Wednesday 15th April 2015
11 degrees 36.147N
122 degrees 42.673E
Port Capiz
Panay Island
Sheltered harbour; 5.8m depth
Yesterday morning
I was just thinking about going for my swim along the coast when…invasion! About six little boys, with a fishing net
full of mangoes. Would we like
them?? And maybe would we like to give
them something in return??
Well no we
wouldn’t like them; they are months away from being ripe and they are
(appropriately) as hard as marble, but we accepted them happily enough and gave
the boys a very fine ball. They caught
sight of my mask and snorkel and grabbed at it – desperate for a chance to use
it! I fished out all of our spare masks
and goggles and very soon we had a dozen very happy boys and one small girl
leaping in and out of the sea, exchanging goggles and taking turns with my
flippers. I so wish I could afford to
trot into town and buy a dozen sets for them but…if I buy a dozen, there will
be another hundred or so children in this village looking at me with big sad
eyes saying, ME TOO??? Eventually they
started to look a bit tired so I retrieved all of the equipment and sent them
off.
In the late
afternoon…they came back, in force!
 |
| Swani and … not sure what his name is... |
With a whole
gaggle of girls as well, I was pleased to see.
They are all older
than they look; tiny Swani and Gina are ten but they look like Australian six
year olds, and the small boys are twelve, and fourteen…
 |
| Swani and Gina |
Oh and our
bullet-hard mangoes?? Our charming boys
ate a whole lot of them (HOW?? They are so very hard and so very unripe!!) and
also used them as weapons…
 |
| Milque, aged 14, was NOT one for rough play... |
Our last day on
Romblon was very pleasant and low-key.
We met Chester and Lorraine at the Romblon Deli, on the main street
opposite the port. We all struggled,
fruitlessly, with the “free WiFi” but had a nice time in spite of the
frustration.
At one stage a
huge procession went past – every motorbike, tricycle, and overloaded jeepney
in Romblon, it seemed! A funeral! Chester and Lorraine said that this would no
doubt be a great festivity, with food, drink, gambling, the lot, over many
days. A real send-off!
I had espied an
old fort on top of a hill – puff puff pant pant, it was very hot work getting
up there…but all four of us managed, one way or the other.
 |
| Romblon from the fort |
San Andres fort
was built in 1640, by either the Portuguese or the Spanish - the info provided was confusing - to enable battles
between the European invaders of these poor beleaguered islands. The Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese – they all
fought each other from these fortifications.
No doubt they used forced labour from the bewildered indigenous people…
 |
| San Andres fort (1640) |
We left Romblon
early this morning to go sixty-odd miles on our way towards Cebu City. It was all quite easy; no wind or waves
bashing and crashing into us. But…I am
exhausted!! We have found a good
anchorage in a sheltered harbour on Panay Island.
Right under an
internet tower; oh joy! It is just getting
dark but we have had visitors – two boys on a home-made boat, paddled with
thongs, and bits of plywood. It goes like
the clappers! They asked us for food; we
gave them a small packet of biscuits each, and our highly desirable cans, for recycling. They were thrilled to bits…
Tomorrow we will leave
early, heading for the top of Cebu Island.
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