This morning I received a text from the family of missing fisherman Beto. The Marc-Cris, his boat, was found 70 miles off-shore adrift. Beto, his son Joven and family friend Nonoy have disappeared at sea. Sadly, this is the fate of many a fisherman world-wide, and in fact, the weather and sea have taken other fishermen from nearby towns during the same storm. Nearly all these families are now without their main source of income, meager as it is. Their stories and their lives will be kept alive by the families… I am honored to have been with Beto on his last successful trip.

A small boat was found adrift today outside Olongapo, missing its crew. If it is Beto’s boat is still not known. A helicopter was supposed to be looking into the missing fisherman from Bolinao, far north of where the boat was found. The current possibly rules out the boat as his. Even so, many family and friends are still hoping for the best.View Larger Map
Photographs of my trip with Beto are now posted in the  gallery with more information to follow.

The fishing trip to the deep sea aboard captain Beto’s small banka happened; a much larger story is coming shortly. Today, however, I just learned that Beto and his two man crew, including one of Beto’s sons, is missing at sea.  The seas are again extremely wild, eliminating any possibility for a search by even the Philippines Coast Guard. At the same time, one boat that was out with Beto was destroyed when a large tanker rammed into it. Two fishermen jumped just before the collision while the two remaining survived by holding onto floating pieces of the boat until another boat was able to rescue them. The two who jumped are missing. A total of five missing at sea. We are all holding out hope that they will return.