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Legaspi, Philippines
Writer : Louise Oliver
Hello hello,
Waking up in a tranquil bay just north of Legaspi Port, I could look out across the blue-grey water to the cliffs surrounding the bay caked with luscious vegetation crawling right towards the water line and then up to the sky. After being on passage we were thankful for a pleasant night sleep protected from the downward force of the winds around us. It seemed that the worst was now over, with the winds dropping to a pleasant 10 knots.
We made our way across to Legaspi this morning to greet Michael, James and Lasse as they arrived on their early morning flight from Manila. On our voyage across we encountered several small obstacles; fishing buoys scattered haphazardly across the ocean's surface. Ironically they provided us with a crumb-like path which to follow all the way to Legaspi Port.
Legaspi is the capital of Albay Province in southern Luzon. It is here that we hoped to view the mighty Mt Mayon, unfortunately the sky is cluttered with handfuls of misty grey cloud completely shading our eyes from viewing the volcano. What little we could see suggested a magnificent site. Mt Mayon stands 2462m / 8000+ ft and is famed by its magnificent symmetrical cone. Beautiful is where the name was derived - the Bikolano word is magayon. Beauty can also be a very dangerous thing as when the volcano erupts it has harmed many people. The last eruption in 1993 caused the death of 70 people while at the same time sending hundreds of frightened families running from their homes. It is hard to imagine that of all things we have to fear, a mountainous river of glowing mud could be one of them.
Life under the shadow of Mayon, fishing on the
seawall.
With Michael, James and Lasse on board it was time to welcome our new crewmember to the team. After taking a brief yet exhausting tour around STARSHIP he was keen to get into the galley and make himself at home. I was pleased to see as a part of his artillery that he had a vegetarian cookbook. I am interested to see what gastronomic delights he comes up with.
Michael and Trevor made a quick visit to Legaspi to sort out our departure from the Philippines and also to investigate the possibility of getting fuel before we leave. Dave later ventured into the town to further investigate the fuel situation. So back on STARSHIP we waited in limbo. But certainly not lacking entertainment as we had a washing machine to contend with.
Earlier this morning while doing some washing the machine decided it didn’t want to play. So Trevor began surgery. As the day progressed the problem still avoided us. Drastic measure were in order. The dryer and washing machine needed to come away from the wall and access to the back of the machines was needed. It looks like it could be a long night. If all else fails it seems we will be washing by hand until replacement parts can be found.Not so long ago we received an e-mail form some friends from the Trobriand Islands - the Swedes as you may remember. One in particular being Olaf, who wrote to us about a friend of his ...
“everything is alright in Sweden except that the chef from the restaurant I work in seem to be heading your way, leaving us in shiploads of work. I hope you take good care of Lasse he īs one of my best friends and a terrific chef and guy from all perspectives…” Lasse Tegermark was the gentleman Olaf was referring. A self-trained chef he has for the past three summers been working in a restaurant by the name of Krusmyntagarden, enjoyed traveling when not working. After spending time studying in both History and Archaeology he decide the chef trade was more his cup of tea. Lucky for us so now we have him on board to spend the next few months traveling and eating fine cuisine. So as he has finally reached his home after many hours in the air, the team from STARSHIP welcome him with open arms and bellies.
Playing in the port.
For the remainder of the day DJ and Lasse made their way into Legaspi to get a feel for the provisioning side of things on STARSHIP. Not more than 5 hours after joining us he is right into the swing of things. The first meal he and DJ prepared together was lunch which just so happened to be steak sandwiches, just what the doctor ordered according to Trevor and Dave who reminisced on how they had guided Enrico to the perfection of the steak sandwich. I’m sure they will do the same with Lasse. Returning to STARSHIP Lasse was pleasantly surprised by the variety on offer in the supermarket and the fridge is now laden with lots of fresh fruit and veggies dying to be eaten.
Right on queue as we prepared to dock the skies opened and gave us a little rain shower. Finally we established the in’s and out’s of getting fuel in Legaspi and we began fuelling at 5.15pm. As the rain pattered down on the decks of STARSHIP many curious by-standers watched on. On the wharf a group of young men gathered at the stern to see what was going on. The fuel man asked us if we wanted to check the fuel, Trevor’s simple reply was “fill her up”. So as the sun almost certainly set beyond the curtain of clouds we settled in for a peaceful evening, hoping in anticipation for a clear morning in so that we may be able to view Mt Mayon in all it’s beauty ... fingers crossed.
Fact files:
Interestingly enough a small clue to why it was so difficult to get fuel in Legaspi it seems that according to the port official STARSHIP is the first private yacht to enter Legaspi Port in the last 10 years, so they appeared a little out of practice with the formalities. Not to worry, things got rolling in the end and everyone is happy. It also appears that another typhoon is brewing and possibly heading our way so we will prepare ourselves armed with coolies to battle out the storm, so much for sunshine.
See you tomorrow when the sun is shining,
Lou