Long time, no write, my apologies, however my days seem to have been extraordinarily busy despite everything.  We were in Manila Bay, up until today that is.  We have departed to avoid Typhoon Vongfong which is passing the east side of Luzon and as a consequence, Manila port has closed its doors for 48 hours.  The Armada of cruise ships have all left for sea and will, optimistically, return to the anchorage on the 17th, ready to resume the operation of disembarking crew.  A complicated procedure.

I last wrote from Jakarta and we made our way towards Manila, arriving on the morning of the 12th and have been there ever since.  As we made our way there I was surprised by a wonderful ‘farewell’ reception in the Mainstage lounge.  Karen had told me she wanted to see the movie there and I must wear my Winter Blue uniform; what on earth?  was my immediate reaction, however I acquiesced.  I was greeted with a Lounge full of officers and crew and what followed was wonderful; various speakers, some tongue-in-cheek stories, (Thomas was particularly scathing, every incident he could think of, Tender 9, Bass Strait storm,….they just kept coming). 🙂

Karen had a speech too

There are some advantages……

Arriving in Manila Bay, we joined ships from Carnival, Princess, P&O Australia, RCL, Celebrity to name but a few.

Many of the vessels had been here for 3 weeks or so, when they arrived, a 14-day quarantine was required before disembarkation tests would take place.  As a later arrival, quarantine was necessary the night before arrival, so we dodged a bullet, so to speak.  Temperatures of all crew have to be taken twice a day and the disembarking Filipinos have to quarantine before arrival, we have all them in cabins with balconies, so they have some nice accomodation.  The next phase in the proceedings is for Medics to board and check our temperature logs and take temperature checks themselves.  The next phase is for a Coast Guard/Philippine Red Cross team to board and Covid-19 swab test the Filipinos ; that was done the 14th and we now have to wait for results, any time between 3-7 days usually.  If all is satisfactory, they are then in a position to disembark, when a window is available.  We are also repatriating some of our Dutch and American crew, later in the week, all being well.

The medics  (29 of them) disembarking after the tests,

Their stand-by vessel

Some more photos.

As for Karen and I, no disembark as yet.  My relief lives in the Philippines, however he has to go through the same ‘officialdom’ as those disembarking.  It involves Embassies, Philippine Immigration and heaven knows who else, so we both hope that the efforts are successful and we might, eventually, disembark.