August 28, 2025

An afternoon taking in Kobe!

The port city of Kobe, Japan was a good size with lots of shopping, a huge ChinaTown, a nice waterfront area and super friendly people. This is also the home of the famous KOBE BEEF! Bosco and I headed out at 11 am to explore, hoping we could brave the heat for a few hours to get in a few of the sights.

Of course we had to check out the IKUTA SHRINE, can never have enough good intentions!

We splurged on Lunch to try out their famous Kobe Beef..

After lunch we needed to walk off the yummy meal, so we headed to the port area.

The town gave a heart warming send off from the port berth, right next to the Ship. The Local Kobe Fire Band  played and were fantastic with great acoustics in the port. The people are so nice and welcoming!

PORT DEARAU, FIJI - Naidiri Village

By Patricia Patrick • December 4, 2025
Today we went to see the coastal Naidiri Village that has recently won the Top Prize in global restoration, for their ocean reef project. The reef restoration was borne out of necessity to solve their dwindling food/ main protein source for the village, of fish. It was started by 2 of the villages rugby players and today is run by the local teenagers (mostly boys) in the village. It was great seeing how empowered and proud they were of their amazing efforts.

LAUTOKA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
The port agent offered several trips to areas around Lautoka . We chose the trip to Serenity Island Resort which included van and boat transfers and lunch. It was a really nice day enjoying the sun, reef, pool, turtles and amenities!

RIVER TUBING DOWN THE NAVUA, SUVA, FIJI

By Patricia Patrick • December 1, 2025
I organized a group tour for a fun day experience. We had a great day despite the rain that decided to join in. We started with a 45 minute van ride out through the city, into the countryside. Then we got in long boats and went up river to a waterfall, some swam or cheered on the guides to cliff dive. Then back in the boats to visit Sabata Village where 50 family members live as a community existing totally off the land, along the river. Next was a quick boat ride to our BBQ lunch spot. After lunch we got to tube down the river, through light rapids, for just about an hour. We ganged our tubes together with the guide - we had a chain of 14 in my group and the guides totally blew us away singing hymns for a good chunk of the journey. It was truly moving in that place with the rain drizzling and all of us linked together. Loved it!