MikeLigalig.com

By Bohol Chronicle

What it is, is a time machine. One that brings together the world of the past and the world of our present.

Indeed, if we were to witness the Andalucia as it docks in Catagbacan, Loon this Saturday afternoon, sailing from the town of Oslob in Cebu, we would be as our forefathers who awaited the arrival of such a ship several centuries ago, bearing the commodities and the culture of peoples who, across oceans, were as a world away.

The Galeon Andalucia is a replica of the Victoria, the first vessel to circumnavigate the world and the only one that remained of Ferdinand Magellan's fleet of five ships, after the historic Battle of Mactan, to return under the command of Juan Sebastian el Cano to the coasts of Spain in early September of 1522.

For three days, from this Saturday to Monday, the Andalucia will be docked at the newly constructed Loon International Cruise Ship Port, where it will be greeted upon arrival with banderitas of red and yellow and the loud trumpeting of budjongs and the continuous rattling oftarakas.

Spanish Ambassador to the Philippines Luis Arias Romero and Sen. Edgardo Angara,
who has been the country's prime mover for the visit of the Galeon Andalucia,
will be on board the ship when it departs from Cebu and arrives at Loon this Saturday, together with officials from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia may also be among the guests who will grace the event.

A dance drama reenacting the Sandugo between Miguel Lopez de Legaspi and Sikatuna will be presented by the Diwanag Theatre and Cultural Troupe of Holy Name University during a short program to welcome the ship and the guests and dignitaries.          
The Galeon Andalucia is a project of the Fundación Nao Victoria, which aims to showcase and promote the culture, heritage, environment, and economic wealth and potential of the Andalusian Region in Spain.

The project also celebrates the galleons that carried spices, porcelain, ivory, silk, and other goods from Asia to the Americas and brought cultures together.

These trading ships made the then four-month-long voyage across the Pacific twice or even thrice a year, for two centuries and a half, from 1565 to 1815.

Built of wood in the exact form of a galleon and fifty-one meters long and reaching forty meters high with its white sails unfurled from its masts, the Andalucia and its visit to the province of Bohol will be one to remember even years from now. As with the galleons of centuries past, the ship also has an artillery of ten cast-iron cannons and has two cast-iron admiralty anchors with wooden stocks.

The Andalucia weighs 495 tons and can carry a maximum of 250 persons, a far cry from the Manila galleons that usually weighed as much as 2,000 tons and could carry a thousand passengers as they brought trade and goods from the Americas and the Asian countries across the Pacific Ocean.

It is notable and a testament to the place that the Philippines then held in international commerce that of the 110 galleons that sailed in the 250 years of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade, most of the ships were made in the Philippines and built of Philippine hardwood. Only eight such galleons were built in Mexico.

The docking of the Andalucia this Saturday also celebrates the launching of the Loon International Cruise Ship Port in Catagbacan, Loon.

Like the town's newest tourism attractions, such as the Loon macaques in the mangrove sanctuary of Cantomucad and bird-watching in Cabilao Island's own Lanao Lake, the Loon International Cruise Ship Port is seen to further bolster Bohol's position as the country's prime eco-cultural tourism destination.

Being close to both Tagbilaran City and the province of Cebu, the new port is an ideal location and of sufficient depth for cruise ships ferrying tourists to Bohol. The port is also naturally protected from strong winds and rough seas by the islands of Cabilao, Sandingan, and Pangangan.

On Sunday, the Andalucia will be open for public viewing.

The galleon-cum-museum can accommodate 5,000 viewers in one day. During its stay in Bohol, visitors will be grouped into 100 persons in one batch and each batch will be allowed only ten minutes to explore and view the ship. (pjjv/G.O. EDCom)

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