People who ask about our cruising life seem to think we don't carry food onboard, and that we just catch fish everyday while cruising. Truth be said, we seldom catch fish.  We do not have enough room in our little fridge cooler to store all the catch, so why waste them? Our rule is to catch what we can eat within a week. We actually despair when we end up catching a very big one, like the over-a-meter long yellow fin tuna in Solomon waters. That was a bloody mess on deck and we couldn't even keep it all. But this size of Mahi-Mahi is okay for us.

While at anchor somewhere in Vava'u, Tonga, we were watching some locals walking around the reef at low tide. Out of curiousity, we went over to ask what they were looking for. They were very eager to show and teach us how to pick some sort of edible seashell. They even taught us how to cook and extract the meat out. We were to bang it very hard on a hard surface and the meat will pop out. So off we went to collect a few golf ball sized shells. I cooked them like escargots in the boat. Lots of garlic!! They were oh-so-delicious, but our galley was a mess afterwards. Remind me to get a few of these next time I need to vent off some anger.

Here in Samal, the Daval gulf is a source of food for the locals. Sad to say, I think it is overfished and the locals who cannot afford to buy bigger boats to go further offshore have to contend with fewer and smaller sized catches. But at low tides, you can still catch or pick some edible food without having to own a boat. Here are some pictorial summary taken by my sister-in-law.

After the catch, a beach cook out!!

They do sell these at the public market. They pick shells and seaweeds at low tides. When the tide comes in, they catch those that float in with the tide, like the tiny fish they use for making briny sauces, or the jelly fish they can pickle and eat.

Yesterday, I helped Kjartan in the final test-run of the engine before we took away the big tank of water off the deck (needed for running the engine). Kjartan wanted to see if all looks and sounds fine. Of course, we won't be 100% sure until we actually run it in the water. So far though, he said all looks and sounds good.

If you must know, Kjartan is not one to just accept things as they are. He has to re-do everything himself to make peace in his mind. As soon as the 3 mechanics left, he spent the next days re-doing everything they did. We did a trial run first before calling them back and found that the engine runs (thank goodness) but they forgot to connect the gears. So he decided to leave all the blocks and pulleys in place just in case we have to take the gearbox out again. This time, only the head mechanic came to do the test run.

Not even 5 minutes into the run, he said "All fine". Kjartan said "Do you think so?". He said "Yes Sir!!". Haha. Kjartan then directed him to the gearbox problem and he didn't even see anything wrong at all. Anyway, upon Kjartan's insistence, the gearbox was taken and lifted out to the deck. Then he saw it, and together, they fixed the problem. Back down it went and was re-installed.

Now, the engine room is almost back to normal, with a few more improvements. It is now painted white (done while the engine was out) and is brighter. Since we are a cement boat, we used a 2 part epoxy paint for cement from Pioneer. We first saw it in Ace Hardware and bought one to try out. We could have hired someone for Php250 per day to do the work, but the problem is that if you are not watching, almost always there will be a lot of short-cuts done. Kjartan took a lot of time degreasing the whole area before priming and painting. If done correctly, he does not have to do the work all over again for several several years. The paint dried quickly (in this high humidity) and Kjartan liked it. The problem is we cannot find another white in the store. He wanted to use the same paint for the whole bilge. In checking around, nobody else carried this same product. Oh well, so now we have some multicolored bilge walls.

On deck, we cleaned up and took away all the blocks of wood lying around. It is so amazing how quickly tools, parts and supplies gather and fill up any clear space when doing a project. Once cleared, we brought up the garden hose and started cleaning and scrubbing. Wiskun is right beside the ferry terminal. It is very dusty. A good scrubbing is a good idea, at least once a month. The water pressure was weak and I think the sweat pouring out of my head was stronger. But I loved it. I felt I was back in the old days, carefree, no stress! Just minor irritations on seeing bird droppings splattered on deck. Afterwards, I sat on my favorite spot, looking around and with a smile on my face - just like this picture taken several years ago ....

As I sit here in the office, I am watching the downpour of rain outside. I am thinking of the floods that I will have to drive through to get to Sasa Ferry terminal. I think I better wait awhile. The rains don't usually last long here. But the rainy season has started and the sailing season in Philippine waters is over.

I have heard on the radio that this is La Nina year - this means more rainfall than normal. For the past weeks, we are certainly experiencing above normal rainfall conditions and even a very early typhoon. This is due to the presence of low pressure areas that are embedded in an active Intertropical Covergence Zone (ITCZ). From the satellite picture below, taken today, you can see the band of ITCZ all across Philippines, Indonesia and connecting to the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ) across Papua New Guinea, Solomons and Vanuatu. Wow, that is certainly a very wide area covered. I wouldn't want to be sailing through this.

Source: http://www.weather.org/Pacific.htm

According to Pag-asa, "the early migration of the ITCZ is enhancing the southwest windflow over the western and southern parts of the country. The characteristically moist southwest windflow is expected to prevail due to the intensification of the High Pressure Area over Australia especially in the months of July and August. Other rainfall causing systems relative to the Southwest Monsoon such as the ITCZ and tropical cyclones may be modulated by the recession of the North Pacific High Pressure Area and breaks in the rain periods could be expected before the normal peak of the rainy season in July and August. The rainy season will start receding towards the end of August until its normal termination by the end of September."

In Davao, we certainly are affected by the active ITCZ. You can feel the moist and warm southerly wind and this brings rain mostly in the late afternoons or evenings. The ITCZ gives birth to low pressure areas which may turn to typhoons as they migrate north or northwest. When typhoons hit the northern part of the PHilippines, for some reason Davao (Southern Mindanao) usually gets no wind and becomes hot and muggy.

Not too many people know about Camp Holiday Resort in Samal. For one, there is no heavy advertising about the place. Once in a while I will put some article about the area, like swimming here with my dog. I love it because I do not have to deal with wearing feet protection against stepping on corals. The beach has been swept clean of rocks and white sand from Talikud were transported over to replace them. Secondly, it is enclosed and it feels like swimming in a huge swimming pool. It is not very deep where the steps are and kids love playing around in the sand, especially during low tides. (To check tides, just click on my link to the Davao tide tables in my home page).

During weekends and holidays, it is quite common to see campers who come in late in the day, stay overnight and swim very early in the morning before the sun comes out.

They have tents for rent here. P150 for a 3 person tent and P250 for a 5 person tent. The entry fee is P50 per person per day. You are allowed to bring your food in and barbeque them here. BBQ grills are available for you to use. No drinks are allowed otherwise corkage will be charged. The pavillion sells drinks, ice cream and grilled food, plus a videoke for your singing pleasure. Judging from what we hear here all the time, I do not think any of the singers will qualify for being the next Philippine Idol. But all in good fun, Filipinos being a happy bunch of people.

During the last few months, there were improvements being done. 12 airconditioned cabins were erected, and a 2 storey hotel building is in the plans. Camp Holiday is geared towards conventions and seminars, hence the hotel and cabins are necessary.

Be sure to come and say hi to us when you visit. We are staying at the white house within the compound.

PS - The cabins are good for the cruisers to rent if they decide to haul out their yachts. The boatyard is just right across the street.

Addendum: The cabins officially open on May 25th and the rental price is Php 1,800 per cabin per night.

A few readers are emailing me for more information. Please call or text 227-5055 or 0918 935-4278. You can also email them directly at campholidayresort@gmail.com. Thank you.

We went to Fred's Machine shop to pick up the engine and being in the Philippines, we were not surprised that the quoted price is not the amount we have to pay. Instead of Php 18K, we were asked to Php 33k. Why they don't bother to quote the real price, I don't know, but it is a waste of time to argue on the principles of giving the right quote. Instead we asked a local who has been dealing with them to bargain. We had it dropped to around Php 25k. Since the engine is still in parts (so we can fit it through the companionway), we withheld Php8k. Fred's mechanic will have to come to the boat to finish installing. Kjartan really can do it himself much better, but we agreed to this so that if anything is wrong, we are not held accountable or be made an excuse. Besides, Kjartan will now be with them supervising. Here are pictures of the machine shop and Fred.

Once we got the engine up on deck, we saw the first challenge. They installed the oil sump backwards!! This took Kjartan's day thinking and reading the manual on what to do. Leave it? Order new gaskets if he takes it apart again? My goodness, if they did this wrong, what else could be wrong inside the engine?  In the end, he decided to take it apart and correct the installation. Luckily we do not need new gaskets. I was on deck helping with this. Inside looks very clean and well-greased. Honestly, I miss the days when I have nothing to worry about but just help Kjartan in the day to day chores of taking care of Wiskun. In the heat of the day, we managed to put the sump back, kjartan putting on screws on one side and me on the other side. Then I leave all the final tightening of screws to him, evening out the tightness using just his strength. Afterwards, we got one person from the boatyard to help in lowering the engine down inside.

Once the engine is bolted down to its position, we arranged for Fred's mechanic to come in to finalize the installation of the head. They (3 of them) came yesterday. Wow - three!! Do they think we have lots of room in the engine compartment? Kjartan stood aside and watched them. One admitted, in his limited number of English words, that they have never done this type of engine before. What does he mean? a marine engine? our very very old engine? a British type engine? or he doesn't know how? Anyway, Kjartan knows more than them where parts go, and had to advise them. One thing he noticed is the lack of tools. He had to lend them a torque wrench which they didn't know how to use. Of course, they wouldn't admit it, so they instead asked Kjartan - " you you you, you set up". They also asked for "screw". Surprised, Kjartan gave them screws not knowing what they wanted screws for. They took the screws and tried to do something with them, and finally Kjartan realized, they meant "screwdriver". This is hilarious. Well, they managed to bend or break? the dip stick (not sure if this is what Kjartan meant). They asked for glue or epoxy, and Kjartan refused. They have to replace it.

The job is not done yet. They went home yesterday and when Kjartan asked if they brought along the dip stick, they of course said "yes sir". Kjartan knows better now and insisted to see it. True enough, they didn't have it. The head mechanic had to instruct one of them to go back up to get it. If this was left to me, I would have written a piece of paper that they took it, and have them sign. So the saga of the engine haul in Davao continues today - I hope they show up.

I have said all along that I am not a sailor. I was gutsy enough to take off with Kjartan in 2002 with only books and reading about other people's experiences to credit for. In saying this, and after 5 years sailing in the Pacific on Wiskun, I have learned much more about sailing, BUT only on Wiskun. I was browsing through other sailing sites yesterday and this got my interest - Laser Sailing. According to Wikipedia, the Laser dinghy was originally designed by a Canadian, Bruce Kirby. The history

"began with a phone call between Canadians Bruce Kirby and Ian Bruce. While discussing the possibility of a car-topped dinghy (a boat small enough to be carried on a roof rack of a typical car) for a line of camping equipment, Bruce Kirby sketched what would be known as "the million dollar doodle". The plans stayed with Kirby until 1970 when One Design and Offshore Yachtsman magazine held a regatta for boats under $1000, called "America's Teacup". After a few sail modifications, the Laser easily won its class."

In searching further, I came across this youtube video which I want to share with you.

title="Laser Sailing">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImuyZtbDZ5Q

Now THIS is perfect for the Davao Gulf, don't you think so?