March 15, 2006-Maricaban Bay

Beach Vollyball Victors

We really like beach vollyball, and we had some great fun at the net at the El Rio Y Mar Resort in Maricaban Bay.

Lots of other cruisers told us to stop at Maricaban Bay and meet Tequila Mike. They said the resort is really "cruiser friendly".

We found that it was true. Mike is interesting and a knowlegable sailor himself, and his resort (he is one of the owners) is a great place for cuisers to stop. We loved our stay.

Pool at Maricaban

Of course the pool is terrific, and we met some other interesting people amopng the guests, including several Clipper Challenge sailors on holiday while their boats were being fixed.

Swapping Sea Stories

We had fun swapping sea stories with them around the pool. Add in cold beer, good food, and a healthy discount for cruisers (can you believe that?) and Maricaban was great.

El Rio Y Mar

Now here is the icing on the cake. We'd been getting short of cash, since there are no ATM's on Busuanga Island. We had some pesos, maybe enough to get to El Nido, but we wished we could buy some diesel and get some other provisions too. Well, at El Rio Y Mar they opened up their storeroom (a small warehouse, actually) and sold us anything we wanted to buy, plus diesel, and put it all on our credit card. We were astonished, and it made this whole portion of the cruise a lot more relaxed for us. we love this place.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Busuanga