Kokomo’s

I made my way out to Baloy Beach yesterday afternoon and visited the recently re-opened floating bar called Kokomo’s. It’s the first one out this season (Blue Rock and Arizona also feature floating bars). I enjoy the ambiance of drinking my beers on the water for some reason.

As seen from the beach…
…and from the raft used to transport patrons to the bar…

And once I was on board I had a bit of a surprise. Amongst the dozen or so working girls young women waiting for customers were two gals I first met at the Hash–Arcel (Subic Ice Queen) and Julica (Libre Boom Boom).

That’s Julica in the white dress. I had a pretty major crush on her when we first met. Turns out she’s a butterfly, always looking for the next best thing. Rumor has it that she also has a Filipino boyfriend. Whatever. I got the sense last night she might have figured out she blew it. That’s the way it goes. I bought her a couple of drinks just to show there are no hard feelings.
Now with Arcel, you always know where things stand and I appreciate that. When we first met she was dating another Hasher. After they broke up, I met her a couple of times for, shall we say, transactional purposes. Anyway, it was a fun evening hanging out with her at the bar.
I didn’t get a chance to meet this girl but I will never forget her, um, face…

And there you have an update on the drunken portion of my life. And speaking of dogs (ahem), how about these:

I came across this picture I took of Lucky before he was mine. The fucked-up nature of his life on a two-foot chain was what motivated me to rescue him.
And here is Lucky last night tolerating hugs from his drunk master…
Don’t worry, I saved some love for my Buddy boy too!

My dogs ain’t heroes or anything, so I guess I don’t have to worry about whatever shady things they may have done being exposed by the likes of CNN.

Although I did catch Buddy peeing on my kitchen trashcan the other day…

Now, wasn’t that fun?


Off the Florida Keys, there’s a place called Kokomo
That’s where you want to go to get away from it all
Bodies in the sand, tropical drink melting in your hand
We’ll be falling in love to the rhythm of a steel drum band
Down in Kokomo

Aruba, Jamaica, oh I want to take you to
Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama
Key Largo, Montego, baby why don’t we go
oh I want to take you down to
Kokomo, we’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow
That’s where we want to go, way down in Kokomo

7 thoughts on “Kokomo’s

  1. How often do those bars have to close down when the seas are too rough? Are the bars pretty dependent on the weather, or do they stay open even when things are getting ugly? I wonder what sort of safety regulations apply to such bars. (You can tell I’m turning into an old man by the types of questions I’m asking.)

  2. Between now and the end of April is the calm season. Very few storms at all and the seas (well, bay) remain calm. Last year the Arizona floater was brought out a little early and got washed up on the beach during a storm. They are waiting another week or two this year I understand.

    Safety is not a big thing here and I don’t there are any real precautions taken. Certainly, I’ve never seen anything like a life jacket on board. I guess if there was a bad storm they’d just send people back to shore on the raft and hope the bar could ride it out without damage. Honestly though, it’s only a hundred yards or so to the beach. As long as you know a little about swimming, no problem. Although I’m always amazed at how few Filipinas know how to swim in a country with 7000 islands…

  3. Ah. So it’s a lot like the porn biz, then…

    (A lot of Korean women have no idea how to swim, either, which has always confounded me, given that this is a peninsula.)

  4. imo John, the biggest act of kindness was your adopting those two dogs.
    I know you’ve helped out some of the locals but as a dog person, your true character was shown to me when you took in Lucky and Buddy. that pic of Lucky before you rescued him is heartbreaking. those two fellas may not know it, but i believe they do, you’ve given them a life most dogs in the PI dream of. hard enough being a street dog in the good ole USA but in a third-world country it is amplified. on another note, yeah that bar girl has a nice booty but I still think the Korean girls are the prettiest. i’ve told you before, Jee Yeun had awesome legs from the pics i’ve seen. Peace Out!

  5. Soju, thanks for the kind words. The dogs repay me with lots of unconditional love every day.

    No argument that Korean women are the most beautiful. At least on the outside…

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