First Visit To The Boatyard

It was not until mid-August that I was able to visit our boatyard in Barangay Lumatil, Maasim, Sarangani Province. Ramil and I drove off very early in the morning with our motorbikes. From our hometown, Polomolok, it took us almost one hour and thirty minutes to arrive at the area.

Motor ride. Photo Credits

From the national highway, we took a turn into a narrow and slippery path leading towards the shore. I saw very tall coconut trees in the area and a lot of goats running around. At a distance, there were small nipa huts that seemed to camouflage with the beauty of nature. We went straight ahead and I just followed Ramil wherever he went.


After passing through few houses, we finally stopped at his uncle's house. When I got off my motorbike, I was introduced by Ramil to his relatives. There were too many of them and I wasn't able to memorize their names. But, they were very friendly and I felt very safe with them although Ramil told me beforehand that the area was dominated by our Muslim brothers and sisters.

In a blink, Ramil disappeared from my sight. Before I took notice of it, he was already on his way to the boatyard. I immediately went after him as fast as I could. And when we got closer and closer to the boat, my eyes grew bigger and bigger. I was in awe seeing how the boat was made for the very first time. This was how it looked like:

Quite big, isn't it?

Just beside it was pile of large hardwood logs that were cut in a unique pattern. It was wider than usual logs and it was very thick. Ramil told me that they call it as "Kasko". I am not very sure what do you call this thing in english but I think its function is the same as the "Keel". A keel is the main structural member and backbone of a boat, running longitudinally along the center of the bottom.

Keel of a boat.

I also met our boat builder, Usop, the one who wore a pink shirt in the photo below. Usop is a well known boat-builder in the area and he already built numerous boats with outstanding quality.

Usop and his crew.

Just before we went home, Usop requested us to buy him an electric chainsaw to speed things up. Because this was not part of the deal, we agreed to buy this but the cost will be deducted from his labor payment.