We started the day with the complimentary breakfast at Precious Garden Resort and Hotel. We left there about 7:00am and stopped at the nearby Central Convenience (2C) store and loaded up on ice for the cooler, drinks, and a few snacks before heading to Holiday Oceanview Marina.
We parked our Ford Ranger Truck right besides Indra as the marina office building still had many other vehicles parked in front, likely related to the kidnapping incident. A contingent of Philippine Army troops were still onsite providing extra security. The young Filipino Army guys were walking around the marina compound carrying their machine guns and responded nicely to our Visayan language Maayong Buntag (good morning) greeting. Most of the foreigner cruisers were no where to be seen; maybe still snoozing as it was just a little after 7:30am.
We went aboard Indra and open all the windows and hatches to provide some air flow as it was already warming up very fast. Marilyn and Mary Ann had the task of continuing to go through all the stuff in the main cabin area. I went forward to empty out and inventory all the stuff under the v-berth; plus inspect and take pictures of equipment and wiring.
The Lofrans Tigres Windlass control box was mounted in the v-berth rope locker on the starboard side. Discovered the large orange cables were most likely copper welding cables instead of the preferred tin coated marine rated cables; this was the case for almost all the wiring in this area as none of it was marine rated wiring. Took many pictures detailing every inch of the wire runs.
On the aft wall of the v-berth rope locker was a EVESCO EVS3000 model holding tank pump, similar to a Whale MK5 Universal pump. The hoses appeared hardened due to age and the clamps were corroded. Removed a cover board at the base of the rope locker revealing the keel of the boat below.
The area below the v-berth rope locker revealed a unsecured PVC tube that appeared to be a drain tube from the most forward compartment that was originally the chain locker. Lots of spider webs and debris in this area would need to cleaned out.
Checked on the progress in the main cabin and found Mary Ann very busy.
Marilyn had started removing some of the pictures and frames that covered most of the interior teak wood surfaces. They were attached with some type of sealant or adhesive and left behind a glob of residue - looks like we will need to sand and refinish all the interior teak wood surfaces.
Under the cabin starboard settee we opened a small hinged door and inside discovered a stash of Tanduay Rum. These were freely offered to the local Fiippino marina yard workers whom seemed quite happy to get rid of them for us. I took many pictures in this area as it contained what appeared to be the main grouping of wires running forward and aft.
Behind the cabin starboard settee aft cushion was another area of storage and sliding drawers. This would take a bit of time to go through and figure out what was worth keeping and what should be tossed. A large portion of the books ended up at the marina building cruisers communal bookshelf.
Under the port settee cushions was another storage area full of stuff to sort and inventory. All the food stuff was removed from the boat and given freely to the local Filipino marina yard workers. After emptying out the stuff discover the fill hoses for both the fuel and water tanks were located at the bottom of this area - many more pictures were taken.
Time had flown by and it was close to the start of the marina meeting about the kidnapping incident, so we headed up to the marina building. Here Marilyn met a few of her new friends.
Marilyn took a short cell phone video of the start of the marina meeting about the kidnapping incident that shows most of the foreigner cruisers in attendance. The meeting was held at lunch time with pizza, soda, and beer available. I sat at a table with my laptop connected to the very slow WiFi internet connection to check on messages and mail items.
They briefed that the Philippine military and police forces were actively searching for the culprits and hostages. The Navy and Coast Guard had ships searching and blockading the southern exit from the Gulf of Davao. The Army and police had established checkpoints throughout southern Mindanao and alerted all local municipalities. In essence, there was really no new information and despite an ongoing active search, no one really had any idea as to where the bad guys were or where they were headed.
They next outlined additional security changes to be implemented at the marina. The Philippine Army would become a permanent presence and they would began building a guard house structure on the outer corner of the marina seawall entrance where they would be stationed. Additional private security guards were to be hired with more active patrols within the compound. The compound perimeter would be enhanced with bard wire fencing. The Philippine Coast Guard would increase patrols around Samal Island/Davao Bay and be berthed within the marina on occasions.
They stated there would be a small disruption to marina work activities until a new manager and/or supervisor could be hired or designated to assume the role and responsibilities that were performed by Kjartan Sekkingstad, now in the hands of the kidnappers. They next opened the meeting for comments, questions, and suggestions from the cruisers. While a few suggestions had some merit, many of the comments/questions were derogatory and disrespectful of the marina management. Some inferred they should have implemented better security practices before this incident occurred, inferring partial blame on the local marina management for the incident. Others were very concerned if the marina fees were going to increase as a result of the proposed security changes. Many of the comments were pompous, arrogant, hurtful, self-centered, grand standing, and the worse ones came from a few individuals politically posturing solutions based on their past legend-in-their-own-mind military so-called experience. It was at this low point I signaled Marilyn and Mary Ann and we departed the meeting to do more constructive activities on Indra. A few of the cruisers were on the balcony drinking beers as we passed by and we overheard many boasting their combative prowess skills wishing they had been aware of the presence of the bad guys - claiming things would have turned out much different. Sadly, in reality, this same group of cruisers were most likely sleeping off their regular nightly drinking stupor when the incident occurred.
While the marina management was caught off guard and could have implemented more robust safeguards, not one foreigner cruiser took any responsibility for their own inadequacies and lack of individual security preparations. It is common place throughout the marina to see boats with wide open hatches or entryways, both day and night. Personal belongings and boat equipment are left out in the open and unsecured, even when these folks leave the marina. I have taken numerous pictures of all the boats present in the marina to scrutinize for potential ideas to use on our boat - not one boat had beefed up hatches or entryways to fend off a potential adverse boarding incident. Our boat Indra was also lacking in this area, but as a result of this incident we would make changes.
We returned to Indra and continued were we left off, sorting and tossing. We removed a drifter sail, an orange storm sail, and a Para-Tech sea anchor and packed them in the bed of the Ford Ranger truck - we would give them a detailed inspection and cleaning back in Cebu.
As we had made a complete mess of everything we packed all the remaining and loose items back where we found them, before calling it quits for the day.
We mounted our new EPIRB - read here.
We left Holiday Oceanview Marina about 18:00pm and returned to Precious Garden Resort and Hotel. We had dinner there as usual. I downloaded all the pictures to the computer and began reviewing them; charged all the camera batteries. Everyone seem a little worn out, maybe it was the intense heat and humidity, but all slept well that night.
