Island of Marble

We stayed a few days and did the tourist thing around the island while on Romblon. We hired a tryke for a few hours to take us to the beach, to have lunch and then to see all the marble carvings. 

This view from our new friend Hanks house up on the hill. He had us over for dinner one night and it felt like Thanksgiving Dinner it was soooo amazing!! 

One of the white sandy beaches not too far from town

Marble pillars that they use to build staircases and balconies 

The church bell tower that was built in 1640!

Street view 

All marble carvings are made here. Chiseled and polished by hand. They are normally made to order but so many people never come back for them or have no way of getting them from this island to their homes. 

We visited the Catholic Church 

Staircase built with those pillars from the photo above

A close up of the bell tower built in 1640. 

It looks like Gary might be there for a while so we decided to start making our way back to our boat to make sure work is progressing. We took a ferry to the next island over where we jumped on a jeepnee bus for about an hour the. Got on the big proper ferry to Boracay. Yes we are back in beautiful Boracay!!! Going to stay for the weekend and fly back to Cebu Monday...or Tuesday..;) we'll see. 

Life. Is. Good.

Wow sorry guys it's been a while since we updated the blog! Well since the boat is under major construction we have moved to this wonderful place called The Rume Store and Picnic. This little gem is a small store and great restaurant that has 3 rooms above it with air con and great showers....what more can u ask for!?!? We are so happy there:) 

Our view from the balcony atop the restaurant....For $22 per night we get a great room and free breakfast every morning which consists of 2 eggs on toast w butter n jam and some bacon on the side with coffee...life is great!! 

So we go to the boat once a day and hang out to make sure progress is being made. We had our anchor chain galvanized and painted a mark for every 10 meters and it's beautiful!!!! All the wood has been replaced and now they just need to sand and varnish....which could take years! Haha kidding....but it's coming along and looks fantastic so far. 

Believe it or not these photos are progress lol!...

We also had our new Bimini finished and put back on finally!!(only took 3 months)...

Poor girl looks sad n lonely I can't wait to get back on board and show her some TLC! But there is our new top we are no longer topless;) haha

We spent my birthday weekend in a little lovely place called Boracay...

My crazy scotch Rachel love her to bits!!!

My new South African friend had a braai for me on my bday! It was awesome! 

This is the cutest bat I have ever seen!

So I bought myself a couple bday gifts...an awesome dive computer

This thing is awesome! Aaaaand I bought a guitar from a friend of ours...yes people I'm learning how to play guitar in all my endless spare time that I have right now! ....so far I have no feeling in my first 3 fingers on my left hand...and I know most chords and can play ....(drumroll please)....the happy birthday song! Hahahahha .... A very slow happy birthday but still practicing every day for a couple hours each day. I'll get there I got nothing but time ;) 

Ok so enough about the birthday but also thanks to everyone for the great bday wishes;) I feel special to have so many who care:)

We are actually sitting at an Italian restaurant at this very moment. We are on an island called Romblon in the Philippines. It's is an island made of marble! It's crazy all the statues they have here that people wanted to buy but never came back for...it might just be that they have no way to transport these monster carvings but wow it's so cheap to get marble here. Let's just put it this way.....a mooring is usually made of concrete and stuff...well it's cheaper to get a block of pure marble for a mooring that it is to get concrete here.... That's a fancy mooring...wow...

The boat we are sailing in is an old classic gorgeous beautiful 80 something year old boat. She's been so over the world and she sails like a dream! I've never been so comfortable on a monohull and I suppose the captain kinda knows what he's doing as well :)

Please don't jump I'm a little rusty on my man overboards!

Not the best photo of the interior but it's all I got for now...there is the bunk where Ty is and one on the other side plus a v-berth use front ....

Still...sunrise is my favorite watch...:) 

This is Bill. We were all invited to the christening of the new yacht club/bar in Romblon. He had the very first San Miguel Pilsen at the new yacht club. Out. Captain had the second and Ty had the third. I had the first in 2 categories thank u very much! First female beer and first San Miguel Light:))) we just made history folks ;) haha I hope to see those photos in 5-6 years when we make our way back around on our own boat! We had such a great time sailing with Gary and we hope there will be more wind In the next few days so we may continue on with him on his journey to Subic (which is close to Manila) ....c'mon wind!!!!

Life in the boatyard

We have been here for just over a week now....and I am realizing we are going to be here for a very very long time....we have ripped out all the wood from the galley and the saloon area and they are slowly rebuilding all the trim around the bottom. They just glued the pieces on yesterday and its looking pretty good! We don't spend much time inside anymore except to go to bed...there is sawdust absolutely everywhere....no matter how many times I sweep or wipe surfaces. We have open access to the bar/restaurant upstairs so we just live up there where the breeze flows for most of the day. Chen Chen is the girl who runs the bar and she makes the best sandwiches in the Philippines! So we are very lucky :) Now that the work being done is on a professional level we kinda stay out of the way and let them do their thing. They put the bimini back on today and it looks great! But it was made way too heavy....with the top and only 7 people on the boat the back step was almost in the water. Not a good sign but they are cutting some pieces off here and there to lighten the load a bit so we will see what happens. A few more adjustments need to be made regarding the height but all in all I would say its coming along.

Nicholas our Filipino carpenter removing our wood

a work in progress...

There used to be a wood panel with lights on the top corner there

Removed all the doors and veneer 

What a mess!

It's always fun to tear stuff up :)

Our transom after the top was put on....this is with only 2 people on the boat...

You can't really tell but the back is way down and the bow is way up

The bar looks nice! The wood inside the boat will have a similar finish to it

Our spot in the corner where you can find us ever day

This is Micro...our newest resident :)

Stranded Bar and Restaurant

Our grill on the side of the bar where we make fire! I'm thinking steaks today :)