The Marine Café Blog turned a year old on the 25th of August. No celebration of any kind, certainly not public (only the Pope and the Queen of England are entitled to a public celebration of their birthdays). It’s enough for us that the blog has endured for 12 months. For this we thank our loyal readers, not least of all that maverick old salt, Captain Michael Cuanzon; our handful of advertisers; and two companies that recently made donations but prefer not to be named. So what lies ahead?

Our very first blog post set the tone for the Marine Café Blog. We will continue to serve it, like our coffee, hot and strong without resorting to scurrilous language or trying to score points. Bloggers and opinion writers are often prone to the latter tendency, which is utterly useless if you ask our opinion. Press releases are unavoidable so we’ll still post them – at least the ones which point to maritime trends with potential medium- or long-term impact. IMO briefings belong to this category. Our goal, now as then, is to offer a window though which overseas readers can see what’s going on in the Philippines and the locals, to see the outside world.

It’s a big maritime world out there, bigger than we ourselves first thought. This fact has inspired two major changes in the Marine Café Blog. First, We’ve added variety to the website starting with “Maritime art and the power of empathy” posted last May. We’re even delving into political and other current affairs, the maritime sector not being immune to politics. Second, we’re now into social networking via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Interconnectivity is the name of the game. This has always been the essence of maritime commerce, indeed of civilisation itself. In the end, this is what the Marine Café Blog and blogging are all about. ~Barista Uno