June 6, 2026

We decided to do something different and unique today, perfect for a rainy afternoon, we took a pearl class to make some jewelry! Delia, Terri, Suen and I all went to Pick a Pearl Jewelry Store on the main street of Coron.  We each picked a frozen giant clam shell, that had been put in a fresh water farm to develop cultured pearls. The bounty of each shell was random, we averaged 28 to 30 varying size pearls and the colors were also random. I got a mix of white, pink, lavender and pale gold pearls. Terri went first and below is the step by step process.

Trim the lips of clam off, insert knife and loosen skin (like shucking an oyster), pop it open and see your surprise!

I went next , then Suen and Delia last. We were all happy with our pearls, but sadly the rest of the class fell short in our expectations.

The Shop had lots of pretty and interesting settings for their pearls, showing off many premade pieces. Sadly, they just didn't have any availability in the products they offered us to create interesting settings for our pearls! They were terribly disorganized and had minimal supplies to make anything. We were all disappointed and kept trying to find something, to make it work. Instead, we came home with our pearls in a bag, to hopefully use somewhere else later! Terri and I each bought one of their premade items. I was able to convince them to sell me a pair of 18K gold hoops and removed their pearls from it.  Then I had them drill holes in 8 of my larger pearls, that I can change out as desired. It was an ok compromise, but such a missed opportunity on their end!

By Pat Patrick June 6, 2026
Due to stormy weather, we got an additional four days in Coron, Philippines since our intended destination at Boracay Island was an anchorage where our tenders would not be able to operate safely in the projected wave swells. No worries, we had been to Boracay before and there was lots to do in Coron . Many residents had good reviews of a local restaurant called The Lobster King, so we went with good friends to celebrate my buddy Stacy's Birthday!
By Pat Patrick June 1, 2026
Somewhere in the South China Sea, i n a galaxy far, far away ... was the Odyssey and a bunch of fun loving travelers....who had an idea for a fun cocktail party!
By Pat Patrick May 30, 2026
Yesterday we joined in with many of our fellow residents to take in some of the many water spots around Coron . We signed up through Get Your Guide, others used Trip Advisor and they both contracted with Psalms Travel Services in Coron. As I've explained before, figuring out our excursions in each port, is a big time suck for me. We prefer to find local venders without having to go through the big agencies (because you usually can get better service, pricing and customization) but sometimes it is just easier to stick with the big guys, when the excursion is super popular. Psalms turned out to be an excellent operator and I laughed when I saw they had used the below images on their Facebook page today. Didn't realize my pink dry bag stood out so much!