Hi Everyone,

  Thursday Randal and I will do our first passage ALONE!!!  We will be retracing the route to Puerto Galera that we took with Nick and Zaida in the beginning of December.  We will cruise south to Puerto Galera with one overnight anchor in Hamilo Cove, south of Manila.    It will be about 8 hours of cruising each day.   Olongapo, Manila and Puerto Galera are on the map. Subic is just above the word Olongapo.  We cross by Manila Bay but don’t go into it. It get a bit choppy at that point since we are further from land.

  Olongapo is in the lower southwest part of the top island and Puerto Galera is on Mindoro.  I am sure I helped numerous students do reports on the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia; but only now am I actually learning something myself. 

The images on the post card are: 1. Paoay Church, Bocos:  2. Beaches of Pagudpud:  3. Vigan, a Spanish heritage city:  4.Hundred Islands National Park, Pangasinan:  5. Century old Banaue Rice Terrace:

6. Center of Mt. Pinatubo, Pampanga:  7. Taoist Ma-Cho Chinese Temple in San Fernando, La Union:  8. Mayon Volcano, Albay   Randal and I have not seen many of these sights but hopefully we will. 

The copyright of this post card and the images belong to www.phillippinespostcards.com  so it might not make in onto my web journal.  But you can find maps of Luzon on the web or at your local library. 

Hopefully the weather there won’t cause anyone problems.  We are having bright sunny skies and less humid weather.  It will remain like this until March.  We do have what are called “Christmas Winds.”  They may make our cruise a little slower and bouncier, but not give us any real problems.  My next email will be from an Internet Cafe in Puerto Galera.