DUMAGUETE CITY, Negros Oriental - The Diwata ng Lahi (Fairy of the Race), a replica of a historical Balangay wooden boat used by Indo-Malay families in their vast sea travel during pre-Hispanic times, sailed into the calm waters of the Dumaguete port, Wednesday, on its way to Mindanao and beyond.
"After five months and seven typhoons since we left Manila, we have arrived in Dumaguete," said former Transportation and Communication Undersecretary Arturo Valdez, the leader of the Balangay mission who also organized the Philippine Mt. Everest expedition.
Valdez said it was a lot easier for the original Balangay sailors to sail the seas then than the voyage they have been undertaking.
"For one thing, there was no one waiting for them at their destination to hold a program," Valdez said with a laugh.
But Valdez said that even as they have been sailing with the help of nature-based navigational techniques such as the sun, stars, cloud formations, wind, birds and wave patterns, today's sailors would need to use modern navigational aids, given changing climate conditions.
"Climate change has changed the sea conditions," he said.
Dumaguete is a stopover in the third leg of the Balangay's journey, which takes it from Cebu to Cagayan de Oro.
The Balangay left the port of Argao in southern Cebu Wednesday morning and arrived in Dumaguete at 4 p.m. of the same day. It will stay in Dumaguete until November 8, or until repairs to the boat are completed.
While in Dumaguete, the crew will undertake repairs on the Balangay, plant trees, do coastal cleanup activities and hold symposia with elementary, high school and college students.
Upon their arrival in Dumaguete City, the crew members were met by a small group from the City of Dumaguete, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the Province of Negros Oriental, Foundation University and other government offices.
The group hoped to circumnavigate Southeast Asian nations by 2010, and to reach Micronesian nations and Madagascar by 2011, to continue to navigate the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans by 2012 and hopefully return to the Philippines by 2013.
Aside from Valdez, the Diwata ng Lahi core crew consists of the members of the Philippines' Mt. Everest team Leo Oracion, Erwin "Pastour" Emata, Noelle Wenceslao, Carina Dayondon, Janet Belarmino-Sardena, Dr. Ted Esguerra, Fred Jamili and Dr. Voltaire Velasco.
The other crewmembers came from the Coast Guard and the Navy.
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