The Stage Is Set

The Stage Is Set

With a passport and airline ticket in hand, the house in Seward is in good order but not sold, I set my sights on another tour. There will be a combination of some countries I haven’t been to before and a few I need more time to explore.

I’m not much on preplanning because I never end up following a plan. I can set myself up so I know what country I’m going to and do the research but as I’ve said before, there’s a lot to be said for just going and talking to people and hearing the contemporary pros and cons, if you have the time.

First stop is back to South Korea and the KGB Bar to say hello and see friends and make some book business arrangements for a week and then off to do some diving in the Philippines for a couple weeks. My eye is on the Boracay area but I’m in the middle of researching the islands dive spots of which there are many varying from shipwrecks to some boasting 50 feet visibility. I’m heading back to S. Korea for an undisclosed period of time and then I have 4 months to fill before I am to arrive in Paris, France for a movie project with Rum Farm Productions. I can’t say much about it except that it’s happening.  

With time out and about and no real agenda, ideas, scenarios, and anticipation flow through my mind like a river over-running its banks. I have no idea where it will flow. I’m spending the next month finishing a manuscript, ‘The Women Of Cho’. Stay tuned for more.

www.davidcdagley.com

Alaska to the City of Lost Angels and Beyond

Alaska to the City of Lost Angels and Beyond

I was in Alaska for about a month just trying to figure out my near term future plans and didn’t really come up with much. I felt a little lost until a friend of mine came up with a project that perked my interest. We had to meet face to face so off I went for San Francisco to see family and friends before meeting up in San Luis Obispo, California.

I saw some rare old friends and family from Tiburon and San Rafael to downtown San Francisco. I took a wander through China Town looking for good deals on cameras but found nothing better than at Best Buy. Besides friends the highlight was going to Yoshi’s and seeing Tommy Igoe and the Groove Conspiracy. Yoshi’s is a music venue/restaurant that has been bought and will most likely keep the bands coming while the decor and the Japanese culinary influence are either removed or lessened. Their sushi was to die for.

I hopped an Amtrak bus train combo and headed south for San Luis Obispo for a few days to see an old artist friend of mine I met in London. We had time to catch up over good food and an outdoor Reggae show in Los Osos in the heat. We stayed a little longer than we should have because playoff game two with the San Francisco Giants were on after the music so we stuck around and waited for a home run by Belt ending a lot of extra innings and extra beers.

The next morning we made a quick stop at the Del Monte Café for a late breakfast and two out of three of us got on the train and headed for LA to fine-tune some project perimeters and see if we can get a company to sign off on it, if so, I’ll be in Paris in May and England even sooner.

Between now and then I’m doing a short and sweet friendship tour. I probably will not stay in the states but I can’t make up my mind on that one just yet. My options are endless and all sound good. I’m toying with staying in Alaska, working a bit and finish a manuscript, OR go to Nepal and finish it there, OR head back to South Korea for book translation publication arrangements, then to the Philippines, Borneo, and Sulawesi for more diving. A friend thought I should go to Belize and dive there. I just can’t decide, nor do I have to at this point and probably shouldn’t. Talk about a free spirit.

I was in Burbank for a couple of days and nights touring around Mulholland Drive, Ventura Blvd., peering into Warner Brother studio lots finally ending our time with a meeting at 2 o’clock with Papa’s Pilar Rum Company from the Caribbean that went pretty well. I think they’re interested in what we are planning to do and they want to tie in a charity, which doesn’t bother us. It’s just working out the final details. I can’t really bring it all up just yet because it isn’t finalized but it looks positive. See you in Paris.

Hermosa beach is bustling with remodels and tare down construction of multi-million dollar properties. Excavators can be heard and seen pulling out dirt and sand, pile drivers setting I-beams for shoring up new construction and all the while the sun is shining and volleyball tournaments and pick-up games simmer on the beach. The waves were good due to a storm off the coast of Mexico. Whales are migrating south in droves and dolphins swim along the coast with paddle boarders. Paddle boarding seems to have become the rage for an alternative activity since I was here last. I’m sure it’s a decade old practice by now.

Vegas Onward

I took a bus from Burbank to Vegas and had a complimentary 3-night stay at the Rio including food and gambling money through Total Rewards. The weather was great and 3 days in Vegas seems like a week anywhere else in the world. It was a successful time, saw some shows, played some good cards and got out of there before falling into the abyss of ‘Lost Wages’.

I flew to Tulsa Oklahoma to see a friend and watched the Giants shoot down the Cardinals in the playoffs on their way to the World Series against Kansas City Royals. I did manage to get out to the Blue Turtle and play some pool with a couple locals. The women were not nice until the matches were over. On the table they are all business.

I took a bus from Tulsa through Saint Louis Missouri and on to Chicago. I arrived at 6 am and went straight to a coffee shop and checked in with people on my path back towards Alaska. Some of my friends were out on holiday and so I decided to fly to Anchorage versus push on into Saint Paul. I still have captain license stuff to renew, hopefully its all been sent to my P.O. Box so I can grab it and be done with it before the next adventure heats up, there’s always one on the horizon, as it should be.

On my return to Alaska I knew what I had to do to get all my projects sorted before the next thing comes along. The plan is simple; after the World Series was over, cut up all the downed trees from the last storm 3 years a go, re-carpet the downstairs, re-trim, finish the house once and for all, vacuum and stay as long as it takes to finish the next manuscript in relative peace. It shouldn’t be long before I’m back at the KGB Bar in Incheon, South Korea chatting up the Russian Korean ladies and listening to foreign engineers and project managers tell wild stories of the ‘outback of Mongolia or some other exotic industrial focus then I’ll probably head to the Philippines for more diving.

www.davidcdagley.com

Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders video clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eU4fdNUFPw

Alaska to San Francisco and the City of Lost Angels

Alaska to San Francisco and the City of Lost Angels

I was in Alaska for about a month just trying to figure out my near term future plans and didn’t really come up with much. I felt a little lost until a friend of mine came up with a project that perked my interest. We had to meet face to face so off I went for San Francisco to see family and friends before meeting up in San Luis Obispo, California.

I saw some rare old friends and family. The highlight was going to Yoshi’s and seeing Tommy Igoe and the Groove Conspiracy. Yoshi’s has been bought and will most likely keep the bands coming while the decor and the Japanese culinary influence are either removed or lessened.

I hopped an Amtrak bus train combo and headed south for San Luis Obispo for a few days to see an old artist friend of mine I met in London. We had time to catch up over good food and an outdoor Reggae show in Los Osos in the heat. We stayed a little longer than we should have because playoff game two with the San Francisco Giants were on after the music so we stuck around and waited for a home run by Belt ending a lot of extra innings.

The next morning we made a quick stop at the Del Monte Café for a late breakfast and two out of three of us got on the train and headed for LA to fine-tune some project perimeters and see if we can get a company to sign off on it, if so, I’ll be in Paris in May and England even sooner.

Between now and then I’m doing a short and sweet friendship tour. I probably will not stay in the states but I can’t make up my mind on that one just yet. My options are endless and all sound good. I’m toying with staying in Alaska, working a bit and finish a manuscript, OR go to Nepal and finish it there, OR head back to South Korea for book translation publication arrangements, then to the Philippines, Borneo, and Sulawesi for more diving. A friend thought I should go to Belize and dive there. I just can’t decide, nor do I have to at this point and probably shouldn’t.

We’ve been in Burbank for a couple of days and nights touring around Mulholland Drive, Ventura Blvd., peering into Warner Brother studio lots finally ending our time with a meeting at 2 o’clock with Papa Pilar Rum Company and Rum Farm Productions went pretty well. I think they’re interested in what we are going to do and they want to tie in a charity, which doesn’t bother us. It’s just working out the final details. I can’t really bring it all up just yet because it isn’t finalized but it looks positive. See you in Paris.

Hermosa beach is bustling with remodels and tare down construction of multi-million dollar properties. Excavators pulling out dirt and sand, pile drivers setting I-beams for shoring up new construction and all the while the sun is shining and volleyball tournaments rage on the beach. Whales are migrating south in droves and dolphins swim along the coast. Paddle boarding seems to have become the rage for an alternative activity since I was here last. I’m sure it’s a decade old practice by now.

We went to the North End Bar and Grill where the LA Kings (Hockey) seem to hang out in and their fans. We left when San Jose went up 2 - 0 in the opening game of the season.

I got a call yesterday about my house in Alaska that some folks are showing interest in buying it. If so, how do I spell ‘FREEDOM’ without smiling? I hope they love it as much as I always will. It was fun to build and even more fun to live in. We shall see.

www.davidcdagley.com

Highlights of Sulawesi

Highlights of Sulawesi

I’m not going to say highlights of Indonesia because I would have to go back twenty some years when I had an opportunity and the honor of biking with a dear friend through Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Flores Islands with a quick stop on Komodo Island to see the Komodo Dragons. I was in the process of biking the east coast of Australia and he was biking New Zealand and eventually met up in Brisbane, Australia. A few years before the bike ride I had wandered for six months through the South Pacific with some college mates touching down in Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. Both are different stories that I’ll probably write out one day but not without council from them. Sulawesi was this time around and I didn’t have time to do it properly so it looks like I’ll have to go back. J

When leaving Borneo there are two choices, ferry or plane. When I returned from Mobul to Samporna I spoke with some scuba diving instructors that suggested I fly to save time. They explained that the ferry can be slow and I could get stuck for a night half way verses fly and be there quickly. I took a taxi straight to the airport to fly but when I tried to buy a ticket the nice woman behind the counter told me to go Tawau city and get a tourist visa for three months no matter how long I planned to stay. That meant another taxi into town and I would probably miss the flight and have to stay the night. Off I went for Indonesia Immigration.

Every scuba diver I spoke with told me different great places to go but none of the traveling was easy for example, after you get your tourist visa fly from Tawau to Tarakan, ferry boat to Tenjund Salor, taxi to Tawgun Batu and then take a speed boat to Derawan and you’re there kind of directions. That’s all good and the directions are correct but I felt short on travel time and wanted in the water. I met a Russian guy, Alec, hurrying out of the Immigration Office with a new visa in his hand and he with excitement gave me a direct line to a dive sight that sounded a little more within my time restraints. Take two flights and a boat and you’re there with some of the best diving Sulawesi has to offer. Sold. Fly to Tarakan, fly to Manado and take one of numerous boats that take passengers to Bunaken Island.

I know of the more expensive places to stay that are mostly listed on the islands but there always a few that are cheaper. Again, word of mouth is particularly useful in out of the way places like northern Sulawesi. I stayed at Daniel’s Homestay and dove with the connecting dive company, Immanuel Divers. My bungalow was perfect and all I needed. The beach was within 50 meters at high tide and all meals were included in the price of the bungalow. There was a professional underwater photographer staying there and had been for quite some time. His pictures are all around the dining room and many have won contests or placed high.

I dove twice a day, one in the morning and one dive after lunch. These dives were more of a drift dive where you dive down 30 meters in the morning and drift along a coral cliff loaded with eels, fish, turtles, and colors you can only imagine until you are down there. Even the snorkelers near the surface were having some of the best they’d seen. Packs of dolphin swim a bit further out and can be viewed from a boat and if you’re lucky, you can swim with them.

After the first day of diving I wandered into a small fishing village on the island and noticed how peaceful everything was. And with the company of like minded people who were there for the diving we all told bits and pieces of our lives and enjoyed a few beers in the evening looking over pictures and getting to know each other which is always fascinating.

The dive crew on the boat was all local men and women and had a long history of diving and knowing the territory. It adds to the mental comfort ability and ease of the day. There was never a hurry and the sun shone brightly over head until you got into the night dives.

I should have gotten more money out of the ATM in Manado because in the end I had to either go get more or just keep going. I flew to Bali to meet a surf-crazed friend who had recently gotten married and lived in Sanur, Bali. My time was literally running out to get back to Thailand and catch my parting flight for South Korea so it was a short visit. I also wanted to dive there but the weather and storms continued to hit the beach and so I decided to get on with it. Tomorrow is another day and I know I’ll be back.

www.davidcdagley.com