30th September - still no news re hostages - stressful times in marina

Wednesday 30th September 2015

I have been scouring the internet for news but there really isn't any.  The most likely theory is that the hostages have been taken to Sulu and have been turned over to the Abu Sayyaf group there.  Probably.  Possibly.

But we really don't know and people here are very quiet and down-hearted.

Last night we had a communal dinner in the clubhouse and Dave (SV Soggy Paws) gave a power point presentation about diving in a World War Two wrecks in the Marshall Islands.  This livened the men up no end; men love war memorabilia.  Me, not so much, but I do like Dave and he
put his heart and soul into the presentation.

So today, just for a change... I have been for a long soothing swim along the reef.  The water, unusually, was smooth and glassy, and there was good visibility.  There was also a large amount of crap in the water.  Nothing yucky, just logs, bamboo, palm fronds, coconut husks.  It made for a few lively encounters as I banged into some of these objects with my head, or when long bits of debris wrapped themselves around my legs.  But the swim was so good for me, I didn't really mind a bit of flotsam getting in my way.

At 1.00 I went into Babac in the marina van for a 20 minute shop - the van goes to the ferry terminal and back, which gives one just enough time to skip around the veggie stalls before it is time to be whisked back to what us becoming a compound.

I asked Prue (from Coral Bay, WA) if she thought Dondon, the driver got heartily sick of doing this run three times a day.  (He doesn't give the impression if being a bloke who loves his job.). She said he possibly is bored to sobs but that it is so much better now there is a sealed road.  Until recently there was a rutted dirt track and he still had to drive it three times daily.  I would have thought he should be wreathed in smiles now the drive is so easy, but no...

29th September - Ocean Viewmarina, Davao

Tuesday 29th September

Security measures are being implemented here, double time.  Men are digging the foundation for a new perimeter wall, and the sea wall is rapidly getting extra height comprised of barbed wire.

This should inspire confidence in people wanting to come here with their boats.  And...the bandits have done their worst; they won't be back.

The mayor of Davao, by all accounts a larger than life crime-fighting type of man, has offered himself in exchange for the hostages.  (Apparently.). So far, strangely enough, they haven't taken him up on his offer.

In the meantime, in between fretting about the captive ones, I am battling with various bits of technology, and swimming up and down the reef several times a day.  Very soothing.

Monday 28th September - no hostage news - technology glitches

Monday 28th September


Still no news of the hostages.  On Facebook we saw a news item with the CCTV footage iof the abduction.  The bandits didn't cover their faces - surely this makes them easier to find??

Pete is trying to get things organised on 2XS.  We hope of course that Kjartan, the marina and boatyard manager will be back in a day or two to co-ordinate things but...

My technology is going bonkers and is making me need to go for many long soothing swims.  I can't do my blog in my computer.  The directions are now all in Tagalog and blogspot doesn't recognise my password.  I do have my Yahoo email back, but only on my computer not in my phone.  And so it goes...

But...maybe just for today...I have been permitted to do this blogpost on my very temperamental miniiPad...

26th September - Ocean View marina, Davao (Samal Island)

26^th September 2105

Ocean View is in Fortress Mode.  Big towers, a new surrounding perimeter fence.  Maybe a moat with crocodiles… We are VERY safe here!

But oh dear our poor hostage friends…our hearts ache for them.

So what have I been doing… Well nothing which will ensure their early release!  But I have been using my lovely new birthday GoPro…

How happy do I look, thanking the angels in heaven, maybe

Trying to learn how to get optimum results.  (Help help brother Pete Harmsen!!)  Going for a long swim is always good for my shaky nerves.  (Shaky not for fear of my own lucky lucky life…I am 100% anxious for the hostages.)  And today I had my GoPro at the ready.  I thought I would be taking photos – yesterday it was videos.  But no… It was still videos… I paused at the end of the (fortress) wall and took what I thought were photos of some pretty coral formations.  One of the coral formations looked back up at me…a darling turtle! 

I went clickety CLICK and off it went, not too alarmed.

I don’t know how to get photos off my videos so I took a photo off the computerscreen; not so good…but here is my TurtleFriend Of The Day!

And in the afternoon…back to the market to buy more veggies, and some chicken for tomorrow.  A large spirale/vegetable dish awaits us, in the oven.  I now have lots of market friends in Babac.  They are meticulous with their measuring and weighing and giving me correct change.

They also keep a stern eye on the seagypsy beggar children who follow me around.  Oh deary me these poor children…I asked one of the stallholders to tell the children NOT to follow me and fondle my bag (with possibly an eye on the main chance of getting into the money pockets…) as I walk around buying potatoes.  They could meet me at the bakery and I would buy them a treat.  In the wink of an eye they vanished and there they were, at the bakery, pointing happily at sugary fatty treats.  No I didn’t get a photo of them; they are feral little kids, they don’t hang around to say thank you, or for a photo opp.  And they are HUNGRY!  Last time I bought them fried chicken, a portion for each of them, and they inhaled the food so greedily…

Back I went to my waiting station, waiting for Dondon and the marina van to whisk me back to my privileged life.

I have been trying for ages to get a photo of a big load of people on a motorbike and today was my lucky day!  Six!  Eddy Huybs (SV Helena) swears he has a photo of NINE on a bike but…I have yet to see it…

25th September - Fortress Ocean View

Friday 25^th September 2015

All still quiet on the western front of Ocean View marina…

They are building up a fortress at high speed. It will be manned with security guards and soldiers and BIG guns.  Too late baby…but we are very very safe here!!

We have put out a (gentle) request for daily updates.  We can’t just forget our four hostages!!

Kjartan

There are photos of them (not very recent photos…) out there on the internet.

John

But not one of Tess!

Rob

Yesterday, apart from fretting away about the hostages, I spent some time trying to get familiar with my wonderful new birthday GoPro.  I was about to take it for a swim when…thunderbolts and lightning!  Very very frightening!  So I didn’t set foot into the sea…(but one good outcome- we were able to fill up our bucket of drinking wear very swiftly!)

I left Pete snoozing uneasily – he now has my horrid coughy coldy thing

And went into downtown Babac to buy some more eggs and veggies etc.  And some cough meds for ColdBoy.

I spent quite a lot of time in this bus shelter, waiting for the Ocean View van, and contemplating whether or not it would be comfortable having a zzzz in a hammock slung casually in the innards of a motor tricycle, until I realised I had missed the van because of having been in a long LONG queue at the pharmacy.

Never mind…it gave me time to contemplate the need for many zzzz sessions in hot climates…

24th September - Ocean View marina, Samal Island, Philippines - no news of the hostages

Thursday 24^th September 2015

Life goes on as usual here at Ocean View.  It is hard to tell how anxious anyone is.  Everyone looks the same, going about their usual business of washing, chatting, clambering into the marina van to go to the market in nearby Babac town.

I can only really speak for myself, and for Pete.  We are extremely concerned for the four hostages.  I can’t bear to think of them, being hustled away out there somewhere, in some remote location, without their shoes, without a pillow, dressed only in their flimsy night attire.  Nobody has made any sort of demand or claim yet so it will probably be a while before they are restored to their lives, to their boats, to their families.

We are not, however, worried about our own safety.

There are young soldiers with guns everywhere!  Just a teensy bit too late for the hostages but certainly they are keeping a very close eye on everyone remaining in the marina!

Our meeting yesterday, in the clubroom, went for a few hours.  Gene, the wife of the owner of the marina, and of many of the businesses on Samal Island, ran the meeting and she was extremely impressive.  Kind, sympathetic, sensible, and very sorry about the whole horrid situation.

People asked some very strange questions…of course.

I can’t really go into any detail, but I can say…if you are ever attacked by terrorist/abductors – fight!  Kick, scream, scratch, fall over, make a fuss!!  Two people off another boat were initially attacked and they did all of the above.  The bandits gave them up as a bad job and went off to find someone else to subdue and take away.  And no they were not strong fit young men…Strong and fit enough obviously but just ordinary middle-aged husband-and-wife types…(I am enormously impressed!!)

On a cheerier note…before we left Ho Chi Minh City I was very keen to get a photo of my favourite motorbike shops…They are usually parked along one of the bridges on the way to Ben and Rose’s house, and our kindly taxi driver pulled over for a photo opp on our last afternoon.

I tried to give the vendor some money but he waved it away and posed very happily

with his fellow vendors smiling from the footpath.

I do hope the poor goldfish end up somewhere like this

in a lovely castle moat…

and don’t spend much more time in a plastic bag on the back of a bike!