Part 1 of the Epic Trip. March 18-22.
Easter is approaching fast. Having done the transfer from Lake Taal to the ocean once we knew what to expect: Some major hard work in tropical heat, and all sorts of things going wrong.
Monday we left for Walter’s place in Talisay to start the transfer. As usual we were late, also because on of the four tires of the trailer was flat and we tried to get it fixed in Los Banos. So we only arrived in Santa Maria Resort after lunch and were ready to start working at 3:00 pm.
First we needed to get her off the slip trailer on which she is stored in the boat shed. So we had actually launch her in Lake Taal first, pull out the slip trailer, and then pull her out of the lake on the small transport carts we also use to put her on the trailer. By then Monday was done already.
Tuesday morning still saw some cushioning of the v-shaped stands used for transport and long term storage first. Then, for disassembly, we put her on those stands, after which we could start taking her apart.
We got some good help from the Santa Maria Resort Crew and some of their guests and after lunch the first hull was loaded onto the trailer. The first trip to Maya Maya via Laurel and Payapa Road went well, there was a construction site on the crater on Payapa Road on the ridge due to a collapsed bridge, but we were able to pass after some trucks had passed before us. We reached Maya Maya Marina around 4:00 pm and they had arranged for 5 people being around for helping unloading. This went extremely well. Only the trailer wheel had lost air again. We used some “Reifenpilot” to repair it and inflated it with the small heavy duty compressor (very handy) and decided to watch it on the way back and have it fixed in Talisay if it would not hold air. Four of the boys offered us to join us back to Taal Lake for loading the second hull. Since two of the guests, who had helped us loading the first hull in the morning, had checked out at lunchtime, we happily accepted the offer. So back we went to Talisay, this time the construction workers would not allow us to pass the construction site. After some evaluation of options we took the steep main road Ligaya Drive down from Tagaytay. It was OK but very steep so I would not want to take this road with a hull loaded uphill. Some reason to worry about the next day. After arriving at the Santa Maria Resort we found that we had lost the aluminium top cover of the Zarges box that we had strapped onto the trailer to carry all loose items. Luckily nothing of the contents was missing. The second hull was loaded and secured within 30 minutes, and Mavic drove the boys up to Tagaytay to catch a bus back to Nasugbu.
Wednesday. The morning we spend with still fixing some little things, including making a new cover for the Zarges box out of plywood and some wooden beams, and with loading all remaining parts that were essential for assembly of Magayon II onto the trailer. After testing it briefly, the recently repaired outboard motor and tanks went into the back of the car. This time we were ahead of schedule, after a quick lunch of leftover hand grenade chicken we left Santa Maria around 1:00 pm, hoping that we could even unload the second hull today and even start assembling the boat.
But this time they would not let us pass the construction site. There was no changing their mind. Some people obviously did not have a clue about what it means driving with a trailer, they suggested we should just turn around on a 5m wide road, with a trailer that is 8m long with load. Others just grinned when we asked why they don’t put a sing “Road Closed” at the last intersection where a detour was possible. So we ended up backing up the vehicle with the trailer on a 3km road stretch with lots of curves. Mavic and Miriam walking behind and in front of the vehicle while Martin was practicing his trailer backwards driving skills. Some motorists passing by tried to be helpful by offering advise about alternative roads, but just were in the way of manoeuvring the trailer. Only in the Philippines – and in France. We finally made it to the next junction, backing up the 3 km had cost us about one hour, and a lot of sweat. Unfortunately no photos taken since the three of us were all busy with our different jobs.
The road turning left at the junction went to Calaca. According to a security person sitting there we could do this with our trailer. So we went for it. Initially it went fine, winding downhill through nice countryside with many small villages, hardly any traffic, so even thought he road is very narrow it was actually fun to drive. But then in Calaca we were in a mess of very small roads, with lots of sharp turns and village markets expanding onto the road. And cars parking crazily eating up all the road space. We got stuck for a while in a middle of a market that had been set up on a road. But finally some local guys helped us out. So finally we were on the national road to Nasugbu, with no damage done to boat, trailer or bystanders. But very late. We texted the resort that we would be late and needed a room to stay. We arrived after 5:00 pm and were too exhausted from the day to unload. The boys had waited and were probably a bit disappointed that they could not earn some more money during this day, but we had to tell them that unloading and assembly would be in the morning of the next day. We got our cottage, which has seen much better times, and then drove Mavic to Nasugbu since she needed to take a bus to Manila for attending some graduation. Before that we found a fantastic Italian restaurant in Nasugbu, with an Italian chef / owner, which compensated us for the trouble of the day.
Night from Wednesday to Thursday
Miriam and I don’t want to talk about it. Beautiful scenery, but unbelievably hot, and lots of aggressive mosquitos. Miriam made a new friend and named him.
Thursday morning the boys were back. We unloaded the trailer, assembled the boat and launched it all before lunch time. Fantastic. We then checked the motor, did a little tour in the Marina and mored Magayon II in a berth where she is save until Saturday.
One of the boys pointed out that the tire is flat again. So after having taken shower and being ready to go we had to remove the wheel from the trailer again and stuff it in the trunk. We’ll think about a solution later.
Related pages
Sail to Pandan: Transfer from Talisay to Maya Maya (this page)
Sail to Pandan: Maya Maya to Puerto Galera
Sail to Pandan: The PGYC Easter Regatta