Okinawa Cruise: The Philippines

Our friends at the Hotel Stage in Hong Kong

Leaving Hong Kong and Boarding the Volendam

We loved our stay in frenetic HK at the Hong Kong Stage Hotel, but it was time to head for the next phase of our adventure, the cruise ship Volendam. We had made so many friends here, and it was hard to say goodbye.

Pic of MS Volendam

But, we had another friend down at the port. The Holland Cruise Ship MS Volendam was an old friend too; we had sailed on her just about 4 years ago and were ready to do it again.

A process that some ships are doing now is taking random temperature readings of people boarding the cruise ship. The Volendam was no exception. A gun-like medical device is pointed at the person’s forehead, and body temp is read and processed for boarding purposes. We saw no one thrown overboard, but we didn’t really hang around long enough to see if there were any consequences.

Our first port of call would be in the archipelago of the Philippines. The Philippines are a group of over 7100 islands in the South China Sea, with a population of 103 million people!! In terms of population size, that’s almost 1/3 the size of the United States! This is one very densely populated bunch of islands. There are 3 large islands – North Island (Luzon), Middle Island (Vizayas), and South Island (Mindanao). Manila is the capital, located on Luzon, and we found it not to be very impressive; it’s where most of the people live, making Manila extremely dense in population. Manila seemed to have very little charm, but then the city has the reputation of being the 2^nd most bombed out place in the world. Malta still ranks as number 1.

Tour Guide Carlos from the Phillipines

The Island of Corregidor

We elected to take a ship excursion to visit the famous WWII site of Corregidor. Carlos, our very apt Filipino tour guide had nothing but praise for the Americans and their occupation of the Philippines. He claims, as do most other Filipinos that the USA unified his country by insisting on education and teaching the English language for all since 1904. “After all,” said Carlos, “the Spanish occupied us for 300 years and gave us nothing but enslavement.”

Back in high school, we’ve all studied about the Philippines, but putting all the pieces in perspective anymore is mentally dizzying, unless you are a professional historian. Corregidor? Bataan? Luzon? Battle of Leyte? I shall return? I’ll be back?? (whoops, sorry, that last one was Arnold Schwarzenegger – heh, heh). We remember studying all these things, but it was so great to actually see these words and places come alive today!

The Island of Corregidor looks like a tadpole!!

We’re headed for Corregidor, which is a small bastion of an island (often referred to as “The Rock”) just off Luzon Island at the mouth of Manila Harbor; this was the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur during WWII. It took almost 2 hours by ferry for us to navigate the 25 miles across the harbor to Corregidor from Manila.

It has been commented by many that the island of Corregidor is shaped like a tadpole, as shown.

On 6 May 1942, Corregidor fell to the Japanese, and MacArthur had to vacate his residence here. Of course, his now infamous words “I shall return” were spoken to his men and the Filipino people as he exited the island for the safety of Australia.

Typical cave dug by Japanese in hillside on Corregidor

When the Japanese took Corregidor, they built nothing there. No houses, no defensive buildings, no operations buildings. They merely burrowed into the many caves they’d dug, and did guerilla fighting against their enemies. They stayed there until they were killed or kicked out by the Americans at the end of the war (2 March 1945) when MacArthur made goodn his promise to return.

The Geery Battery where a major catastrophe occurred

Our bus meandered around the island amongst the decaying barracks, batteries, BOQ’s (Bachelor Officer’s Quarters), operations centers, recreation areas, etc. We passed by the Geery Battery and were sobered to learn about the poor souls there who were blown to bits when their munitions stockpile took a direct hit by a Japanese bomb. You can still see major pieces of large shrapnel strewn all around the battery grounds.

One of many barracks in decay made with
Bethlehem Steel rebar

Prior to the war, duty in the Philippines was considered a desirable place to put in your service time. A mere buck private could have a pleasant stay, with servants to clean his clothes and barracks, cook for him, and do other household duties, all for a pittance. All the young enlistees wanted to put their time in, in the Philippines.

Bethlehem Steel made some of these cannons

We found it interesting that all of the steel rebar used to make the concrete buildings here on Corregidor were made with Bethlehem steel from good ol’ Bethlehem, Pennsylvania!! Also, the steel for some of the artillery parts (turrets, breeches, etc.) and some of the cannons too were also made and shipped from Bethlehem.

Fortress known as the Malinta Tunnel

MacArthur did his operations from inside a stronghold known as the “Malinta Tunnel,” a 900-foot tunnel that had many bomb-proof alcoves (called “literals”) for different operations. The Malinta Tunnel sat beneath several hundred feet of cliff rock; bombs were of no value in destroying this fortress. MacArthur felt well-protected here from any Japanese overhead bombing.

Inside the Malinta Tunnel

Today, Corregidor is, except for tourists, an empty island. Nobody is allowed to live here, cut firewood, or make changes to the property, as this is now some kind of protected site for military historical purposes. Tourists can wander anywhere they please, and check out the many vacant barracks, BOQ’s, ordnance buildings, batteries, and other buildings strewn about, some buried under vines, heavy vegetation, and shrubs throughout the wood-covered islands. In 1974, some tourists found a Japanese soldier who had been hiding since the end of WWII. He refused to surrender even after he was told the war had been over for almost 30 years! Luckily, the Filipinos found a Japanese officer who fought with this fellow in WWII; he flew down from Japan to convince the soldier the war really was over.

Beach area on Corregidor Island

A last remark about the weather here on Corregidor. No way to euphemize it. It’s just plain H-O-T. But on the day we were here on this great historical island (17 March 2018 – Happy 89^th Birthday to Carl Mattes, BTW), it was very humid too. Our clothing was always damp from body sweat. Breezes were constantly blowing all day long, and they tended to evaporate the sweat from our bodies and create a cooling effect. At times, we actually felt chilly from this evaporation effect. So, in the end, if this was a typical day, we found the heat somewhat tolerable; it was a lazy, balmy, swing-in-a-hammock under the shade trees kind’a climate!! But just remember, this isn’t even summer yet!

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