April 23, 2026
I know people laugh when I say we took a vacation from the Ship, they view this whole amazing voyage as a vacation! But the reality is the Ship is my home now, and almost everybody loves a vacation away from home, to unwind and recharge! So my life on the Odyssey, is not that different. I really appreciated my two weeks away at Eco Cove Resort, onYeben Island in Raja Ampat, Indonesia!
Above is some drone shots by fellow guest Terry that he shared with us of our last days outing to Yeben Rock for sunset. I love how it shows how remote this location was, so you can understand the need for 2 boat rides and 3 planes to get here!
Last looks at Eco Cove Resort ( on Yeben Island ) as we pull away on return trip home, boat ride #1.
Last look of the the 3 island that make up Yeben - Yeben Rock, Little Yeben and Yeben Island !
I am so blessed and lucky to have found such a great group of friends and to be do this amazing adventure! Today was fabulous, because of the quality time I got to spend with these individuals. We had no rain and some rare sunshine! Wave swells slowed our journey and some of our snorkeling energies, but I think everyone was happy at days end! Psalms Tours was again super flexible and provided outstanding services!
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.
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!