Here's a small look at the west side of Leyte around Ormoc City about 9 months after the typhoon hit ... It's not that far across the island to the east side which took the full impact, just did not have the time ... I hope to get back over there this OCT... Here's the small port for the ride over to Leyte Island ... Always an experience for me to ride a RO-RO ferry here ... It always works out but you just never know about the crowd here These boats normally sell food, drinks, beer ... This one did not sell beer but you can carry your own on the boat ... That will be something easy to remember on the ride home ... This is 3-4 hr ride depending on the current and that is plenty of time for a few drinks We were packed on again ... Port area and the smaller, outer ridge line of Cebu. That Monte Maria shortcut I'm mentioned here before is to the right side of the ridge line as it tapers off ... Leyte bound!
Here's where you land at on Leyte... Ormoc City is 40(?) miles north ... My riding friends over there know an off-road route back to Ormoc City but again, not enough time for that and we just ride the hard-top there. Ormoc City ... Port area where we stayed ...Also a board walk full of people eating, drinking, dancing, and just a good time. Ormoc City port area again ...
Here's some damage right where we stayed... I'm sure these guys have insurance but not sure how well it works... ESP in something this large in $ value ...Lots of places here still had major roof damage... Few more sights on the board-walk.
We did get to head out into the province once... The trees out there still had a stripped look to them, like I had saw back in AR from tornado when it would strip every twig and branch off everything but the major limbs .... Not sure why but Leyte always feels very primitive to me... Cebu, not so primitive usually. Maybe just so many people on Cebu. Might be the vegetation on Leyte ... Lake Danao -- That small pink dot is a view deck on the opposite side we ride by. Never went out but the pull-ropes floats look OK to me.
View-deck, backside of the lake, and part of the trail that encircles it ... We got blocked by a ditch and just turned back Lots of damage like this all over the places we rode.
It just so happened that I took a pic of Tarzan looking tree here ~2 yrs ago ... Apparently it blew down as there is a huge log here now instead of a standing tree.. Before: After: Now a kickstand?
A few more pics of the area and the end of this road ... yep, roads end here pretty often. Last hardtop on this road .. Trails only after this that might or might not end up somewhere .. All I saw was carabao sled tracks from here onward
Back out to the national hiway and out of the providence in the middle of the island ... My friend Bogis' place .. Notice the shiny tin roofs and that coconut tree on the right side ... Usually high++ level 3 winds or level 4 winds get coconut trees ... He said something like the winds were coming from different directions and that one really really hard blow for about ~30 minutes from one direction did most of the real damage around him. Trophy board ... EnduroCross to these guys is a trail race across the countryside ... Told Bogi to inform me of such races in the future Filipino take-0ff ramp.
We did do another short trail ride up on the mountainside to view the damage to another friend of ours who totally lost this home. 8 hectares for sale now along with the remains of the house for about $90K... Its got a pretty good view and the house still has a good foundation and the area is setup with a pretty good entry road. Leyte island on the right and Camotes Island on the upper left side .. just past Camotes is Cebu... This distance, I think I could navigate in my own boat someday. A view of the mountains on the east side. The home that got the top and every window blown out. Lots of the framework is still there along with the steel framed roof ... You can see how the tree limbs were stripped and have leaves but no real branches. They are fixing on the home but its a slow go ...
First, you should not be able to see any of the homes across that valley due to vegetation ... Bogi said that after the blow, there was no green out there ...It was all brown because every leave was blown away. A better view of the home in relation to Camotes Here's a view back SE and down into that valley ... In the middle you can see that large front-end loader as a reference to how large that valley is.
The boat ride back home Loading... 2 for me and 1 for the crew for when they are off-duty . I like leaving a string of beer bottles (empty) as I travel around here. Leyte in the rear-view mirror.
Sailing and arrival back on Cebu The boat always arrives after dark .. I knew this and only drank 2 liters just because ... Here's the local help coming on-board to help the passengers with their goods Nothing left but to ride south about 4 miles to my home ...
