All Along The Mekong

All Along The Mekong

I said my personal ‘good-bye for now’ to the Philippines and flew to Bangkok to meet up with some new and old friends for a few days of visa runs and cheap computer parts at the Pantip Plaza. If you’re looking for computers or accessories and can’t find it, it’s there. Unfortunately I had a few extra trips to the Nepalese Embassy than I had hoped for. The first time I had a late start and arrived at 12:15. Turning in visa applications only occurs in the morning before 12 and pick up is the next day after 2:30. The reason I’m there at all is because I’ve been told time and time again that if you get it at the Katmandu Airport it could take a few hours to complete rather than have a 90 visa in your pocket and walk on by.

After acclimatizing in Bangkok at Cheap Charlie’s Bar a couple nights and good food at the Snapper we got up early for a flight to Vientiane, Lao where my friend lives with his wife and 8 month old. Three of us grabbed a cab and off we went. There wasn’t much traffic but we passed 100 baht to the driver for the toll highway that isn’t included in your fare. If you don’t pay it or mention it then you can get bogged down in commuter traffic on the streets of Bangkok. Add time to arrival and money to the meter. (Just FYI)

We weren’t exactly awake yet when we walked into the airport and we looked and found Bangkok Airways and there was a line out passed the zigzag portable fence. Looking at the length of the line, I won’t mention any names, but one of us thinking everybody was heading to Vientiane said quite clearly, “That’s a really big plane.” The other two of us started laughing and explained that all Bangkok Airway travelers are in this line. He felt a little silly after that but we won’t let him forget it too quickly. He’s awake now.

We pulled into Lao and the humid heat hit me with a happy welcome back. We got picked up and headed for home. It looks like we’re going to chill for a week or so before moving in any real direction. I can use the time for some projects that I’m getting close to finishing.

We took a walk down the bank of the Mekong at sunset and that’s always a good time to be out, the heat of the day has abated and the mosquitos are still in hiding until the last rays of the sun dissolve into the Thailand forest west across the Mekong.

All kinds of activities are underway at this time of day. People are out fishing along the banks, the monks are clanging bells and gongs, and everyday people, if they can, take a moment to themselves.

www.davidcdagley.com

Sangat, Manila, Baguio, The Philippines

Sangat, Manila, Baguio; The Philippines

I left Sangat Island after a stuffed squid lunch on a speedboat and was immediately picked up by mini van in Coron town at the south end of Busuanga Island and taken straight to the airport. The plane was on time and I landed back in Manila where I caught a taxi to Quezon City, north of Manila, and it was 5 pm. Traffic had already been stop and go for most of the day and at 5 the amount of cars staggers to double and constant. After a while I did reach my destination, Soleste Suites. I stayed there two nights and never saw another tourist. The area seems a bit more residential and hospitable than downtown Manila but part of that is because I don’t really know my way around.

I caught a Victoria Liner bus to Baguio City where there is supposed to be a flower festival all month but in reality it’s only the last few days of February with a parade of dancers and floats. I was a little early. The weather is considerably cooler and the mountains surrounding the city are beautiful grounded on narrow ridges and below the peaks houses and narrow roads stack on top of each other. There are no sidewalks and barely two cars wide. For the most part children and students seem to visually out number the elders.

I stayed a couple nights at the Arc Residence on top of a steep foothill mountain peak nestled in a pine grove very near the athletic fields of a university. Through

The pines trees I could see a track and field, tennis court, badminton courts, basketball court and a volleyball court, almost all in continuous use. The band was on the main field practicing their routine and music for the upcoming flower festival parade. I will forever have ‘Let’s Get This Party Started’ by the Black Eyed Peas in my head. They played numerous songs but this particular song seemed particularly loud and with a tribe of various drums, it echoed out of the valley below.

I was told by the owner of the Arc Residences, a great guy, Sigurd Hogsbro, an avid Baguio fan and cycle enthusiast, to go to La Presa at sunrise. It’s a viewpoint above Baguio with a 360-degree view of the surrounding mountain ranges and all the way to the sea on a clear day. I got up to the top just as the sun broke over the Eastern mountain range followed by a fast moving fog bank. I didn’t have much time before I was enveloped in fog and could only see south-southwest. It was still worth the taxi ride.

I changed hotels to be closer to down town just to see it and invited back up by Sigurd to the grand opening of the Arc Residences. I noticed a sign directed at students for 3500 pesos/month (all inclusive). That’s cheap for Baguio students looking for housing. www.arc.ph. The lower hallway entrance has an assortment of low cost food shops, a purified water store, and the ultimate BBQ restaurant, Canto, pulled pork, beef, etc. with a great reputation in the area. Each housing floor has an indoor lounge with a flat screen and a dining court. There are also some rooms for travelers passing through like myself. If you’re a student or traveler heading to Baguio the Arc is worth checking out. Not only that, if your interested in wilderness trekking, photography treks, river rafting, etc. Sigurd can direct you to the right people. Here’s a couple sites I checked out on FB if you need further guidance: http://www.facebook.com/Cordillera.Conservation.Trust?fref=ts. And: http://www.facebook.com/JPAlipio?fref=ts.

While there I wandered into the Ozark restaurant next door to the Arc Res. that was playing Aretha Franklin and met Kevin Mize and his partner cooking up some great food and baked goods, breads, biscuits, cookies, cakes, pancakes, pork chops, etc. The menu is a mix of Western with a southern accent and some Filipino. I had some wonderful pulled pork tacos and I returned for breakfast the next day for tea and a fun, not so standard, breakfast menu. www.facebook.com/ozarkbaguiocity. As a mater of fact, I ate all my meals there even though there were plenty of great aroma options at the Arc.

I stayed downtown which is a hard thing to say because every valley has it’s own little center but returned to the Arc for their gran opening. A band belted out great music and a single guitarist filled in on breaks. All good considering there was BBQ chicken near the entrance and Canto’s opened. And my favorite, right in front of Canto’s was a kegerator filled with Baguio Craft Brewery fresh beer. Sigurd introduced me to the brewers, Arnold Miguel-Head Brewer and Chris Ordas-General Manager. They both brew and love their craft. I knew exactly what I was doing on my last night in Baguio.

After a full day of writing I headed out by taxi to the Baguio Craft Brewery and was impressed with the layout. Guests walk straight into the tasting room where there’s some great music and a long list of beers to taste. If you look to the far left of the chalkboard you can find out how much trouble you’ll get into. If you’re more of a brewer yourself there’s a few other numbers on that board that may interest you.

Once you’ve decided on the beer you want to start with, walk upstairs to an outdoor lounge with a live jazz band on either Friday or Saturday, I’ve forgotten. You can look them up on FB also. http://facebook.com/Baguiocraftbrewery. There is also a fun menu that will excite any beer enthusiast. Just FYI, the view is awesome down the valley from the upper deck. It can stay open until early if the crowd deems it so. Kudos to the Arc Residences, Ozarks, these two gentlemen with the creation of Baguio Craft Brewery and their love of beer. I think they’re going commercial with some of their favorite choices in the future. I look forward to returning to Baguio and catching up with these fine people.

www.davidcdagley.com

Dive Sangat Dive

Dive Sangat Dive!

A brief history with holes about some of the shipwrecks I explored is worth a brief informational blog for divers and explorers alike.

For Sangat Island (Tangat Island old name) these shipwrecks are here because the U.S. Naval Air Force was in the middle of heavy air strikes in Manila Bay. 15 vessels sunk there and others were ordered to move out of range of the naval air strikes and land-based bombers. One of the spots the Japanese thought was out of range was Coron Bay, approximately 14 hours away by ship from Manila. There are 11 known wrecks in diving depth range, 20 – 40 meters, mostly clustered in Coron Bay.  The airstrike on Coron Bay began September 23, 1944 with mop up runs into October. While executing these airstrike a number of U.S. planes were lost for two main reasons, running out of fuel on their return or hit by anti-aircraft fire. The air strikes were being attempted from 340 miles away. The 38 Task Force and others sent 96 Grumman F6F Hellcat Fighter escorts and 24 Curtiss FB2C Helldiver Dive Bombers and attacked the Japanese ships of various size and purpose clustered together in Coron Bay. The Japanese ships swinging on anchor didn’t have a chance against the U.S. planes attacking alternately from starboard or port for 20 minutes. Torpedoes struck their targets and ships exploded and some went up in flames then sunk, some over time. These vessels now lie on the sea floor in various conditions and positions. Japanese naval personnel died on most ships although there were some ships that were scuttled and the crews fled in lifeboats.

A second squadron was sent to sink the remaining ships and they met the same end.

From here on out I’m quoting and showing pictures I saw on the walls around the dive shop. The pictures were painted by Chell A. Castillo in 2010 and remain on the wall of the dive shop. Then I got in the water and saw them for what they have become; respected, revered, and remembered. The history of these wrecks should be important to anyone who is curious about this certain area and era of our mutual global past. This happened and you should come see this underwater museum. The aquatic life surrounding the wrecks is as much an interest as the wrecks themselves, batfish, grouper, barracuda, cuttle fish, sea horses, turtles, lionfish, scorpion fish, stonefish, banded sea snake, spotted rays, and a plethora of other sea life that I can’t name. The shipwrecks I explored are listed below and there are more that were out of range for one person to dive. Four people interested in a particular shipwreck is the magic number for more distant points of interest whether it’s shipwrecks, fresh water diving in a warm lake or an underwater entrance to a cave.

Akitsushima, the only true war ship in the group. It was a seaplane tender180 meters in length and lying on her starboard side in approximately 36 meters of water. A massive crane that was in operation at the time it was hit is still attached at the stern and the top of it reaches out to the sand and silted bottom of the sea. An AA (anti-aircraft) gun is still mounted to the deck.

Olympia Maru, a cargo ship 120 meters long lying on its starboard side in 10-25 meters of water. The big cargo holds and engine room have fairly easy access. When you’re outside the vessel keep an eye out for stonefish and big lionfish lurking in the plant life.

Kogyo Maru is a Japanese freighter 160 meters long lying in 34 meters of water on her starboard side. A couple of the cargo holds have construction materials that spilled when the ship hit bottom. I saw a mountain of concrete bags, cement mixer, a bulldozer, etc. On deck AA weapons remain.

Okikawa Maru, a 180 meter long oil tanker in 26 meters of water. There are a couple vessels that have oddly mistaken names sometimes issued the wrong name only to discover later that the named vessel previously sank in Manila Bay. Recording back in the day was sketchy at best and the Japanese were in no mood to cooperate so the U.S. had some difficulty getting it right but no matter.

Irako, refrigeration ship 200 meters long and 40 meters down. The refer baffles are easily recognized.

Lusong Gunboat or U-boat Hunter, 20 meters long and 12 meters under. At low tide the stern is easily available to snorkelers. The Lusong is resting in a coral garden with stacks of fish and coral colors. There’s not much interior exploration but with all the other vessels there is plenty. I didn't have a picture of the Lusong Gunboat. :)

Kyokuzan Maru, another freighter 180 meters long and at 40 meters max depth. I didn’t get to see everything in this vessel and many of the vessels take more than one dive to see everything. Depth is your time killer, as divers know. There is still some staff cars tucked away but the sediment is slowly and surely burying them. Again no pic, sorry.

Morazan, a cargo ship 140 meters long and in about 26 meters of water.

www.davidcdagley.com

Sangat Island Reefs, Wrecks, and Surreal

Sangat Reefs, Wrecks and Surreal.

In Seoul I had to get closer to the airport because Seoul is more than an hour from Incheon International Airport and my flight to the Philippines was going to be very early. There’s an airport bus # 2006 that goes to the Incheon Airport from a main loop on Chong-no for 10,000 won/ $10. The Best Western Premier Incheon has a shuttle from the airport to the hotel for guests for free. It takes literally 10 minutes. After settling in I went down to the KGB Bar next door and had a couple beers with the ladies and had a great time. They speak Korean, Russian, English and probably more. There are always characters in this bar. The unfortunate side was that I had to get up at five in the morning. That went well and I landed in Manila and took a taxi to the Oasis Park Hotel. I sat poolside with a couple of Irish gents in for a wedding. I had dinner and got eaten alive by the mosquitos around the ankles. I had to get up early again to get to terminal 3 to fly domestic to Busuanga where I’d catch a boat to Sangat Island Dive Resort. www.Sangat.com. I had plans to take a bit of a stroll after dinner but after listening to some of the other guests that had been there awhile I thought otherwise. Nighttime in Manila is not a good time to be out for a wander, bad things happen, especially alone.

I fell asleep at 9pm and I awoke at 330am and decided not to go back to bed but to move on in some writing projects and get organized without having to rush around. There was to be a wake up call at 5 but not needed. I watched a piece of one of my favorite movies, ‘One Year Of Living Dangerously’, Mel Gibson as a young actor, plays Guy Hamilton, a reporter and Signoy Weaver plays a rich girl under daddy’s roof in Jakarta back in the day. For some reason or another I can identify with this movie when I pass through certain parts of the world about to implode from political strife, revolution, and mayhem; I like it.

At 530 I had a taxi at the door and we drove the skyway with little to no traffic. Traffic hits hard at around 7 am and stays constant until about 8 pm. I arrived a bit early and the plane was delayed by an hour. Just FYI, people are on the move in the Philippines, the airport was packed from 7am until I left and I saw no signs of it letting up. Once on the plane, it was an hour flight to Busuanga and over beautiful island coastlines.

After grabbing my bag I headed out the front entrance and somebody yelled my name, it was the taxi driver there to pick up a few people either staying at different hotels on Luzon Island or to take them to the harbor to catch a boat to where ever. I had spoken to some friends I met in Sulawesi and they said they had a great experience diving here and I thought it would be a good place to get back in the water.

A single hull with pontoons on each side, a ‘banker’, waited for me and off we went into the blue water and green island maze. About an hour in nothing but calm blue water with small flying fish popping out of the wake and in the distance a few other boats and fishermen gliding passed. More permanent fixtures on the surface are pearl farm buoys and caretakers tending their crops. Coming from three months in Alaska making sure my house still stood and splitting wood in cold weather tore my previous tan completely off and I had the pale pink look of an English jailer. Fifteen minutes in the sun the first day pretty much shocked my system to start building a new round of pigment protection starting with a light pink glow, sunburn, hopefully to sort itself out into a tan.

The boat rounded Sangat Island and into a shallow crescent off white coral sand beach with two docks and bungalows peeking through the palm trees not 20 meters from the waters edge. At this point I acknowledged that it had been snowing two days before in Seoul when I left and now this place. I arrived at 1230 in the afternoon and was graciously taken to my bungalow to drop off my stuff and directed to the dive center.

I was diving a World War wreck by 2:30 in the afternoon. It was nice to get back in the water. I was just happy and my mind at peace in the hands of experts, meaning some had over 1000 dives. If that’s not experience then I don’t know what is, but at the same time everyone should realize that every dive is different and that is why certain safety precautions are put in place such as a ‘buddy check’, another set of eyes making sure your air has been turned on, that there’s air in your tank, that your essential gear works properly, etc. Even professionals, in any field, have the potential to make mistakes and that is why divers lessen human error by double-checking each other. Carpenters have a saying, ‘Measure twice, cut once,’ same principle.

A French couple returned to Sangat Island after a short trip to another island where they watched baby turtles dig their way out of the sand and head for the sea without birds over head and no mammals waiting to intercept their path. Sangat Resort has yachts for charter, small catamarans to rent, all the snorkeling equipment needed for an epic snorkel right out in front of your bungalow.

I’ve been swimming through dark WWII wrecks about 20 -35 meters down following a pair of fins named Ehd, pronounced Ed, through torpedo holes forcing their way in and interior explosion rips blowing out and passing through  bulk heads or down corridors leading to engine rooms, cargo holds, and wheel houses. Ed is from the Philippines and couldn’t be more thoughtful or more comfortable as a dive guide. Our safety is his first concern and having a great dive is a close second.

The day I was leaving I decided to go for a quick trek up and over the island to a coral garden and to see the interior of the island. Jennifer at the front desk set me up with a guy that had been building a run off drainage to the sea and took the opportunity to go with me. The limestone is old and pockmarked with razor sharp edges. We climbed virtually up the faces of stone, through cave openings, and in a round about and up way passed through palm forests, some bogs, but mostly across blades of limestone. As we descended on the coral garden the water color received the morning light and lit up the coral below in every color imaginable.

The setup, bungalows, food, kayaks, wind surfing options, thermal hot springs, mangroves, hand line fishing, boats for charter, numerous dives and the exceptional staff at Sangat Island Dive Resort will be thankfully hard to forget.

www.davidcdagley.com