October 16, 2025

Got to love a place that sells shirts saying "Where the heck is Yap? "

Colonia (population 3,100) is the Capital and Harbor town of Yap State (population 11,600) one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia. We are in the Pacific Ocean or Philippine Sea just north of the equator, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

This is downtown Colonia on a busy Wednesday afternoon. We are the 5th  cruise ships they have had here, in the last 3 years. Notice no overhead wires, no electrical traffic signals. What Yap is famously known for is their Stone Money. For centuries, they used giant crystalline limestones disks, as their currency; It's noted on their license plates. Today they use USA dollars for their currency but they  still used the stones for birthdays, weddings, funerals and in conflict resolution. The most amazing fact about the stone money is that it didn't come from rocks here on the island. They were transported here on rafts from Palau, 250 miles away! They are scattered all around the island, along walkways and in the forests. There are an estimated 13,000 stones on the four Yap Islands. Some are huge, as big as 12 feet in diameter and weighing 8,800 pounds. The stones stay in place even when they change ownership. Their value is based on the stone's size, beauty and history! (Note: I borrowed huge stone photo from Basia's @Basiak.blog for reference)

Colonia also has a Living History Museum in the downtown. The men still use the community house for their men only meetings!

Went back out to see more of the town today with Bob & Sarah and Sherry - had a great taxi driver - we all chatted whole trip with lots of laughs! Our driver got to hear a whole lot about Ship life!

ENTERING HONG KONG HARBOR

By Pat Patrick • September 1, 2026
On Saturday August 29, 2026 we achieved another historic milestone on this circumnavigation of the World , we cruised into Hong Kong Harbor. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The land encompassed by Hong Kong is confusing. It includes part of the southern coast of mainland China, just below Shenzhen, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories . Looking at a map helps, but the rules changed so many times! I asked my buddy Chat several times, to tell me if what I was looking at was the Hong Kong that the British had owned for years. The answer was never straight forward!

HA LONG BAY, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 31, 2026
Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is one of those bucket list places I have had in my sights for years. It's the iconic picture in my mind's eye, whenever I think of Vietnam . We had made plans to go with 8 others on a brand new, swanky Red Dragon Junk boat for a harbor cruise and overnight stay, but sadly the weather did not cooperate the whole 4 days we were in port. No ships were permitted to sail, per the local government. Many of us were bummed! This is typhoon session and there was a lot of rain and high winds our first couple of days - we were hoping it would blow out the last day and we could at least do a day trip but no luck! 

HAI VAN PASS to HUE, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 30, 2026
To get to the final stop on our Vietnam FUN Tour in Hue, we had our driver take us on the scenic route called the Hai Van Pass. This 3 hour drive took us back through Da Nang and then into mountains and along coast for what is generally a very scenic route. Unfortunately for us, it was mainly covered in clouds and fog.