Chasamba - Travels Across The Seas

Chasamba in Taipei

Administrator — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:21:31 +0000

Cold, rainy and wintry weather isn’t stopping us from exploring the bustling city of Taipei. We really have to thank the Philippine government for making us visit, because it is so expensive to renew visaand flights are so cheap in Asia that it made sense to fly here instead of staying home; so thanks Philippines, it was worth it!

We were lucky to be in Taipei for the Chinese New Year. The temples were full of candles and incense, peole burning pretend money for the ghosts, or ancestors because at this time the division between the spirit world and the real world is supposed to be permeable, and offerings of food heaped on tables and altars. I was surprised to see meat being offered- I thought the temples were partly Buddhist, but other gods are represented too. The temples aren’t really spiritual places; there are people talking on cell phones, people buying things right in the middle and all sorts. I liked that, it is kind of like a secular religion in a way.

Taipei is modern, crowded, 100% online and actually a very pleasant city. The MRT metro system works well and makes it easy to get anywhere around Taipei cheaply and quickly, as well as housing many good shopping areas in huge underground malls which stretch for kilometers and are a nice way of keeping out of the cold outside. It is 14 degrees at midday, a big shock for us after 26 and above in Negros! We have done most of the typical tourist things; Taipei Zoo for the pandas (dejected looking), the gondola for tea houses in the hills (over priced and touristy in the extreme), Taipei Museum ( lots of good pieces, many from the forbidden city), night markets (stinky tofu and sashimi, tasty and reasonable), Beitou for the hot springs ( very very good in this climate and inexpensive if you go to the public one) and both Keelong and Tamsui to look at the fishing harbours. In Keelong we even managed to find a little marina, unfinished as yet and fairly deserted apart from a few local yachts which looked unused and a lot of fishing boats taking advantage of free berths. It would be the best place close to Taipei to stay for a yacht, although Tamsui would probably be possible too.

Taipei 101, nearly the tallest building in the world. We didn’t go up, it was full of tour parties and didn’t look really wonderful enough to queue for an hour.

people burning money at a Taipei temple

a market on a quiet day ( I kid you not!)

Oren having fun in the Naval Museum in Keelong

sea food in Keelong fish market

A sea urchin in Keelong fish market

The sulphur pools close to the source of the hot springs

Beitou hot springs

A new friend?

Smelling in the “Scent Library”, a good way to pass a rainy afternoon

Tamsui harbour

One of the pandas

Taipei Museum

Some more pictures of our refit!

Administrator — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 10:04:10 +0000

Oren having fun with the sink…

while I sand the new counter top

the new sprayhood is nearly finished and the non slip patches are coming along!

Chasamba looking pretty!

Sendong- Robert’s footage

Administrator — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:13:55 +0000

This is a short film shot by Robert during the big tropical storm which passed almost directly over Bonbonon last month with gusts of 150km/h. At the end you can see several boats which have dragged their moorings and collided, one was holed above the water line, another dismasted.

Pictures; Our New Sprayhood!

Administrator — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:34:39 +0000

Finally we have gotten round to doing something useful with ourselves, and the result is a really nice new look for Chasamba. I don’t have pictures of the final result because we haven’t finished the windows yet, but it is already looking really good! Here is a picture of the first fit, and then some of the building process.

Hard to believe that these bits of flimsy plywood and a bit of fiberglass could turn into a real sprayhood, huh? Next week I hope I will be able to upload pictures of the final version, but I can tell you that it is GOOD!

Sendong in Bonbonon

Administrator — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 04:36:40 +0000

More than a week after the awful tropical storm which was called “Sendong” by the Philippines and “Washi by the rest of the world Bonbonon still has no electricity. Three fishermen in nearby Albica were killed, in and around Dumeguete more than 100 people are dead after floods and mudslides destroyed their bamboo huts, and in Mindanao, the large island south of us over 1000 people are known to have been killed, many still missing.

In Bonbonon the evening of the storm started uneventfully. It was Friday and Arlene’s regular buffet was as good as ever, chicken roasted on an open fire and fresh grilled fish, home made bread and potato salad, good conversation and plenty of beer. The rain hadn’t even started by the time we got home and it looked as though the forecast was wrong; there wasn’t even any wind. This was the calm before the storm- yes, it does really exist, I know that now. We went to bed hoping for a few hours sleep, and were awakened at dawn by a wind which came screaming into the anchorage from the north, flinging enormous drops of rain at us. Sheva retired to her winter home under the sprayhood looking at us reproachfully; she is sure we control the weather and doesn’t understand why we make it rain at such annoying times.

The light was good enough to make out yachts being flung about, straining at mooring ropes which in many cases were several years old and untended. There are yachts here which haven’t moved for 20 years, and lots that have been here 10 years, and in all that time a storm like Sendong hasn’t come along. The wind built up gradually and so did the waves, until the bay looked like the open sea on a nasty day. I was glad we were held by a big mooring and two anchors, and that we were in one of the best places in the bay, with almost no yachts in front of us. The first yacht to drag was an old sloop which broke it’s shackle, we were told later. It smashed into another old sloop, a Japanese boat, and dismasted it. Next was the old classic metal boat Black Rose, which sped down the bay and impaled itself on an aluminum catamaran, but not before hitting several other boats on the way. The huge unwieldy Russian sloop which had already dragged onto shore a few days before came off the shore again but just turned round and re-beached itself luckily- this boat is heavy enough to sink anything it hit.

The storm was over quickly, probably not more than three hours from the first whistle of wind through the rigging to the sodden bobbing aftermath. By nine o’clock people were bailing out dinghies, rescuing oars, starting to get the stray boats re-anchored. We didn’t know about the tragedy just over the channel in Mindanao for several days.

Some Pictures from Israel

Administrator — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 05:05:14 +0000

eating….

eating again….

eating some more…

amazingly, not chewing…

Yasmin and Hilah

Inbal, Granny and Grandad and Oren

Altogether we had a wonderful time in Israel, and as you may guess, put on several kilos each! Now we have to get back in shape because we are going to Taiwan hiking in January.

Back in Bonbonon

Administrator — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:31:06 +0000

For three and a half fun filled months we have been working, visiting family and remembering how hectic the real world is, but now, after a two day journey through Jordan, Abu Dhabi and Manila, traveling by bus, plane, jeepney, tricycle and motorbike taxi, we have dragged ourselves home. Chasamba is in good condition, clean and just a bit dusty inside; no rust, no leaks and no damage. Sheva is thinner, probably because of walking to the cow every day with Boy, but recognized us and seems untraumatized. After a short holiday we will start on all the tasks we have set ourselves for the year; I want a shower, I am fed up of washing in a bucket, and the gas stove is falling apart. The engine wouldn’t start before we left, so that is a job too, and we really want to replace the spray hood with a permanent, fiberglass one. Where we will find the time to cruise I don’t know…..

Pictures to follow when I get a better internet connection….

Trekking in Negros

Administrator — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:09:47 +0000

In the end we didn’t leave for Puerto as we had planned; Chasamba is, we hope, sitting happily in Bonbonon bay on Arlene’s mooring waiting for us. Before we left for Israel we had a few days to relax, forget about antifouling and topcoats and trek up and down some of the incredibly lovely mountains on Negros. We walked 14 kilometers up the steep path to the Twin Lakes- unfortunately when we got up there the camera batteries were nearly dead, so we only have one picture. We slept in a tent under the awning of the restaurant, luckily, as it poured with rain all night, then went down to the lakes and after scrambling round the boulders which for some reason block the start of the hiking trail, managed to get up to the viewing platform. Surrounded by thick jungle we felt that the rebels hiding in the area could be behind any tree; in fact just after we left a large band were killed in a gun battle with Philipino soldiers very close by.

Then we went to the Casa Roro waterfalls, almost as high and just as far to walk, but well worth the effort. We wanted to get to the lake near Siaton too, but time flew by and we had to hurriedly throw our stuff in a suitcase and get on the plane. Sheva is overjoyed to be staying on solid ground and loves Arlene and Boy; we just hope she doesn’t bite any more Germans while we are away!

the viewing platform at the twin lakes

Casa Roro falls- pure mineral water!

340 steps; not so bad on the way down, but now we have to get up again ( and walk 15 kilometers back too.)

We walked back to Valencia and slept in our tent on their nice grassy football field; if they thought it was strange they didn’t say anything!

Up on Stilts in Tambobo Bay

Administrator — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:58:09 +0000

We finally did it! I am usually scared to death of getting anywhere shallow at all, so it was with trepidation and a sinking stomach that I acquiesced to Oren’s plan to beach us. To be fair, he wasn’t exactly nonchalant about it either, and as we inched our way forward to come alongside Arlene’s bamboo dock we were both hoping for the best. While I winched us forward as much as possible with a rope tied off to a handy concrete post, ploughing through the mud, Boy, Arlene’s partner, jumped into the muddy water together with Oren, and they spent at least two hours rushing round Chasamba fitting bamboo poles and coconut trunks to hold her upright as the spring tide fell. We didn’t trust the dock to be strong enough to hold her, and in the end we didn’t even use it at all, except as a useful way to hop on and off the deck. Chasamba stayed upright, just settling back a little on her haunches, and we sighed with relief before showering thick black Negros mud off and having a wonderful meal of grilled chicken and rice at Arlene’s restaurant. The next day we started antifouling, hurrying to get the best of the shallow tide. Now, two weeks on, the antifouling is done with only a few centimetres of keel and rudder left unpainted because we did sink into the soft bottom mud a bit. The topsides are finally painted white after days and days of hand sanding, but the finish isn’t perfect and next time we will probably get a rotary sander and get the generator to work for more than five minutes at a stretch! Now we are chipping the deck, peeling off almost a centimetre of old paint which really must come off. We are bitten all over by mosquitoes and have at least one rat on board, a huge rodent which seems to be brighter than us and is proving to be difficult to catch; Oren has already killed one after chasing it all through the yacht with a machete, and there are plenty more on the dock every night. We have just bought a huge rat trap in Dumaguete, so maybe we will manage to get it tonight! We hope to get back in the water on about the 18th or 19th when the tide should be good, and then it’s back off to the wonderful internet and showers of Puerto Princesa.
Anyone coming to Bonbonon should know that Arlene’s restaurant is really a nice little place, and she does a buffet on Fridays which is an enjoyable social occasion, most yachties seem to come.

Catching ‘kagan’ ; a kind of little mud crab after rain makes the ground soft.

Arlene’s restaurant.

Arlene’s buffet.

Arlene’s pig…

Arlene and Boy.

Bonbonon

Administrator — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:05:42 +0000

Sadly we said goodbye to the excellent supermarkets and restaurants of San Jose- Antique, hauled the dinghy on deck this time and sailed out in the general direction of Negros. After a fairly good overnight sail we got across the channel between the islands, there wasn’t much wind at all and we drifted along at about 2 knots, very relaxing and comfortable. We picked up a mooring off a resort somewhere in the middle of the west side of Negros and rested for a day, snorkelled and slept, then set off again south down the coast. The weather on this side of the coast was calm, sheltered from the Amihan, and we got down south of Negros before losing the wind altogether. We bobbed around for ages before finally starting the engine and pointing in the direction of Bonbonon.
Unfortunately we hadn’t reckoned on being knocked flat by the Amihan, blowing 30 knots round the southern end of Negros, together with a strong contrary current. We soon gave up, and found an anchorage in the shelter of a bay just round the south west side, anchoring in complete darkness but luckily not hitting anything! We licked our wounds for a day, rested and set out the next morning before 6 am, when the Amihan hadn’t started and the sea was calm, the current also was with us. We were lucky to get into the shelter of the Bonbonon coast as the Amihan came up early; we saw the white caps and frothing sea only a few hundred metres away as we slid safely into the entrance to the anchorage.
Bonbonon is very well sheltered, peaceful and a long way from anything. There are 41 yachts here, but most have no-one living on them. We thought we might meet people we know, but there aren’t any yachts we recognize here, we will probably meet everyone on Sunday, at the buffet lunch at the yachties restaurant. Today it has started pouring with rain, so we are really glad to be in the harbour!