About Marine Café Blog

Launched in August of 2009, Marine Café Blog is known for its bold, and sometimes irreverent, views on the maritime world. It tackles issues that affect seafarers and other maritime workers and highlights marine art and culture. Behind this choice of focus is the belief that the greatest challenge faced by shipping in the 21st century is how to reclaim its humanity.

About the blogger

Barista Uno (or simply BU as he’s known to his readers worldwide) is the pen name of a Manila-based writer and former international shipping and ports journalist. He is an independent writer who tells it like it is and never panders to the crowd. After publishing the second edition of ‘Close Encounters in Maritime Manila‘, he hopes to come out with additional books on maritime and non-maritime subjects.

Outside the maritime sphere, BU’s main interests are literature, art, photography, psychology, the rights of women, comparative religion, and Eastern philosophy.