First Impressions of Dry Dock
(Remember to click on the photos to enlarge them)
Port Carmen is on Cebu Is about 30nm north of Cebu City. First we anchored in the Port Carman itself where we were surrounded by Fish Farms and Shelters built on floating drums. It was very serene and picturesque and we were amazed to see that the fisherman not only tended their fish farms but also fished from daylight to dusk. they always smiled and waved to us but didn't bother us at all.
On the second day we were there another yacht "Marlin " came in. We had previously met them in Palau so we had a few drnks with them before they set off towards Manila.
We did not stay long in Port Carmen anchorage as we wanted to get Hamamas into typhoon shelter as soon as possible so we could leave Hamamas while we travelled back to Australia. So we moved further around to another area where there was a boat yard and a marina of sorts. It was called Dry Dock. It was still near Port Carmen and only 5 km from the town of Danao (where they manufacture guns!). Also it was only 1 hour jeepney/bus ride from Cebu City which is the capital of Cebu Island.
So we ended up in a floating berth in a funny, rickity, bamboo claytons "marina"' in Pepe's Yard where we had power and could buy water. The bonus was that Dry Dock was a typhoon shelter as well as being reasonably cheap. Actually, the Japanese built the Dry Dock during WW II. It is called Dry Dock as it is a big ship repair yard where the ships can be pulled out of the water on a trolley (railway lines). While we were there many old rusting hulks came in for repairs and the noise and dust was overwhelming. As you can imagine it was not the cleanest place to be!
We met a very interesting group of yachties at Dry Dock who were having work done on their yachts or catamarans or sheltering for the Typhoon Season like us. A lot of them were Aussies but also there were some from NZ and even a chap from Austia! We had heaps of fun as with them as we usually met on the Bamboo Balcony every afternoon to enjoy the sunset and one or two San Miguels!
As the weeks went by we had many interesting road trips to Cebu in a variety of colourful jeepneys and buses. The noise was horrendous as the jeepneys and buses all have ghetto blasters booming out "music" as loudly as possible. Often we rode with roosters,chickens,sugar cane, barrels of fresh fish and 70 odd souls crammed into one bus. Actually it is fun as every trip is a different adventure.
The traffic was chaotic but somehow everyone seems to get to where they want to go without any "road rage." The drivers just seem to weave in and out of the lanes and traffic rather like a ballet dance. Occasionally they may just give the smallest peep on the horn. It really was amazing.
Oh I forgot to mention. When we checked into Immigration and Customs we felt we were ripped off as they charged us PP 25000 for 59 days even though we had a years Visa that we had paid in Palau! Later we found out that they usually rip everyone off!
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