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.

TERNATE, INDONESIA

By Patricia Patrick • October 13, 2025
Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.

CEBU, PHILIPPINES

By Patricia Patrick • October 10, 2025
Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.

PUERTO PRINCESA, PALAWAN, PHILIPPINES

By Patricia Patrick • October 2, 2025
Today we were Cave explorers! We went to the one of UNESCO newly classified 7 NEW WONDERS OF NATURE - The Puerto Princesa Underground River.