Boracay Island "almost" - Day at Sea - March 6th

Map of the Philippines

Boracay Island is a small resort island in the central Philippines. We were supposed to anchor off the island and tender in.  Once we reached the spot where we were to anchor, the Captain determined that it was too rough for the use of tenders.  There were 30 knot winds and seas of 5 feet.  So...instead we have a day at sea as we head for our next port which is Manila. Chris of course was disappointed to miss the beach, I however, was glad of a day to relax, read and catch up on my blogging.  The only issue being slow internet as many people are online.  I am sitting on our balcony watching the ocean and enjoying the balmy breezes.  

As I am writing, we are at the blue arrow on the map to the right.  The upper most purple dots are the location of Boracay Island and the purple dots below are the location of Puerto Princesa which is yellow in the map above.

The Philippines are the 2nd largest archipelago in the world with 7,107 islands. It is surrounded by various seas including the Sulu Sea, the Celebes Sea and the South China Sea.

It has 22,540 miles of coastline making it 5th in the world among all countries for the most coastline.  There are 24 active volcanoes and the islands are subject to both earthquakes and typhoons.

The Filipino people are very family oriented, and values are very important including social harmony and spirit of communal work...helping your fellow citizens in times of need.

Socially and economically integrated into Filipino society are Bakla, which are often considered a 3rd gender built on cultural practice.  They are assigned as males at birth but adopt a feminine gender expression.  They were accepted well before Western Domination and today only a small minority of people reject them based on religious reasons. Click on the Bakla link above for more information. It is interesting reading. A sharp contrast to Brunei.

85% of the population is Roman Catholic but they are tolerant of other religions.  Both Filipino and English are their primary languages.

They have the 5th largest shopping mall in the world - 6.3 million sq ft - that is visited by 200,000 people per day.  They are the biggest supplier of nurses in the world.

They were settled by hunter/gathers at least 3000 years ago when some of the islands were still connected to the mainland.  Since that time, Chinese, Indians, Arabs and finally the Spanish have settled on the islands.  All of these different groups have had religious and cultural influences on the islands.

Ferdinand Magellan was killed in 1521 on one of the islands as he was attempting to convert them to Christianity.  Spain conquered them about 40 years later.

They were under Spanish rule until the Spanish-American war in 1898 when the Americans took over.  They were under American control until 1946, except during WWII when they were occupied by the Japanese. The Japanese had a prisoner of war camp there and were known for their cruelty.  On Dec 14, 1944 the Palawan Massacre took place.  They set fire to 150 prisoners (mostly Americans) in an air raid shelter and only 11 people survived.

Manila has the largest overseas American Cemetery with over 17,000 graves and 36,300 names on the wall of missing.

From 1966-1986, Ferdinand Marcos was head of state in a very authoritarian regime.   He fled to Hawaii in 1986.  After Ferdinand's death in 1989, Imelda returned to the Philippines and held seats in the legislature.  Today, their son is the president.