December 28, 2024

MANTA, EQUADOR

The port immigration officials in Manta, Ecuador take a rather long time to process us, as we have to pick up our passports and everyone on the Ship has to be seen and processed, regardless of their plans to get off the Ship. Therefore, we decide to just spend the afternoon, checking out the port shops, the Mall across the street and the Beach. The Little / Olson Family join Scott, Bob and Sarah, Sherry and I. The Mall del Pacifico is packed with Holiday shoppers as it is the last Saturday before Christmas 12/21/24. We quickly get our essentials and then seek the sunshine of the beach.

In the port shops, we discover a unique plant called TAGUA, it first produces a tasty fruit in the seed pods. These fruits if left alone turn into a hard ivory that they craft into a variety of statues and products.

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.