The Spanish training ship Juan Sebastin de Elcano, anchored off Suluan Island in Guiuan, Eastern Samar, was a welcome sight for those on board a big motorized banca—dignitaries from the Spanish Embassy in Manila, officers of the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), local government officials and historians—after about two long hours of travel en route from Guiuan town proper to the island. It is also where the weary crew of the Magellan-Elcano expedition first landed after skirting the rocky shores of the southernmost tip of Samar Island exactly 500 years ago on March 16, 1521.
The one-way trip on a calm sea took three hours, but everyone’s anxio…
Keep on reading: Spanish ship Juan SebastiÁn de Elcano arrives in Guiuan