30th March-1st April - more Mindanao days

Wednesday 30^th March 2016

Every Wednesday morning, 10-12, there is a self-defence class here in the marina clubrooms.  Two kindly and keen volunteers come to give an energetic lesson, and only two marina denizens take up the opportunity… Last week, on Wednesday, we were on the fortnightly bus trip to G mall supermarket.  And today, at 10am, I went for a long swim along the reef, thinking it was…Tuesday!

Samal Island market girl

Friday 1^st April 2016

I do know it is Friday today…I am back in Davao, drinking coffee at the Swiss Deli, where the internet does actually work. Pete wants me to point out that Samal Island is nowhere near as expansive as I said; we did a round trip, with many detours and backsliding, and we only did 120 kilometres.

It seems probable that we will be able to be lifted out of the water next week; they SEEM to be rigging up some sort of platform.  All very difficult without a regular power supply…Pete and I have both been swimming around under the boat, scraping off as many big tenacious barnacles as we can.  The little fish who live in the marina are delighted with the many tidbits which come their way!

28th March 2016 - Samal tourists

Monday 28^th March 2016

Big hibiscus on Samal Island!

Yesterday we had a day off.  One of the denizens of Ocean View marina, Eric, has a snazzy red twin cab 4WD ute, which he hires out for 1000 pesos per day (about $33.)  BARGAIN!!

Zumba on the beach

This glorious vehicle has aircon; I was very happy just sitting in the cool, never mind the pretty scenery… And it was pretty.  Samal is a very hilly island, about 150 kilometres in length, jam packed with small villages and slightly bigger townships.

cigarette ads!!

It was Easter Sunday and everyone was in holiday mode.  Everyone except for the dozens of people slaving away over huge piles of coconuts, which they were processing manually in the hot hot sun…

We followed some makeshift signs up hill and down dale (STEEP hills!!) and eventually found Samal Island Garden Resort.  We fully expected it to be closed, or to have big entrance fees but no; it was open, cool,, quiet, beautiful and – ready to serve us a very delicious lunch!  I had my new favourite, Bicol Express, which involves a whole lot of veggies in a spicy coconut milk sauce, while Pete had a very small boneless fish and some garlic rice.  And some COLD beer – Happy Pete!

Pete at a roadside shop, happy with cold beer

The boat is due to be hoicked out of the water next week, to have land-based work done.  Anti-fouling, painting below decks etc.  But…the workers need to weld a frame to fit 2XS and…there isn’t enough power, they say, to run the welding equipment.  Samal still has no power, and probably won’t have for three MONTHS!!!

At Samal Island Garden resort

Today, nevertheless, we are back at work, endlessly sorting and tidying.  Pete does a lot more work than I do but…I do try to help.  I am also helping by keeping out of the way and improving my health and temper by swimming around and around the marina.  I can manage nearly an hour now; much better!  And while I swim I think as many positive thoughts as I can manage, with LOTS going towards Kjartan, John, Rob and Tess, still being held hostage…

25th March 2016 - Good Friday on 2XS, Samal Island

Friday 25^th March  – Good Friday 2016

Bicycle powered trike - hard work in the heat!

To celebrate Good Friday Pete and I are…working.  It is – oh how surprising – very VERY hot.  We have lugged the last of our stuff (Pete doesn’t call it stuff; he calls it SHIT, In bitter tones,) from the big storage box in the workshed.  The carpenters and painters had moved nearly everything out of the cabins while they were working; it is an immense job to get it all sorted and back in place.  And we are chucking a lot of things which we have been lugging around forever.  For example, beautiful big couch bolsters which are too big, thick, wide for the couches…They are never going to get smaller; the couches are never going to get bigger.  They were obviously made to the wrong specifications, back in the early non-Pete days of 2XS.  And now they can find a happy home in the Philippines, on Samal Island.

I have taken everything out of the locker under the helm, the realm of snorkels, masks, flippers and a few strange slimey items… I have washed everything and thrown out a lot of…slime.  Satisfying!

Today I am doing three loads of washing.  This takes much longer than one would think.  There are automatic washing machines here but they have to be nursed most tenderly, because the water pressure is very low, and because the power cuts out every now and again, throwing the machines into panic and confusion.  So I am sitting in the mercifully cool big laundry/storage room, leaping up every now and again to switch the machine back on, or to add water from a hose.  It will all be worth it, to have lovely clean bedlinen, teatowels, clothes!!

Tonight is the weekly pot-luck marina BBQ.  A few boats are leaving tomorrow, heading south, so it will be a bit of a farewell, to Labyrinth (Jason and Jolene, Australia,) and Storm  Boy (Gina and Ahmed, Turkey.)