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.

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA .....

By Pat Patrick • June 1, 2026
Somewhere in the South China Sea, i n a galaxy far, far away ... was the Odyssey and a bunch of fun loving travelers....who had an idea for a fun cocktail party!

CORON, PHILIPPINES

By Pat Patrick • May 30, 2026
Yesterday we joined in with many of our fellow residents to take in some of the many water spots around Coron . We signed up through Get Your Guide, others used Trip Advisor and they both contracted with Psalms Travel Services in Coron. As I've explained before, figuring out our excursions in each port, is a big time suck for me. We prefer to find local venders without having to go through the big agencies (because you usually can get better service, pricing and customization) but sometimes it is just easier to stick with the big guys, when the excursion is super popular. Psalms turned out to be an excellent operator and I laughed when I saw they had used the below images on their Facebook page today. Didn't realize my pink dry bag stood out so much!

CORON, PHILIPPINES

By Pat Patrick • May 30, 2026
We are currently docked at the port of CORON , in the Palawan archipelago islands, of the Philippines . While the port itself is nothing special, and the surrounding town is hardly thriving, the people here are amazingly friendly, joyful and so happy to be around! You can see from below, they have a ton of hotels and restaurants but mostly it's their water actives that attract a fair number of tourist. Known for their crystal clear water, dramatic limestone cliffs and powdery white sand beaches. June is the start of the rainy season, but so far the weather has been good.