Living cheap as in the Philippines! By Brady

“So, what do you guys want to do for dinner?”  Brian asked as Delos sat comfortably in Fannie bay in Darwin.   “I don’t know bro. Where can we go where we wont spend $50 a person on food and a beer?” This was a common conversation while living and cruising in Australia.  Like many other nights we resorted to our home cooked meals aboard Delos.  I’m not complaining here.  Everyone on board is a great cook and we eat very well.  From spaghetti infused with cous–cous, pineapple and mash potato left overs to roasted veggies with coffee grind sprinkles and honey, we somehow make delicious meals on board.  But, isn’t it nice to sometimes go out and have a good meal and maybe a few beers, all with out spending half your monthly budget on one night?
 
Well…..Delos has finally found that special place!  The Philippines is our place and we are living it up!

Massive first class malls, IMAX theaters, every kind of food you can imagine, a proper maritime university, and everywhere you look big smiles looking back at you.

Its all here and for once we can finally afford it! 

Here is an ideal day in Davao to put it into perspective….

Ferry ride from Samal Island, where Delos was docked, to the city……25 cents

 

“Jeepney” (local bus) ride to one of the ridiculously big malls…20 cents. Or If your feeling fancy you can get a taxi for about $3.00
 

A couple beers before dinner….. 75 cents each

If you want to eat basic you can eat some delicious local pork adobo or fish stuffed with tomatoes and spring onion for about…… $1.50
 

Or you can go to one of the nicest restaurants in Davao. Vikings Luxury buffet.  The best buffet any of us have ever seen. All you can eat and all the beer you can drink for only $17.00

 

Hotel in the city with a sweet as pool if you don’t feel like catching the ferry back due to a food coma…$20

 

Getting drunk, arm wrestling a local and pooing my sulu from straining too hard…..Priceless (Yea, I won though)

 

Getting into the marina about 8 weeks ago we had no intentions of staying more than a week.  We thought we were gonna sail in hang out for 5 or so days then make our way north.  Unfortunately, our coolant pump took a bit longer to get repaired so we were “forced” to tie up, plug in and run the A/C all day and take advantage of the honesty beer fridge.….Here’s a couple of our adventures while we sat at the dock…

Oceanview marina was only about $10 a day

 

We got invited to a local bar for a few dress up parties including Halloween!

 

We rented some scooters for about $6.00 a day and cruised around the island to a sweet waterfall

 

And to the Monfort bat cave, holding the record for the largest population of fruit bats anywhere in the world… Somewhere around 2 million…

 

We tried some Balut, a local delicacy…

We did the longest zipline in south east asia were I sound like an 8 year old girl

And went wakeboarding at a cable park, $5.00 for the afternoon!

We even got invited to a locals house for dinner and karaoke

But mostly, we met and partied with some amazing people!!