Our Yachting Experience at Subic

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

WHILE I was at the bow pulpit of the 50 passengers' capable P70 million La Banca Yacht (one of the 18 various types of Yachts that include schooner, sloop, ketch, and yawl) owned by Johnny Valdes of the La Banca Cruises) that hailed from the Subic Bay Yacht Club located at Rizal Avenue and Burgos Street in Zambales and navigated between  the stretches of Sattler Pier and Bravo Pier, I saw a gray U.S made cutter turned offshore patrol vessel (the Yanks stripped it off with its lethal armaments when they donated three of it to us Filipinos) docked near the Bravo Pier that I later learned as the BRP Gregorio del Pilar with its 40 number (formerly 15) on its right hull.

“Pa’, that’s the naval ship we entered in 2013 at the deep water of Lingayen Gulf when you were invited to meet the ship Captain (the present Rear Admiral John Anthony Orbe (PMA ’92) when he was then a full Colonel or Navy Captain) and his Deputy (then Commander (Lieutenant Colonel) Julius E. Valdez (PMA ‘92),” my gym rat and boxing buff son quipped as he appeared from the stanchion at the starboard while I controlled my balance and held my digital desert camo bonnie hat because of the headwind.

                                         HAMILTON CLASS CUTTER

From 1967 to 2011, the BRP Del Pilar was a Hamilton-class high endurance cutter of the United States Coast Guard, known as USCGC Hamilton. The United States decommissioned the cutter on March 28, 2011, and she was acquired by the Philippines under the Excess Defense Articles and the Foreign Assistance Act. 

 Presently, the Navy have newest and most advanced warships in the two 3,200-ton Miguel Malvar-class guided-missile frigates: the BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG-06) and the BRP Diego Silang (FFG-07). 

They were built by South Korea's HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and they represent the navy's most heavily armed capital ships, crowed by the SoKors in their booth at the Asian Defense & Security (ADAS) dubbed as Arms Expose' from the Merchants of Death from all over the globe, sanamagan, in September 2024 when I attend it at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

U.S NAVY SHIP

As the La Banca regained her speed despite the 11 A.M hazy sky and the downpour of the Sunday “Blue Mind” effect outing my family (it was the Missus, my eldest son Jigger, and his cousin Alou joint birthday bash), and the kin where 29 of us leased for two hours the immaculate white yacht where we have lunch at the deck of the vessel (where two long tables were provided by the management) composed of steak, seafood and others as part of the package, I saw too two Spearhead-Class Expeditionary Fast Transport and operated by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command where I was taking video of those mammoth cargo ships with container vans from abroad towering their decks and those giant Quay cranes while docked at the Boton Pier and near the side of the Subic Bay International Airport located at the Cubi Point.

The Airport there could accommodate wide bodied commercial aircraft and fighter jets and airplanes of the U.S Navy and the Marines like the F/A-18 Hornets, F-35C Lightning II stealth fighters, and MV-22 Ospreys.

 “Have you seen aircraft carriers here?” I asked the ship Captain.

“Yes Sir! The other week there were four of them from the U.S and other countries. They were docked at that area,” he told me while pointing the place near the Bravo Pier.

The Subic Bay Freeport Zone (SBFZ) today is a premier special economic and tourism hub in the Philippines, located on the southwestern coast of Zambales and Bataan. Formerly a major U.S. Naval Base, it is governed by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and is famous for its duty-free shopping, eco-tourism, and industrial parks.