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 Pat Patrick April 19, 2026
I got to do 14 dives and 5 snorkel trips over our two weeks at Eco Cove Resort. I feel much more confident and comfortable diving, practice does truly help! Eco has these t-shirts that list all their Resort excursions - we made a nice dent in all of them and it's hard to pick a favorite!
By Pat Patrick April 19, 2026
Friday nights at Eco Cove Resort are sunset excursion time. All the guest are taken over to tiny Yeben Rock Island. This time the tde ws coming in quickly and alot of the island was already covered by water but that didn't dampen our party! We had a cooler of beer this time too! We also have become feriendly with the 2 families that were there sharing with us.
By Pat Patrick April 19, 2026
Eco Cove Resort in Raja Ampat - Oh what a wonderful place! I have truly loved my time here! Sharing it all with wonderful friends, made it even better. Here's some highlights above and below the water.