#44 22nd. May 2006

Moalboal May 2006

Hi, friends of Moalboal!!

Sorry that you lately have not received many Moalboal updates. As
you might know, I'm working now and only get 4 weeks vacation a
year, sad but true. You can always see http://www.ladylauren.net if you
want to see where I work.

Looks like most of the homeboys are working hard as well. I've asked
a few persons this past winter if they could write an update but
they have all been busy. Calle at Savedra has lost 12 Kg by working
to much and Jesper at Neptune bought a car, that should tell you
that they all had a busy and good season. More tourists then ever. A
good guess would be that after the bombs in Dahab, Egypt, even more
divers will show up.

Now in late April I finally made it to Moalboal. It's always nice to
be back and meet old friends. Have a few beers here and there.

New houses are popping up like mushrooms. Lots of foreigners are
buying and building. If you are interested in buying a lot you
should have a talk with Ling-Ling at Visaya divers or Jörgen at
globalphoto@... , they have lots with title for sale.

The peso has been quite stable the last year and it's now around 52 -
53 P / 1US$. If you put you peso in a fixed deposit you get pretty
much the same interest as the dollar ?. strange.

Did you know that we are, as of today, 346 members of the Moalboal
mailing - list

ACTIVITIES:

The Moalboal homeboyz, the local expat group of soccer-players has
been busy. They have won two mayor tournaments this past season. One
grand trophy is now displayed at Chili bar.

Jochen is still in charge of the weekly soccer. Talk to him at
planet action if you want to play.

Steve, owner Chili and Jeff, English ex-submariner tried to start
motorcycle tours but then Jeff hit a goat with his bike and
fractured the arm???well maybe next season. They have also started a
4 cottage mini-resort in Badian

BIRTHS, SOCIAL AND GOSSIP:

Steve, Chili owner married Marife, Nelsons old secretary. So far I
think Nelson has lost 9 secretaries to foreigners.

Joris, instructor at Neptune and Sabine his girlfriend came back for
3 months.

Kicki is now teaching Swedish on the beach. She has 4 steady
students allready.

Sad to say but Ellen's dog died.

The road Moalboal ? Cebu is finally looking OK. Lots of asphalt and
almost no pot-holes.

Sumisid lodge just turned 25 years and had a big Hawaii party on the
beach.

PRACTICAL:

The dive shops and Moalboal are now closer then ever, but there's
still a long way to go, to have a flat fee of 10$ for every
diver /year. Money will go to buoy-project and to pay fishermen not
to fish but to start sanctuaries. Every Barangay with water access
will probably be involved. I personally think it's a good thing.
Better for the fish, divers, tourism and the fishermen gets a steady
income. There is already a sanctuary on the northern tip of Moalboal
where you have to pay a fee to dive. There the fishermen are taking
care of the sanctuary and have also started a goat-farming project.

With oil prices high you now pay about 1600 Pesos for a taxi from
the airport to Moalboal.

Prices of most goods here have gone up at least 20% and on top of
that they are now putting 12% sales tax on everything. It's still
one of the cheapest countries in the world but the local population
is struggling.

Nelson now has a new web-site:
http://www.ibara.ne.jp/~bitoon/index.htm.

Mike, owner of Chili has now started a bar in Cebu. Really good
place and they serve cold beer: http://www.elgeckobar.com. The bar
is located smack in the middle of the entertainment district on
Mango Ave. I did spend a few nights there and met someone from
Moalboal every time????not sure if that is good or bad ???but???

WHALE SHARK SIGHTINGS:

Plenty, most of the divers I talked to said that there was more last
year but still many of them.

Abe, local deep diver has spotted hammerheads, a giant squid and
many thresher sharks. He now does tri-mix courses at Savedra and is
about to open a dive resort in Badian.

LARS TROPICAL TIP:

Before leaving your home country; scan your passport and other
travel documents. E-mail the pictures to your hotmail, Yahoo, G-mail
or whatever account, that way you can always get a copy of your
documents.

GENERAL:

If anyone has any information that they think would be interesting
for people on this list, please do let me know and I will add it in.
If you know anyone that would like to receive this letter, please
tell him or her to send me an E-mail at the address below and I will
add him or her. I've found it to hard to do it through
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moalboalmail

Regards, Lars Starner
starner@...

Moalboal home page:
http://www.moalboal.org.uk

Copyright (c) Lars Starner 2006. All rights reserved