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.

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.