Bacolod, Philippines - June 2011

Culasi Bay at dawn

We pack away the dive gear for the meantime and head for the city of Bacolod on Negros Island. It is home to Daryl’s brother’s ( John) wife (Merci). We figure the closest we can get the yacht to their suburb is stopping at Brgy,Talisay. By bad luck we choose low tide to go ashore. Local fisherman guide us in over the sandbar and we arrive in a muddy backwater outside the fish market. As we get out of the dinghy, into mud up to our shins, 50 odd men watching, Amber whispers ‘this will not be a good moment to fall in’. We squelch our way to shore and the locals kindly direct us to a tap where a lad pumps as we rinse. People stare as if we have just dropped from outer space. We chat to a local Chinese wood carver (who also has a crab processing business!!) who has some fears for the safety of the boat and dinghy. We assure him we’ll only be gone for a few hours and he seems satisfied.

We have a lovely lunch with the family, visit the flash local mall, pick up food in the local market and bring some of the young ones back to the boat. We decide to move the boat a few miles down the coast to a commercial harbour where the family thinks we will be safer. The rest of the family comes out for dinner. For them it is an experience they have never had and never likely to come across again.

Group at the fish market, watching........................Daryl and I with Iris

Merci's family.............................................................Young Timothy

Visit at Iris's work, the community hospital........... Iris getting wet with rain in the dinghy

Dinner on the boat

Ian with his new guitar..........................Emily, Iris and Ian on the dinghy

Taking Ian and Iris to 'Chicken House for lunch

Goodbye for now

We have a lovely lunch with the family, visit the flash local mall, pick up food in the local market and bring some of the young ones back to the boat. We decide to move the boat a few miles down the coast to a commercial harbour where the family thinks we will be safer. The rest of the family comes out for dinner. For them it is an experience they have never had and never likely to come across again.

As often the case it is the weather that determine the length of a stay and this stay is cut short by a weather system that is on it’s way in the South China Sea. Amber makes the fastest exit a crew member has ever made from the boat. It suits her to stay longer in Negros, we need to get going, so 45 mins after her decision to stay is made, Daryl is dropping her at the shore, as we need to be off. She’s stayed in daily contact and is racking up a list of ‘must do’ dives for Daryl for the future.

Mean while we high tail it south west back across the Sulu Sea before the weather hits. So we are currently tucked up in Puerto Princesa Harbour outside Abinico Yacht Club. John and Sissi are such great hosts, with their quaint restaurant and bar and their wealth of knowledge about the city and it’s people. Transport into town is easy, there are plenty of good restaurants and a good air conditioned supermarket – what more does a cruiser need.