Out of Manila

We left at our usual time of 5 a.m. Actually, we left a little bit earlier than that but the Starbucks on the way was open when we got to it so that made it OK! As we drove up to it, Steve was pushing me out of the car because a full van load was about to get out and go in! I beat them to it.

We drove on to the ferry about 6:45. There were 2 basic toilets for all the female passengers. I took the kids, they got dressed, used the loo and then I told them they couldn't drink very much on the boat because they were not coming back to the toilet until we reached Calapan! (To their credit they did it too!!)

As we sat down, there was a newspaper vendor walking past and his headline read "Another ferry sinks.." Very uplifting. It explained the backlog of foot passengers and lorries and jeepnies loaded with freight trying to get across. I'm not sure how we managed to get onto the boat so easily. When we arrived our managers told us bodies had been found on the beach below the guest house this morning.

Our kids were excited to have 2 other families staying here as well as other guests. We have heard them more than seen them!