dunnage boxes and red cover

I had been telling myself I should clean out the dunnage boxes on Doramac, but forgetting every chance I had.  Well, half the time I would forget and the other half I just didn’t do it.  Today I finally tackled the job and it is dirty work, but the results are very satisfying.  I did  two of them and will work on the others another day. The spare propeller and the drogue and its line were in the first box I tackled.   Unfortunately when I unpacked the drogue, I just dumped it anyway I could.  But it was, and must be stowed in a certain way so that when you need it, it’s ready. Now I know that.   ” A drogue is a device to slow a boat down in a storm so that it does not speed excessively down the slope of a wave and crash into the next one”   Wikepedia  Kind of like a parachute you hang out the stern (back) of the boat.  You have it and hope you never need it because , if you did, you would be in a pretty big storm.  Hopefully we never need the spare propeller either.  It was really heavy so Randal had to get it out of the dunnage box.  He was not overjoyed to see the drogue out in a mess.  But the dunnage box is now clean, very white instead of green!!! 

The parachute part is the blue under all of that line.  The propeller is pretty obvious.  I wish I knew things without learning after the fact.  I would have skipped that box and picked a different.  Oh well.

clip_image001

clip_image002  The clean dunnage box behind the cockpit. 

clip_image003 The whole inside of the box looked like the gray/green area on this sign, only worse. 

A definitely satisfying job when it all looks clean at the end.  And you thought we were off just having fun all of the time!

clip_image004  The front dunnage box was trickier because it won’t stay up by itself.  I had to get a BoBo-Zoey stool to help me.  There are 2 more front boxes to clean.  I kept the others from getting any of the soap/bleach wash by plugging the drain hole in the left hand corner with a wine cork!  Cleaning this dunnage box took more brain than brawn just to figure out how to do it.

clip_image005  Big Red!!  Our huge, too heavy deck cover.  We hope to get something that is lighter in weight.  It does shade the front half of the boat really well and also keeps rain out of the front hatches.

clip_image006  My avocado plant.  When we went to Puerto Galera, Heidi who lives 2 boats over with JR plant sat.  It grew lots of leaves so I had to give it a trim just before its photo.  I have given it some shells and coral for company. 

Tomorrow evening we are driving into Manila with Nick and Zaida for a few days.  To help with the traffic congestion, license plates indicate days you can’t be in Manila so we can’t get there until after 7 pm. 

Randal is now trying to put the drogue back in the box.  I think I’ll go help!

Olongapo City Cemetery

December, 2,2007

  I first started to type November.  It is hard to believe it is already December; it’s still shorts and swimming weather here.  The weather gods are smiling these days.  We were spared the terrible typhoon weather that terrorized parts of the Philippines and Vietnam: but are now enjoying the clear, dry weather that tends to follow in the aftermath.  No AC needed.  The breezes and low humidity want open hatches, doors, and portholes.  We have a huge, HUGE, RED covering over the front deck and that shades the boat.  It is wonderful weather for doing anything and chores are being done up and down the pier.  Yesterday I did laundry and maybe today will wash out some of the storage boxes on the decks that tend to grow moldy from the humidity.   Mostly I took the day off  and went for a 3 hour  walk to, and through the Olongapo City Cemetery.  That left me mentally awakened but physically pretty pooped, but after an indulgently too long shower I revived enough to enjoy dinner at Aresci.  Bob and Audrey Silvers had called about 5:30 asking us to join them for dinner.  Aresci’s is the favorite Italian/Mediterranean restaurant just down the waterfront from the Scuba Shack.  We’d never eaten there, but will again.  Anyway, during dinner Bob or Audrey mentioned the coup in Manila.  “What coup?”   I guess that answers the question, “Can the country they are visiting undergo a coup attempt and Ruth and Randal don’t know?”  Sadly, it’s not such an odd occurrence here.    Shoot’m ups and overthrow politics are not so unusual as one would hope.  I much prefer hanging chads.  I don’t even know if it made the news in Roanoke.  Obviously Randal and I missed it living a mere 3 hour bus ride away. 

Philippines to charge plotters of quashed coup attempt
Xinhua, China – Nov 30, 2007
Philippine military on Thursday quashed a short-lived coup attempt when 30-strong renegade soldiers, led by Trillanes, surrendered inside the Manila
Philippines Lifts Curfew After Coup Attempt; Police on Alert Bloomberg
Coup attempt flops Inquirer.net
Army foils coup attempt in Philippines Independent
XinhuaChristian Science Monitor
all 1,315 news articles ยป

Olongapo City Cemetery

I took over 100 photos during my walk.  I almost wish I could send them all.  Not that they are all so great, but it might be the only info on the web about the cemetery.  It is owned by the City of Olongapo and Father Mike, a long-time local priest told me I might find some info at City Hall.  We met him last week while we were eating in the Scuba Shack.  Father Mike, who had become a friend of  Dave and Dorothy, has a small sailboat that he keeps here at SBYC.  He also offers a mass here once each week.  I was going to go one time to ask about the cemetery, but since he was at the Scuba Shack eating with our Canadian friend Bob we were introduced and I asked him then.  The weather being perfect, I finally took my walk back there and found some of the best views around the area.

clip_image001

On my way to the cemetery I met Gilbert, our former boat helper, going home after his half day. He now works full time for Ray Wolfe.  Gilbert is expecting his first baby any day now.  I asked Gilbert about the cemetery.  His grandfather is buried in the cemetery.  Gilbert said the cemetery started on top of the hill and has worked its way down to the road’s edge.  There are steps that lead up the hillside.

clip_image002  Street level.

clip_image003  I don’t know what the official infant mortality stats are, but there were too many markers like these where you can see for yourself that they are too high. 

clip_image004

clip_image005  Lots of graves too close together for me to walk since I didn’t know if walking on them was acceptable .  I only walked where I found paths.

clip_image006  There were several influences here, Catholic and Chinese.

I have more photos showing the view at the top, but don’t want to overload this email so will send a part 2.