The armored van.
HyperMarket, one stop shopping.
29 Sept 2007
day 4
The big story for today was the weather. We woke up to a low pressure system rolling through (if they get stronger they call them typhoons here in the Pacific rather than hurricanes), with gentle waves rocking the boat and large white waves breaking over the nearest breakwater. We are 40 miles from the opening of Manila bay, which is quite a long fetch for winds to move across and act upon to create large waves: the longer the fetch, the larger the waves. Currently, there is one low pressure storm to the east of us and one to the west that has already passed over the islands. Val, one of the Philippino biologists, thinks that the second one will be done with tomorrow. We hope so because it would be a shame to finally get everything together and then be delayed by a storm.
However, we are having problems getting parts we need to accomplish the set up for the ship. Apparently, the group that went out yesterday had an embassy driver and had the armored van for the day and it tried to pull over to a curb to wait for them to finish shopping and pulled over to a place where a trench had been recently dug and filled, but not packed down tightly, so the two right side tires sunk all the way to the axel - and remember this was an armored van so it was much heavier to dig out than a regular van. That caused a delay in looking for parts at a store where the shopping convoy would eventually find out that they didn't carry the part (or anything like it) anyway.
The new meal schedule went into effect today. Breakfast was from 0600-0700 hrs so we set the alarm for 5:45AM (2:45PM PST). For breakfast, we had 'spaghetti' (definitely regular spaghetti noodles with some sort of sausage, and a thin red sauce) and toast. And it was so early that even Bill had a hard time making fun of it. We had some hot tea and sat around and talked to the few others who had actually stayed the night on the ship with us. The talk was mostly about the storm, trying to decipher the weather warning that was issued, and more about yesterday's failed shopping excursion.
To kill some time, I went out in the rain and reorganized my dive gear and put it in the hold. Then Talina and I tried to be helpful and did manage to take one box to the hold. Then we walked down the dock and back for some exercise while it was not raining too much. We also climbed up the ladder to the largest unused boat onboard to check it out. Not much there to see - it's gutted of most of it's electronics.
Larry, Emory, Bill, Peggy, Talina, and I made a shopping run to the Mall of Asia (huge shopping center across the street from the water that even has an IMAX theater) - specifically to the HyperMarket which was like a full service grocery store and fully stocked Target in one. Our shopping list consisted of everything from ice cube trays, gin, and beer to sponges, paper towels, and bar soap. We also made a stop at Home Depot which is kind of like an Expo (kitchen and bathroom fixtures, sinks, tubs, toilets, saunas, tile, etc.) that also had some plywood. We were there for the plywood. And they had to get it out of the back somewhere. And it took about 7 guys to do it. They also had some lighting fixtures by IKHEA, which I assume is the same as IKEA in the US.
As we shopped in the various stores, people sort of looked at our group kind of out of the side of their eyes because we are definitely an unusual group, but when the armored van pulled up, they were definitely full on staring at us. I will it admit it was overkill just a bit to put groceries from Hypermarket (where I got a small pillow for 1 USD) into an armored van.
Tonight Mon, Mely, and Hildie arrived to the boat. Mon and Mely have 5 sons who live in Manila so they have been visiting them while we are preparing the boat. They thought we might leave in the morning, but the ROV guys say they need one more day. The plan is to leave at 8AM on Monday morning. Caron, Greg, and the National Geographic photographer (Nick and assistant, Lee) are back from their scuba diving trip. They said the weather was beautiful and they got some nice shots of reefs.
day 4
The big story for today was the weather. We woke up to a low pressure system rolling through (if they get stronger they call them typhoons here in the Pacific rather than hurricanes), with gentle waves rocking the boat and large white waves breaking over the nearest breakwater. We are 40 miles from the opening of Manila bay, which is quite a long fetch for winds to move across and act upon to create large waves: the longer the fetch, the larger the waves. Currently, there is one low pressure storm to the east of us and one to the west that has already passed over the islands. Val, one of the Philippino biologists, thinks that the second one will be done with tomorrow. We hope so because it would be a shame to finally get everything together and then be delayed by a storm.
However, we are having problems getting parts we need to accomplish the set up for the ship. Apparently, the group that went out yesterday had an embassy driver and had the armored van for the day and it tried to pull over to a curb to wait for them to finish shopping and pulled over to a place where a trench had been recently dug and filled, but not packed down tightly, so the two right side tires sunk all the way to the axel - and remember this was an armored van so it was much heavier to dig out than a regular van. That caused a delay in looking for parts at a store where the shopping convoy would eventually find out that they didn't carry the part (or anything like it) anyway.
The new meal schedule went into effect today. Breakfast was from 0600-0700 hrs so we set the alarm for 5:45AM (2:45PM PST). For breakfast, we had 'spaghetti' (definitely regular spaghetti noodles with some sort of sausage, and a thin red sauce) and toast. And it was so early that even Bill had a hard time making fun of it. We had some hot tea and sat around and talked to the few others who had actually stayed the night on the ship with us. The talk was mostly about the storm, trying to decipher the weather warning that was issued, and more about yesterday's failed shopping excursion.
To kill some time, I went out in the rain and reorganized my dive gear and put it in the hold. Then Talina and I tried to be helpful and did manage to take one box to the hold. Then we walked down the dock and back for some exercise while it was not raining too much. We also climbed up the ladder to the largest unused boat onboard to check it out. Not much there to see - it's gutted of most of it's electronics.
Larry, Emory, Bill, Peggy, Talina, and I made a shopping run to the Mall of Asia (huge shopping center across the street from the water that even has an IMAX theater) - specifically to the HyperMarket which was like a full service grocery store and fully stocked Target in one. Our shopping list consisted of everything from ice cube trays, gin, and beer to sponges, paper towels, and bar soap. We also made a stop at Home Depot which is kind of like an Expo (kitchen and bathroom fixtures, sinks, tubs, toilets, saunas, tile, etc.) that also had some plywood. We were there for the plywood. And they had to get it out of the back somewhere. And it took about 7 guys to do it. They also had some lighting fixtures by IKHEA, which I assume is the same as IKEA in the US.
As we shopped in the various stores, people sort of looked at our group kind of out of the side of their eyes because we are definitely an unusual group, but when the armored van pulled up, they were definitely full on staring at us. I will it admit it was overkill just a bit to put groceries from Hypermarket (where I got a small pillow for 1 USD) into an armored van.
Tonight Mon, Mely, and Hildie arrived to the boat. Mon and Mely have 5 sons who live in Manila so they have been visiting them while we are preparing the boat. They thought we might leave in the morning, but the ROV guys say they need one more day. The plan is to leave at 8AM on Monday morning. Caron, Greg, and the National Geographic photographer (Nick and assistant, Lee) are back from their scuba diving trip. They said the weather was beautiful and they got some nice shots of reefs.
Tonight we saw a short fireworks show from the direction of the Mall of Asia. No one seemed to know why there would be one, though. Someone suggested that there could have been a grand opening for a store. Huh.
Still waiting around until we depart. . . hoping there is something productive to do in the meantime. . .
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