards the yacht club. 

  Two of our favorites; Magnolia ice cream and San Miguel beer.  This was the distributor where we go to stock up on beer.