October 10, 2025

Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.

Our residents rallied to contribute in a variety of ways i.e. cash donations, volunteer work, prayers and spending lots of dollars in Port, to support the local economy. I went to a local college and volunteered my time, with several other residents,  to help with emergency provisions any way we could. Our Ship's Purser was able to procure a truck load of food staples and we were able to sort them into care packages, for the affected families.

Above some photos of our volunteer groups. Some cut tarps and rolled into useable bundles. We packed bags with water, bug repellent, blankets and sanitary products. We chatted with the local college students who organized things in their main building. World Central Kitchen, had volunteers on site to coordinate food efforts. We formed a large human chain to get all the organized supplies off the 2nd floor, down to the waiting trucks. It felt good to help in any way they needed!


Afterwards we went to the Mega Mall near the Port and did some shopping and was so excited to find our favorite dumpling restaurant to have a great dinner. We thought we had said goodbye to DIN TAI FUNG in Taiwan, but Hooray, they have tons of locations!

PORT DEARAU, FIJI - Naidiri Village

By Patricia Patrick • December 4, 2025
Today we went to see the coastal Naidiri Village that has recently won the Top Prize in global restoration, for their ocean reef project. The reef restoration was borne out of necessity to solve their dwindling food/ main protein source for the village, of fish. It was started by 2 of the villages rugby players and today is run by the local teenagers (mostly boys) in the village. It was great seeing how empowered and proud they were of their amazing efforts.

LAUTOKA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
The port agent offered several trips to areas around Lautoka . We chose the trip to Serenity Island Resort which included van and boat transfers and lunch. It was a really nice day enjoying the sun, reef, pool, turtles and amenities!

RIVER TUBING DOWN THE NAVUA, SUVA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
I organized a group tour for a fun day experience. We had a great day despite the rain that decided to join in. We started with a 45 minute van ride out through the city, into the countryside. Then we got in long boats and went up river to a waterfall, some swam or cheered on the guides to cliff dive. Then back in the boats to visit Sabata Village where 50 family members live as a community existing totally off the land, along the river. Next was a quick boat ride to our BBQ lunch spot. After lunch we got to tube down the river, through light rapids, for just about an hour. We ganged our tubes together with the guide - we had a chain of 14 in my group and the guides totally blew us away singing hymns for a good chunk of the journey. It was truly moving in that place with the rain drizzling and all of us linked together. Loved it!