We arrived to the island Cebu in the Philippines on 25 July 2013. Surrounded by water, it did not take much time before the thought of seeing more and doing more by means of a boat entered our minds. We started our search on the internet looking for boats in the local area, but the selection was extremely limited. Our research revealed that north of Naga City, Cebu, where we reside, was a potential location with boats, a place called Port Carmen. We decided to visit the place and see what was there.
So on a causal Sunday drive, 2 September 2013; we headed north to visit Port Carmen. Typical for the Philippines, there was no road sign directing the way to Port Carmen, so we unknowingly drove past it. We turned around, noticed the sign below, and entered the area for Danao City dry docks and port facilities, and sure enough this was the place.
We drove up to a gate and the guard confirmed that this was Port Carmen and the yacht facilities called Zeke’s Boat Yard (or Pinoy Boat Services) and Pepe’s yard. To pass the gate the guard requested 50 pesos, which seemed strange, but we paid anyway. First we stopped at Pepe's yard and wandered around.
We met a nice couple, Kalo and Lia of the yacht Free Spirit. It was difficult to converse with them as they primarily spoke what we assumed was French. We later discovered they had a YouTube channel and a website.
We drove further into the area to Zeke’s Boat Yard.
Well the point of the trip was to see boats, hopefully some potentially up for sale. Well we saw quite a number of boats, but none that were for sale and met our criteria. Just like any boatyard in the states, this area had the same issue - many boats here were parked, empty, and neglected. Was informed that some of the owners had sailed across the ocean, stored their boat here, and returned home with the vision they would return and continue on. From the looks and the state of some of the boats, it appeared that some had been here a long time and were in a sad state of disrepair. A few of the folks here were in the processes of repairing their boats and while doing so continued to live aboard. Got an earful of the pros and cons of these boat yards, as all was not harmonious between the folks and the yard owners. Also got the impression that a few folks were diligently pursuing the repair/refit of their boat in order to just leave a bad situation. Overall it was definitely educational to hear the varied and different perspectives. We left more informed and not deterred in our pursuit of a potential boat. If not here, we knew "IT" was out there somewhere.
