Back on Board in the Philippines--Again

So, to recap, Soggy Paws has been hauled out at the Holiday Ocean View Marina in the Davao area of Mindanao, Philippines, since last October.

Now we start the "fun stuff"--the process of making Soggy Paws look all new and shiny again. We've had surprisingly few mechanical or systems problems in the last year, but she's looking pretty worn inside. And our 15 year old exterior paint job is looking pretty flat.

Kjartan (pronounced Char-tan), the marina manager here, has a skilled team of Filipino workers who can do anything (wood work, painting, fiberglassing, stainless steel welding, etc). And he has figured out how to get stuff shipped in to the Philippines, so there's a ready supply of the stuff you need to do boat work (fiberglass, paint, stainless steel, etc).

To train his crew and demonstrate their expertise, Kjartan built a 60' catamaran from scratch. It is gorgeous, inside and out. Dave is hoping that Soggy Paws will look as good when we get finished.

Living aboard with the boat hauled out is never fun--but we've got air conditioning and we are not far from the toilet/shower block in the marina. (To educate, because we are not in the water, to go to the bathroom, we have to climb down the ladder and walk to the toilet...). Holiday Ocean View is in a nice setting with a great group of cruisers hanging out here. Living in the Philippines is pretty inexpensive, yet we can find just about anything we want in the big city of Davao.

Five Days in Singapore

On our way back from New Zealand, we routed via Singapore, and stayed over for a few days to do some sightseeing. We LOVED Singapore. With a local sim card, a smart phone with Google Maps, and a Rapid Transit card, we found it super easy to find our way around. We stayed in an Airbnb place at a reasonable price, ate in the local food stalls (called Hawker Centers in Singapore) and really enjoyed our brief stay in the big city.

We got a direct flight from Singapore back to Davao, arriving on Friday, May 8.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to back-post a few pictures and impressions from our Singapore stay.

Two Months in New Zealand

We have just gotten back from a fantastic (flying) trip to New Zealand. We were too busy touring and taking pictures to do much computer stuff, so the blog has suffered. I hope to back-post the highlights soon. This is just a place-marker.

We left from Davao on Feb 28 and flew into Christchurch Mar 1 (via Manila and Sydney Australia). We returned on May 3 from Auckland via Singapore and direct into Davao.