June 1, 2024

Dublin, Ireland 

Another bright sunny day for some fun in the Capital City of Ireland. Ran into this creative merchant on Grafton Pedestrian Street. Below some of the many bridges over the River Liffey.

Trinity College built in 1592 on 47 acres, sits right in the center of town, the City just grew around it over the years. The oldest building on campus, has been newly renovated and is one of 2 buildings on campus, now completely carbon neutral. Love that these opposing Greek style building are known as Heaven and Hell (exam hall). Also learned that in second year, students can sit for the scholar's exam, which is a general knowledge test, unrelated to their majors, and if the pass, they get 5 years free tuition and board, along with 3 meals a day, including Guinness! Last year 900 sat for exam and only 73 passed.

We had lunch in the Temple Bar area and then went to EPIC center, toured museum and had my genealogy appointment. In the one hour session I found out that my mom's father was indeed the surname of Timothy and there were 3 other families with the same surname in Co. Roscommon, when they were there - most likely all related. My great, great grandfather Martin was a surveyor and actually bought his land, 11 acres, before his death.   

By Patricia Patrick January 19, 2026
I got to go Sailing Again! We were supposed to head to the COOK ISLANDS after the lovely Rangiroa and the Tuamotu Archipelago, but due to stormy weather there, with all unprotected tender ports, they made the decision to head us southwest, back to the protected port in Papeeta (Tahiti). We got lucky and Holly ( pictured below) found us a sailboat available for charter.
By Patricia Patrick January 14, 2026
Since Janette Emerich is generous enough to share her drone photos with all of us on board the Ship, I have to share them with you all. This beauty is why I said we felt like we were in a screen saver the whole day in Rangiroa! I love the height perspective in the photos it really captures so much more. Blue Lagoon below:
By Patricia Patrick January 13, 2026
The water in Rangiroa is so spectacular, I wanted to spend more time drift snorkeling and checking out the area called " The Aquarium ". So today I went back out for a 3 hour session to do 3 drift passes in Tiputa pass and then spent an hour in an area with wonderful healthy corals and tons of fish, earning it the nickname " The Aquarium ".