Philippine Cruising

Hi one and all,
well here we are still in the Philippines. Amazing isn't it, we were only going to be here for six weeks and when we exit we would of been here for one year........
This is an amazing place to cruise. We expected to meet many other cruisers but no one knows about this place. We met three other cruisers only. WE did meet a few other yachties but they were just hanging around...in fact in one place some of the yachts have not moved from their mooring for NINE years......The first questions from people at home is always 'what about the pirates'. The answer from us is 'what pirates'. We have visited 30 islands ( and there are approx 7000 islands in the Philippines), we have anchored 100 times. We have only met with kindness and smiles. But the fishermen look like we imagine pirates to look. For protection from the weather they wear balaclavs and are covered in clothes from head to foot, only the eyes and their smiles show.
We sleep each night with our yacht open. The biggest concern for us has been the 'typhoons'. Coming from New Zealand we have found that often the weather is no more scary than a decent weather front passing through. We get weather reports via our mobile phone (we do not have internet onboard) each morning and that has been enough to keep us safe.
But we are not stupid about things...............
This is our first attempt at blogging and we hope you will tune in and read as we go. Not having email onboard means that we have to rely on internet cafes as we go, (its a great way to meet the locals) so sometimes there will be gap in our communications. But if you want to join us as we continue to sail around the RIM OF FIRE then read about us here.
Next year we will be in Taiwan, Japan and Korea.d Brian
I have a question.....is anyone interested in our anchorages or shall we just put general news
Carol and Brian