Check out the neatly chewed hole in the bread bag and the sampled edges of bread. Looks as though we have an age old ship problem of an unpaid passenger. We’ve been really careful to keep most cardboard boxes off the boat as they are notorious for holding cockroach eggs. Last night, however, the bread was sampled while a nearby chocolate bar was more thoroughly devoured. Looks like a mouse with a sweet tooth? Either we get a ship’s cat or traps—don’t worry June, we’ve opted for the latter!

First full day in Subic was beastly hot. We had the use of Ray’s Jeepney, a remarkable vehicle made locally without the creature comforts of standard automobiles, like shock absorbers, seats in the back, windows, or gauges and our driver and navigator Dave Nagle wrestled with and ultimately conquered the unpredictable manual transmission( happy for those of us crouched with no head room in the back). It did have front seatbelts, however, as driving without will get you a hefty fine. We bounced though Subic and started our provisioning for the major part of the trip. Found a duty free store and will buy cases of Spam and canned fruit cocktail, useful for gifts along the way. Better karma than cigarettes and whiskey. On their travels, Dorothy and Dave also have made packs of coloring books and colored pencils which were a good way to break the ice! Found a jumbo igloo cooler which elicited minor eye rolling from my crew but it will improve their chances for fish dinners—a proper fish box at last. Had a calamansi drink, a local citrus juice with sweetner, sitting in a bayside restaurant with lovely afternoon breeze and munched on Lumpia and calamari. While we were away, the boat was professionally cleaned by Ray’s crew here who washed it thoroughly and shined the stainless steel with oxalic acid and it now sparkles. We are now hooked up to shore power so can use air conditioning and washing machine without the generator.

For Mark P and all—Our general route will take us through the Philippines, staying in anchorages alone the way and then out into the Pacific. Then to Palau, Pohnepi, an atoll in Micronesia, and then Majuro, in the Marshall Islands. From there is a long stretch to Hawaii. Plan to rest there and towards the end of the summer, run the boat back to Seattle. Thanks for all your comments. Will try to post a bunch of pictures before we leave. Underway we can only email or post via the Sat Phone which is limited re: images but with internet access on shore, they are forthcoming.