June 22, 2025

KAILUA, KONA, HAWAII

This was a short easy tender port. Kona is always a tender port - the water is shallow here, with no commercial docks. Like the last time I was here, it seems to always be the hottest spot of the Hawaiian islands.It was also humid today - so I just did a leisurely stroll through the downtown area with Sherrie. We tried on a bunch of dresses, I bought one and a calendar for next year. Itinerary planning starts early! We finished with some organic ice cream, without any added sugars - mine was coconut and roasted cocoa nibs. Very refreshing!

In one of the shops I found out how my name would be spelled in Hawaiian, PAKA PEKELIKA. They only have 13 letters in their entire alphabet - 5 vowels A E I O U and 8 consonants H K L M N P W and the ('). A 'okina is a glottal stop and considered the eighth consonant. With just 13 letters, I find the names all very similar with just a mix up of vowels.

By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
I really enjoyed my first trip to Thailand! On our final morning here we went to try breakfast at this spot, down the road, we had been hearing rave reviews on, King Of Bread . The hype was correct, the breakfast was delicious and they had some unique choices. I had eggs benedict on a croissant, in lieu of the standard english muffin and Bosco had it on Milk Bread, which was equally tasty.
By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
We love having authentic experiences with locals to really get a chance to see how they live and thrive in the Ports we visit. So when I found a cooking class, by a local woman offered in her home, we were excited to book. Um ( our teacher) picked us and brought us back to our hotel along with the family of 4 from Sydney, Australia, that had also signed up for this afternoon class. Um's house, which has a lovely open air kitchen, garden and dining area, was about a 30 minute drive and turned out to be on the beach, right next to the Grandparent Rocks.
By Pat Patrick July 14, 2026
The nightlife scene doesn't really get going till after 11pm and goes till 5 am in the Chaweng section of Koh Samui . We made our way over to the club district, and one of the hot spots called the ArkBar a little past 10pm to have some dinner, while watching the beach fire shows.