Anybody make it to the island of Marinduque in the Philippines? I was invited to go the last time I was in the P.I. but didn't have the time. This time, I plan to go. I was surprised to learn that this island is in the SIBUYAN SEA. I remember back in 1995, my vessel went to Manila from Guam. It took us 3 days to make the trip. I remember on the last day, the vessel entered into the SAN BERNANDINO STRAITS. It's an opening to the Philippine Islands between the island of Luzon and Samar. We navigated through what seemed like hundreds of islands in the hot sun, beautiful calm waters. Mountains everywhere and volcanos seeming to reach over the clouds. I remember seeing alot of fishing boats, small boats with two or three fishermen watching us go by. Us on huge ship plowing through the Sibuyan Sea enroute to Luzon. This was an all day affair. I remember it being very hot and steamy. Alot hotter than in the open sea enroute to the Philippine Islands. At some point when the sun was going down, we came upon the island south of Luzon where Manila is called MINDORO. A huge island. I took a picture of the mountainous region of BATANGAS on the LUZON COAST I still have today. Then night came and the ship slowed down to a timed pace for Manila arrival in the morning. The following day, our vessel was hit on the side as we entered Manila Bay by a Chinese vessel. It put a huge gash on the side of the ship but luckily, it was above the water line and no water entered. A team of Filipinos came and patched the hole up by welding a huge steel plate on the side. I even took pictures of the vessel that rammed us. It even made the local newspaper with our ships name and details I saved the newspaper clipping till this day. I later went to the mountain village of Bagiuo and ran into a merchant marine that I knew in Diego Garcia. I told him what happened to us, and he about flipped with laughter on that one. What a moment or two. Or three.
