Blogs from Marinduque, Philippines, Asia - page 3

Baltazar Island is one of the so-called Tres Reyes Islands in Marinduque named after the 3 Magi. The sea between Mindoro and Marinduque where the isalnds are located is often choppy. The worst peacetime maritime disaster in the world occured near these islands (Dec. 20, 1987), when the ferry "Dona Paz" carrying more than 4,000 passengers disembarked from Tacloban City to Manila and collided with MT Vector, an oil tanker en route from Bataan to Masbate. "Dona Paz" was situated at Dumali point, east of Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro along Tablas Strait near these small islands. The Vector's cargo ignited upon collision as it carried 8,800 barrels of gasoline, the fire spreading rapidly into the Dona Paz and the sea itself, a nightmarish sight visible from Marinduque's western coasts. Time Magazine called it the "worst peace-time maritime ... read more

Tuesday evening we left Manila at about 8pm for Marinduque the birth place of Eleanor's Grandfather. The trip involved a 3 hour car trip to Lucena and a 2.5 hour Roll On Roll Off ferry (RORO) ride to Marinduque. The traffic was pretty bad but we still made it in plenty of time for the 2am boat. When we arrived at the port eveything seemed to be chaotic, no one seemed to know the correct procedure for purchasing tickets and booking the car onto the ferry. After asking around and lining up in four queues we were finally able to book the car onto the ferry, we then joined a long line of other cars. Things went pretty slowly from here and it appeared that cars were pushing in, Maribel was getting pretty irate about this ... read more