Were you there when Mt. Pinatubo erupted?Back 10 years ago and more - getting from Manila to Subic Bay in the Philippines was always a pain by road - just getting out of Manila could take 2-3 hours - then another coupla hours on the motorway till you would arrive at the old USA naval base of Subic Bay - where I had a nice house in West Kalayan - (just up the hill from the base) -
Vasco's was the bar restaurant - I used to drink/eat at right over the water on Subic Bay - run and owned by an Aussie mate of mine called Brian Homan - an old treasure diver - who had a dive museum - behind the bar -
- anyway - next to Brian's place was Subic Seaplane - owned and operated by an ex US Marine - who had an old Cessna seaplane - he would pilot for hire - and over the years he would fly me all over that area - and beyond - but mostly the Manila-Subic-Manila route - which was a far-far better way to arrive at or leave Subic - landings and takeoff's were always exciting - and the view - Wow!
* 5 hours by road (heavy traffic) or 25 minutes by seaplane - was a no-brainer