Our Cruising Mantra - Retire Young - Retire Often

We first retired from our work in Australia in 2005, before going cruising.  For five years we stayed gainfully unemployed, before happenstance offered up a variety of interesting projects and challenges over the intervening years.

Since then we've been involved in making digital HD videos of beautiful villas in Bali and Thailand, project management at a zip-line ride and adventure park on Sentosa Island and consulting for a Singapore company, building an AV design team in Singapore and India.  These projects allowed us to experience the south Asia area in depth, and between the assignments we managed to continue our cruising life style.

Making Videos - Luxury Villas In Bali and Thailand

Project Management - MegaZip At Sentosa Island, Singapore

Building Systems - Axis Bank Mumbai, Video Walls & Multiple Meeting Rooms

Our latest contract has given us the opportunity to discover another country as we've been based in Manila for almost 12 months.  I've been working with a local company on a range of very large projects, including a museum, a luxury home and the largest temple in Asia.  Most recently I've been responsible for the design, implementation and commissioning of media systems for the new City Of Dreams Casino in Manila.

When the Fun Stops... Retire

Ley sends me off to work each morning with a consistent and clear message - have fun !  We both know that when the fun stops we will move on, returning to our cruising home.  

Retirement day now is now looming again.  On August 31 (in just one week), we'll be off again.  Yes, we are on a count down, there is water at the end of the tunnel and we are looking forward to sailing on it very soon.

Crystal Blues should depart Singapore in early October, calling in at Penang for a few weeks before hauling out of the water at Rebak in Langkawi (Malaysia) for some much needed under water anti-fouling paint. By January we'll be back to our old haunts around Phuket in Thailand.

Another Gemini Birthday

Friday June 13, Lucky For Some

Time flies when you are having fun and it flies even faster the older you get.  Neil and Ley celebrated another birthday on June 13.

Neil's work mates had a surprise for him when he arrived at site, at the City Of Dreams Casino in Manila Bay.  It was in the form of a luscious, super rich, chocolate birthday cake.

After the candle was blown out and the cake cut and shared there was still plenty left over.  We left it at the office as we were flying out that afternoon to another birthday celebration in Singapore.

Ray and Jan Pitt, aka Crystal Blues part time "deckie and galley bitch" were coming to Singapore to continue the celebrations.

They arrived bearing gifts of bubbles and good cheer and quickly settled into their cabin and started to chill out after a whirlwind trip to Bali.

A little bit of Singapore charm was also added to the night as we had starters and pre dinner drinks in Tekka Mall in Little India.  

Then we rode the MRT to the Sands Casino and enjoyed fine dining, Italian style, at Osteria Mozza.

The Last Party for the Geminis

Just a week back, Neil's Pinoy work team joined us for fun at our local bar, Senore Paquitos.  Neil sang, we danced and all had a lot of fun.

Boating Therapy

We have visited quite a few boat shows over the past 20 years and on March 22 we added another one to the list. 

Sea-Ex Manila 2014 was held on the very muddy shores of pungent Manila Bay. There were 4 "big" boats in the water plus locally made large RIBs and an interesting array of canoes on the dock.

Once inside the exhibition space we meandered around and found a few stalls that held our interest.  We took a serious look at the new Sony HDR-AS15 and the GoPro Hero, but kept our money in our wallets.

We also spent time valuable time on the BLA stand. Luckily for us we met one of Mastervolt reps from New Zealand who helped solve a few questions that Neil had about their new smart engine alternator regulators. 
 
Retail Therapy

Our one and only purchase was a waterproof back pack.  Dinghy beach landings in surf, with electronics and wallets onboard are not a good mix, so hopefully our new Beyond Water will keep it all dry.

The Pinoy PT Team

In 2005 , as we were planning to leave Australia, Neil had surgery to repair a torn tendon below his right elbow.  He was warned that his left arm tendon would probably cause him problems in the future. It looks like the future is now!

So for the past month Neil has been in the hands of the very excellent Physical Therapy Team at De Los Santos Hospital here in Manila. With Ultrasonic treatment, massage and exercise, the pain has reduced and hopefully with time and rest, the tendon will heal.  If not he'll be visiting a surgeon again.......de ja vue!

The Local Pinoy Scene

Singing with Chucky at Senore Paquitos, our local tapas bar.

Six months now in Manila, and we're still loving this city.

Most Friday evenings we walk down to Senor Paquitos. It has become our local tapas bar and we love the ambience, the live music and the food.

It seems to us that most locals we meet can sing and play and this venue is never short of audience participation.  Most Friday nights Neil manages a song or two with Chucky. Recently we donated a rainmaker bamboo instrument to the bar - a drummer has to have something to do with his hands!

Pinoy Cuisine

It has taken us a while to understand Pinoy food, with American, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese and local flavour it takes some time to get "into" to the local dishes.  Of course it doesn't help that most menus are written in Tagalog.  But with the help of Google and asking lots of questions we are now enjoying a great many different dishes.  Some dishes combine two different styles of cooking, with meat, mainly pork, firstly boiled then deep fried and served with a range of condiments and sauces that use a variety of oils, vinegars, spices and a large serve of minced garlic. Garlic Bangus, Adobo, Sisig, Crispy Pata, Bulalo, often served with delicious steaming garlic rice, are just a few of the choices.

Garlic crab, delicious except for the oil    Mixed vegetable platter with pickled egg      Garlic Bangus, flattened fish 

Relaxing Down the Coast

Over the past few months we have managed a few weekend escapes to the south west coast of Luzon Island, staying at The Coral Beach Club at Matabunkay.  Hosts John and MJ and the delightful manager, Jennifer, offer a peaceful beachside escape from the noise, hassle and traffic of Manila.

With a pool, spa and excellent kitchen offering Pinoy and Western Cuisine, comfortable accommodation and this stunning sunset, whats not to enjoy.  John and MJ recently celebrated the completion of their new house, also on the beach, with a magic sunset party. An eclectic group of friends, both local and expat, spent a day sailing on John's catamaran and then partied on the balcony at sunset.  John charmingly referred to it as the "IPU" for his new house - "Initial Piss Up".  You can't take the aussie out of the boy.

Matabunkay Beach Sunset

"Relaxing" at Nongsa Point

Drilling a hole to mount the new stern light.

Well, not really relaxing.  Our visits to Crystal Blues tend to be pretty focused - always a list of jobs to do, keeping the systems alive, running and testing major components, and upgrading where we can.

This last visit, with only three days available, was a busy one.
- Wash the top sides and all the sun covers
- Using the Powerdive Hooka, clean the hull (well half of it anyway)
- Test all the on board systems, including refrigeration, air con,  genset, main engine and computer back up
- Check and test all the pumps
- Install a new stern navigation light

The only relaxing job was mounting and wiring the new Hella NaviLED Pro stern light. The job went smoothly and was completed, surprisingly, in a very short time.   We like these new Hella lights, as they have a completely sealed precision optical unit.  We are now around 75% converted to LED lights including navigation, cabin down lights and cockpit lighting.

Back At The Coal Face

Neil has now been working with the EVI team in Manila for over 5 months now.  Designing, co-ordinating CAD drawings and schematics, managing the project, problem solving and passing on his knowledge.

The four audio, video and control racks have now been built, and custom software written, all off-site. All the audio visual equipment and miles of cabling are installed.  Now it is up to the onsite installers and programmer John White to finesse these very complex systems into a living and breathing environmental machine.  It has been an exciting project, with many challenges both cultural and logistical.

Preparing the racks for shipping                   Commissioning the systems                             The transport team  

Floating Between Manila and Indonesia

Neil on a Skype video call to the team in Manila.

It didn't take long for us settle into work mode again....the boat became the home / office for Neil when he was not on site at Tandang Sora in Quezon City, Manila.

Crystal Blues is snuggly moored in Nongsa Point Marina on Batam Island, where she is under the watchful eye of our friend Acok. During the past few months we managed to remove the sails and most of the working lines and decommission the onboard systems.

Ley and Sam

In mid November Ley returned to Australia to spend time with her mother, Edie Worrall, who was recuperating from a hospital stay.  Ley's sister Sandra, who has been a rock of support to mum, was able to have a well earned break from being the primary carer.  Neil flew in to Melbourne in time to celebrate Edie's 90th birthday and spend time with our two grandchildren, Harrison and newly born Sam.

World Heritage Terraced Rice Padi At Banaue, Luzon Island.

Christmas and New Year were celebrated back in the Philippines, the first time we have been away from the boat in 15 years.

During the holiday break we loaded up the car with duvet, pillows, a freshly baked loaf of bread and a well stocked cooler box. We went on a road trip taking in Mt Pinatubo, Angeles City, and the Cordilleras region, covering just under 1000kms. Our last two nights were in Baguio, a hill station nestled in the mountainous pine forests, snuggled under the duvet as temperatures dropped down to 12 degrees each night.

This past week we've spent a couple of days in Singapore, and are now back aboard Crystal Blues in Batam for a short "vacation" - cleaning, hull scrubbing, running engines and generators etc.  All is well onboard. Wishing you all a peaceful and healthy 2014.