April 23, 2026

We met up with the Ship in Timor Leste or East Timor, one of the youngest countries in the World. This sovereign state just gained their independence on May 20, 2002 from prior Portuguese rule (1515 until 1975) and Indonesian occupation (1975 until 1999). The Ship was anchored off the coastal town of Dili, the capital city with a population of roughly 1.4 million.

It is such a shame that Timor Leste is not thriving, in their new independence. Civil war with Indonesia broke out over their rich oil & gas reserves, as soon as Portugal left, killing more than 100,000. Worse yet, now that they finally have their independence, their oil and gas reserves are drying up, leaving the country on the edge of collapse. Sadly becoming part of Indonesia again, is looking like their only solution. Over 50% of their population is under 35 and 42% are living in poverty, so they deeply depend on tourism and agriculture. We didn't get much time to see the Island as we flew in around 1pm and had to be processed by very slow immigration officials.  Above is our first views of the Ship - Home, Sweet, Home and some of the passing sights, as we took taxis to the tender port location. The Ship left our anchorage at 5pm heading onto our next port in Indonesia, LaBuan Bajo.

HONG KONG

By Pat Patrick • September 3, 2026
So excited to get out and explore this huge city. Our Port is attached to a huge shopping mall - so it is a bit of a hike before we even get outside. When we do the heat hits us like a brick wall! There are typhoons, in the area and according to a local, when the storms come in, they first bring a wave of fog, heat and humidity to Hong Kong .

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!