The Doña Paz tragedy 25 years on
Twenty-five years ago today, the 20th of December, the Philippine ferry Doña Paz sank after colliding with the oil tanker Vector. At least 4,341 persons died as a result, but who cares to remember?...
View ArticleA special note of thanks to our readers
Before 2012 draws to a close, we’d like to thank our readers and supporters without whom Marine Café Blog would probably have met an early demise. We are now on our fourth year (the blog turned three...
View ArticleMaritime dreams & wishes for 2013
Somebody once said, half in jest and half seriously, that our middle name was Quixote. The remark just made us smile. What would Life be without idealists and dreamers? Here now is what we wish for in...
View ArticleJustice for Costa Concordia victims
Photo credit: Roberto Vongher We still don’t get it. Some hearts were bleeding for the captain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise liner that capsized off the coast of Italy on 13th January 2012. They...
View ArticleSTCW reforms in the seafarer factory
Maritime Administrator Conti We still have a phobia about maritime conferences, but we’re glad we went to the John B Lacson Foundation Maritime University (JBLFMU) convention on maritime safety and the...
View ArticleSpecial tribute to women on Labour Day
Today, Labour Day (International Workers’ Day), we’d like to pay special tribute to all the working women around the world. Farm hands and factory workers. Seafarers and office employees. And yes,...
View ArticleSeafarer charity: alive and kicking in London
Some Britons say their maritime industry has declined and that the nation has even lost its love for the sea. Yet, London is arguably still the shipping capital of the world. It is home to the...
View ArticleThe myth of the invisible seafarers
It’s interesting that IMO (International Maritime Organization) has picked ‘Faces of the Sea’ as its campaign theme for the Day of the Seafarer 2013. To spotlight ‘the human face of shipping,’ the UN...
View ArticleFor whom is the Day of the Seafarer?
We don’t know how many of our readers have noticed. People say ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ or ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ but not ‘Happy Day of the Seafarer’. And yet, the 25th of June is supposed to be a day for...
View ArticleA milestone for Marine Café Blog
Maritime CEO, a respected news portal run by Asia Shipping Media (ASM), has a laudatory piece about the blog on its 4th anniversary: Marine Café Blog: Calling a spade a spade. Our thanks to the ASM...
View ArticleA Beatles song for EMSA’s October visit
Philippine maritime schools and the state agencies supervising them would do well to psych themselves up for the final audit by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) this October. And what better...
View ArticleMarine Café Blog is taking a break
Although it’s been another fulfilling year, running a blog for four straight years isn’t easy. Frankly speaking, we feel rather exhausted. So, starting today, the 2oth of December, we are taking a...
View ArticleTribute to young sailors on Labour Day
In 1906 Henri Matisse painted ‘Young Sailor I’ and ‘Young Sailor II’ (pictured above) in the French Mediterranean fishing village of Collioure. The portraits, which are similar but quite distinct from...
View ArticleAn early homage to old sea dogs
It’s still a full month before the Day of the Seafarer (25th of June), but I decided to celebrate it today, 25th of May, and not wait for the usual din of slogans and speeches. I’d like to honour in...
View ArticleMerseyside maritime rocking & rolling
The Beatles are no more but Liverpool, the birthplace of the English rock band, is still rocking and rolling as a hub of maritime activity. That point was highlighted this week as Merseyside’s maritime...
View ArticleWherefore the Day of the Seafarer?
Eight Bells, oil on canvass by Winslow Homer, 1886 It’s been our custom to write about the Day of the Seafarer, which is every 25th of June. How could we not? Is it possible to ignore the chorus led by...
View ArticleMarine Café Blog’s first five years
Our readers must be wondering why the blog has not been updated for some time. After five years and hundreds of posts, we just had to go into dry dock and take stock of things. That the blog has lasted...
View ArticleThey’re singing paeans again to seafarers
Luca della Robbia’s Cantoria. Photo credit: Ricardo André Frantz Manila is gearing up to celebrate National Seafarers Day on the 28th of September. The programme kicks off the Sunday before. Amongst...
View ArticleWhy & wherefore National Maritime Week?
We care about the maritime industry. We like all things nautical. And our hearts are with the seafarers, maritime women and all those who toil at sea. But try hard as we may, we can’t get ourselves to...
View ArticleThe irony in World Maritime Day 2014
With more than 50 international protocols now governing the shipping industry, the theme for World Maritime Day 2014 couldn’t have been more appropriate: “IMO Conventions: Effective Implementation”. It...
View ArticleBoat refugees and life-saving seafarers
No television cameras are present whenever seafarers pluck boat refugees from the sea. So we’re pleased to note that the Vatican-based Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care for Migrants and...
View ArticleMarine Café Blog passes sixth milepost
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion,” Albert Einstein once said. He is absolutely right. Still, it strikes us that Marine Café Blog is six...
View ArticleDoña Paz disaster: a deficit of memory
It is five days before Christmas. In the collective delirium of holiday shopping, few Filipinos will remember that today, the 20th of December, is the 28th anniversary of the Doña Paz ferry tragedy....
View Article6 far-out maritime wishes for 2016
“It seems to me we can never give up longing and wishing while we are thoroughly alive,” wrote 19th-century English novelist George Eliot. “There are certain things we feel to be beautiful and good,...
View ArticleThe return of Marine Café Blog
After a long absence due to personal matters, Marine Café Blog is back with a couple of changes. Not the least important: the blog is completely dropping the use of the term “seafarer”. Henceforth,...
View ArticleThe anomaly of the Day of the Seafarer
The post The anomaly of the Day of the Seafarer appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleLessons from 7 years of blogging
Marine Café Blog silently marked its seventh anniversary last 25th of August whilst I was on extended leave from my normal activities. Seven years is not a long span, but it has taught me a few...
View ArticleBlog writing: flavour versus frequency
Marine Café Blog is now being updated twice a week at most. This is to give myself more time for certain projects I had put on hold for too long, including two upcoming books. Nonetheless, I hope...
View ArticleArtistic tribute to Mother Earth
The post Artistic tribute to Mother Earth appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleLabour Day tribute to housewives, not mariners
The post Labour Day tribute to housewives, not mariners appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticlePlunge into maritime book writing
Yesterday I took the plunge and released my first e–book, Maritime Double Shots. It’s a collection of aphorisms and reflections gathered from hundreds of articles posted in Marine Café Blog over the...
View ArticleA cat’s opinion of the ‘Day of the Seafarer’
This Sunday, the 25th of June, is the ‘Day of the Seafarer’. I thought I would chat with Frankie the Philosopher Cat and see if he’s in a mood to celebrate. Frankie is not much into festivities, but...
View ArticleA refusal to observe ‘Day of the Seafarer’
I should be joining the rest of the world and making whoopee on the ‘Day of the Seafarer’, 25th June. But I won’t. I will spend the day quietly and alone like the monk in Caspar David Friedrich‘s...
View ArticleLooking back at 9 years of Marine Café Blog
The post Looking back at 9 years of Marine Café Blog appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleWorld of coffee: an invitation to photographers
The post World of coffee: an invitation to photographers appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleFive unusual maritime wishes for the new year
The post Five unusual maritime wishes for the new year appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleA return to seafarers’ rights and other themes
The post A return to seafarers’ rights and other themes appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View ArticleRMS Titanic obsession: not all sea tragedies are equal
The post RMS Titanic obsession: not all sea tragedies are equal appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View Article3 best ways to celebrate the ‘Day of the Seafarer’
The post 3 best ways to celebrate the ‘Day of the Seafarer’ appeared first on Marine Café Blog.
View Article12 great quotes about time as the old year winds down
The end of 2019 is more than a fortnight away. But as the old saying goes, time and tide wait for no man. So I thought I would try to get ahead of the sweeping tide (impossible as that may seem) and...
View ArticleSix modest maritime wishes for the New Year
The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe famously wrote: “Who is the wisest man? He who neither knows or wishes for anything else than what happens.” Maybe so, but what is a new year or life itself...
View ArticleLabour Day tribute to child workers in lieu of seafarers
With so much din and clamour over seafarers’ rights, many people could be forgetting that the exploitation of child is a far greater problem. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that...
View ArticleLovely tribute to a mother by a gifted Chilean poet
One of the most beautiful tributes to mothers I have come across is a poem by Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral (1889—1957). It is entitled ‘Caricia’ (meaning “Caress” in English). The short poem has a...
View ArticleFourth of July salute to freedom in art and poetry
These are not the best times for America. The nation has been ravaged by the coronavirus and rent by racial divisions. For all this, Americans have good reason to celebrate the 4th of July in a big...
View ArticleThoughts on Marine Café Blog turning eleven
If endurance were all that mattered, I should pat myself on the back and make whoopee. Marine Café Blog turns eleven this 25th of August. It has lasted despite being totally independent; despite the...
View ArticleThe Doña Paz ferry tragedy: The art of forgetting
Yesterday, the 20th of December, was the 33rd anniversary of the Doña Paz ferry tragedy. As usual, the event whizzed past most Filipinos like a fart in the wind. There was hardly any mention of it on...
View Article10 maritime New Year wishes that were never fulfilled
It has been my custom to publish a list of maritime wishes for the New Year. The following are 10 such wishes I had made in previous years. All remain unfulfilled. They lie like dead seashells on the...
View Article‘Day of the Seafarer’: A vital question no one is raising
The COVID-19 pandemic may have put a damper on the ‘Day of the Seafarer’ celebration (25th of June). Still, the well-worn expressions of love and concern for the men and women who work at sea have kept...
View Article4 things that keep Marine Café Blog going after 12 years
Marine Café Blog was launched on 25th August 2009. Twelve years and hundreds of posts later, it is still sailing through waters that can be quite choppy at times. Some readers may wonder why. How can a...
View ArticleThe Nautical Shop: Loving the maritime world
Marine Café Blog recently launched The Nautical Shop especially for readers who are involved in shipping and allied fields. The whole idea was inspired by the fact that seafarers, harbour pilots and...
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