11 Mar 2018
Romblon, Romblon, Philippines
Today we visited Romblon town, a municipality located on Romblon Bay in the province of Romblon, an island in the Philippines. Once again we were greeted by a local enthusiastic band.
They are known for their marble which is supposedly on a par with Italy and way cheaper. Virtually every store i town sells marble items.
They are also well known for their transportation.People get around on colorful jeepneys and various forms of motorcycled vehicles as well as minibuses.
Sometimes they are bit cramped however.
10 Mar 2018
Boracay, The Philippines
Boracay Island is our first stop in the Philippines. It is always fun to be greeted by the local community when visiting them.
I chartered a motorcycle type taxi with a sidecar setup for the afternoon - $15.
Depending with whom you speak or which review you read it is either the best or the worst. I mean just last year Conde Nast Readers Choice rated it the best in the world and Travel and Leisure calls it "your idea of a desert-island paradise."
An unbelievable number of bloggers and just normal reviewers call it the ultimate dump and grossly overcrowded.
My verdict - it is a dump with a few sublime spots.
04 Mar 2018
Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
We are back to Papua New Guinea and visited Rabaul which WAS the capital city of New Britain an island just east of New Guinea. About 500,000 people live on this island.
02 Mar 2018
Gizo, Solomon Islands
East of Papau New Guinea is Solomon Islands (not The Solomon Islands) where we have spent the last two days.
Yesterday we were rained out of Guadalcanal. There is not much there anyway except for a nice WW II War Memorial.
Today is Gizo, the second largest town in Solomon Islandswith just over 6,000 inhabitants. It is on Ghizo Island, and yes they are spelled differently.
The people here seem so much happier and in a better place than the Papau New Guinea group. They were smiling, singing, not malnourished and all seem to have some place to go and something to do.
I mean it is not The Ritz, but it was really lovely.
This area of Solomon Islands has had a history of headhunting, so much so that local tribes joined together to obliterate the Gizo tribe. It ceased about 1899.
That event led to Ghizo Island being declared as a property of the state, rather than the usual customary ownership prevalent in much of the rest of the Solomons.
One of the cruisers bought a little trinket, accidentally left her iPad, and boarded the tender (a tender is a cruiseline lifeboat that the ships use to transport people between the ship and shore when anchored) to head back to the ship. Moments later the vendor saw it and ran back to the tender to return it to her. Impressive.
Notice the food in their local market. (See yesterday's blog).
28 Feb 2018
Katava, Papau New Guinea
Different days call for different activities such as culture, education, shopping and even eating. Today the beach was calling.
I chartered ($2) Allyn a yacht to head across to a small island that had great snorkeling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Many medical researchers consider Katavans as having the healthiest people on the planet. There is practically no acne, diabetes, cardiovascular disease leading to stroke or congestive heart failure, dementia or blood pressure problems among the native Kitavans.
They think it is diet because it is not related to genetics as genetically similar groups who eat an abundance of industrial food appear to be susceptible to the degenerative diseases of the West. Also exercise is not a likely cause of the exceptional health on Kitava as an average Kitavan is only slightly more physically active.
The Kitavan diet comprises an abundance of foods that have a low glycemic index rating and that are rich in soluble fiber, magnesium, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acids.