DagulFly

Naya and I on the e-bike heading out for the Dike-Walk to get a view from the construction work right beside the ocean. It was Sunday early morning. Despite that, some families showed up for a Sunday picnic beside the sea with swimming and fishing.

Christmas Caroling in the Philippines is a part of the Filipino Christmas tradition. Children like to form groups and enjoy hopping from one house to another every night singing Jingle Bells, Silent Night and traditional Filipino Christmas songs like Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit, Pasko Na Naman, at Namamasko. Last night the children were significantly older, but their performance was superb nevertheless. Thanks for coming to our house.

A little but pretty venue with a nice pool and tons of space to celebrate a birthday or relax. One more nice place in Balayan worth checking out

Sunny weather, hot and dry, and this day is coming to its end. Naya and I went out to catch the evening mood at our bay walk.

Back to the Dike-Walk in Balayan on a great sunny late afternoon. A lot of people were there, some of them doing some fishing. I asked one of the sports-fisher how his catch was. He told me that he is fishing for "isda tanga", stupid fish, with a bait made out of cloth and a shrimp like colour. Even his catch was not that big, 2 tiny species, the scenery and the sunset were worth watching.

San Juan Fiesta celebrates St. John the Baptist. During the fiesta roasted piglets are being paraded through the streets of Balayan with people pouring water at each other, to submit a funny baptism to their co-participants. Parada ng lechon and San Juan fiesta is a tradition of Balayan, well known in the Philippines.

Bob and I on the road again, the first time since last April. Destination: San Fernando south of Cebu City. We intend to fly over the local beach with its docks for the cement factory there and check out the beach resorts and other remarkable things. See also Bob's version of our San Fernando trip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhM5k3F1ZYE He flew his new Mavic 2 Pro Zoom over the waters of San Fernando...

In the mountains of Cebu near Car-car. Our target is a dam, the Can Asujan Dam. When we arrived, all entry points were closed. So we had to start our drones behind a tall gate, which did not permit any view on the dam and the surrounding area. At some point of time, flying out of line of sight was unavoidable. But crashing the drone would only have hit the dried up ground of the lake bed. You will see only a tiny little bit of water rinse down the area... pitiful. It is hard to understand, why there is so little water at this time of the year. I guess because of a diminished ground water level...?

Sunday morning as a real "sun day" after a long time of rain. I went back to the local pier by bike to enjoy the scenery there.

Back in the beautiful mountains of Cebu near Talisay. We flew over colourful mountain villages, an almost dried out small reservoir, the deep valley of the Mananga River and not far away from the city jail of Talisay. Starting point was the basketball court of an abandoned subdivision with a lonely lost fountain.

The third bridge connecting Cebu and Mactan/Cordova is under construction. We checked out the construction site in the area close to the SRP.

One month after our last (and first) flight around the construction area of the new Cebu-Cordova bridge. Changes are obvious and impressive. Follow me on a hot morning with a bit of haze from the Indonesian forest fires left.

What used to be the Kawit Island and SRP Baywalk, which was also the place for the Kasadya sa SRP, a yearly funfair, will be turned into a resort-like complex. We were here before and let our drones fly last year in October 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RG3gpuvZdc

Flying along the "fish port" area of Talisay City, an unused area, which was considered to become the new fish port, but was also considered to be converted into a ro-ro (roll-on/roll-off) port. Now construction is going on. But we were not able to identify the nature of the construction: fish port or ro-ro port or something else.... but definitely not an air-port 😁

We went to Bantayan, not Bantayan Island north of Cebu, but barangay Bantayan of Carcar City. We took a look at the beaches there.

Out again in the early morning into the mountains of Cebu. This time we took a look at the Sudlon National Park, a protected area with cultivated and uncultivated areas, side by side. Here you find a multitude of vegetable gardens and farms - and a slice of Cebu's history: The Moncado Hotel, named after the founder of the Filipino Crusaders World Army, Hilario Moncado.

Time to check out a memorial park, which deserves to be called a park. Where else cemeteries are spooky, this one was inviting to stay a while and rejoice the scenery and fresh air... Sound/music by OMS

Time for an update of the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway, the new bridge in the making Music from Denis Stelmakh "Inside"

End of September we had a closer look at the Kawit Island and its former SRP Baywalk. Today we were out to update and check what has been done so far to have it converted into an "Isla dela Victoria". From the distance, you can see CCLEX, the construction site of the new Cebu - Cordova bridge and SM Seaside as well...

We followed an invite from friend Chris to visit the orphanage in Carmen Cebu - Batang Pinangga. We experienced a warm and lovely reception from the children and staff. Thank you very much for this great day in your Home of Angels. The orphanage and the foundation are now more than 20 years old. Visit also the YouTube site of BP: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3njXoHCu3-V8VA5YQ4NWAQ. Take also a look at their website: http://www.batangpinangga.org/

Foreign visitors and the choice of places to show them around here in Cebu is almost endless... Which places in Cebu would you go to with your visitors? A bit of a small big problem, since we had only limited time. Here is our "Tour de Cebu" round-trip, a selection of some of the fanciest places in Cebu - in 7 hours...

A quick new and 3rd update on the new bridge, this time the shots taken from passing by on the SRP. Things have changed quickly on the construction site. Music by OMS... 😉

The new port in Talisay has grown, obviously. Its shape looks almost like a B2 bomber. A viewer just informed me, that the new port will become a container port, worth 10 billion Pesos after completion. It will help to decongest the cargo traffic to the Cebu ports. Sounds by... OMS 🏴‍☠️ Correction of the intro: The flight was on Dec. 8 (not Sept. 8)

Isla dela Victoria is also developing, slowly and constantly. Peeping once again over the fences makes it obvious. We filmed the location on that very same day when we also took the shots from the new Talisay container port. It was just on the other end of that long and straight road. Very convenient for hitting 2 birds with one stone...😂 Sounds by OMS... 🏴‍☠️

The 4th update on the new bridge, this time the shots taken from a different location. We flew on a Sunday shortly after Christmas. So holidays are still in process and not much activity to be seen on the construction site. Happy Holidays to all. Music by OMS... 👽