April 15, 2026

We woke up to thunder & lighting and pouring rain, but the afternoon turned gorgeous! We had a lovely sunset and a relaxing day. Played some games, sang some tunes with the staff and chilled! Also got a chance to do some blog work. More daily highlights below.

One of my favorite ways to get to know people is by playing a game where everyone writes down something about themselves that they don't think anybody at the table knows about them, not even spouses, if possible. Then I collect and read each one and we vote who we think each is, before we reveal!  The 8 of us from Ship (Bob & Sue, Eddie & Angel, Ben, Lyn, Bosco and myself) and David and Jim (who we met at the Resort) played. It was great fun - turns out we had one who went to 10 different grade schools, a minister, an actor, a paintball zealot, a lotion and potions traveler, one was on the Bozo show, one gave a serial murderer his business card, one drove a taxi, was a landscaper & rainbow vacuum salesperson, one went to a sweat lodge & one stumbled upon the Olympic torch run.

By Pat Patrick April 14, 2026
Raja Ampat is truly a diver and snorkeler paradise! Soooo many fish and corals everywhere you look!
By Pat Patrick April 14, 2026
Seeing an Octopus on this trip is one of my goals. So far, I have seen two reef octopus hiding in holes on the reef slopes. But I really want to see one in motion, like this video below by Evan Johnston (follow him on Instagram at of___earth ). Evan is an Irish marine biologist, free diver/ scubadiver, instructor and talented underwater videographer. He has been at the Resort for the last 6 weeks taking video, for their future marketing and gave me this video for inspiration!
By Pat Patrick April 14, 2026
The Reefs of Raja Ampat are stunning and teaming with wildlife. The guides are super knowledgable of the 35 different dive / snorkel sites that surround the Resort. The guides get such joy in sharing it all with us and point out some of the most unique and tiniest of it's creatures.