November 19, 2024

MARTINIQUE, Part of French West Indies.

View of harbor and Cathedral from the SHIP. We were docked at capital city, Fort de France and rented a car from nearby Airport to explore the island. The nicest beach was stated to be at far southern end of island called Pointe des Salines, from which you can see St Lucia. Drive took a little over an hour - windy roads with not much to see on the island interior - 3 McDonalds, 1 Burger King, 2 Carrefours, etc., a lot of albino cows / steer and alot of cars on the road. Southern end of island has much fancier resort type homes. A lot of French families at beach, was topless and had good number of vendors for clothing and food. We relaxed here for couple of hours. Sand was super soft and could walk right into water. The water was not as clear as St Lucia, a lot of sea grass floating in water.

After Lunch we hugged the coast roads and traveled thru Sainte Anne, Le Marin, Sainte Luce to Le Diamant - it was raining, sometimes heavily and we stopped for brief looks and scenic overlook of Diamond rock rising out of ocean next to pitons. Then we cut across to Les Trois Ilets, which is where ferry ride from Fort de France would take us. Wanted to see if we wanted to return next day.

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Last ferry had already stopped at by 5pm, and we had another hour plus drive back to airport, then a car rental shuttle to airport grounds to a taxicab cue and then finally a ride back to Ship. We got back to port after dark, got quick showers and made dinner by a little after 7pm! Lovely day and evening, Ship looked so nice in harbor & there was a nice breeze too. Ahhhh!

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Shopping & Fashion

By Pat Patrick • June 11, 2026
Shopping is huge in Manila - there are sooo many malls! Probably because it is so stinky hot! The air condition draws you in, plus the malls have everything - giant Hyper supermarkets, movies, entertainment venues, sport complexes, spas & medical services, tons of restaurants and every retailer you can imagine. SH Mall of Asia is the 5th largest Mall in the World! I went here 2 different days, first with the ladies- Anna Sherrie & Sarah. Then back the next day with Terri, mainly because I was now familiar with the layout, and could move faster and get what I needed quickly.

MAKATI, MANILA, PHILIPPINES - Nightlife

By Pat Patrick • June 11, 2026
Metro Manila is a massive urban jungle with a population of between 18 to 20 Million. Makati City, specifically the the neighborhood of Poblacion and P. Burgos Street is the heart of night life scene, this red light district is heavily concentrated with bars, pubs and go-go venues. I saw a Get your Guide VIP tour of some of the best clubs offered and Bosco and I, decided to check it out. When we arrived at the first venue, we found five other shipmates! We run into ship people everywhere! It's kinda nice, The Community is what we love about this lifestyle!

MANILA, PHILIPPINES - INTRAMUPOS

By Pat Patrick • June 8, 2026
The Intramuros section of Manila, Philippines is the historic walled core, of this Capital City. Today, the surrounding stone walls are ringed by a golf course, in lieu of the moat from long ago. Below shows comparison from rendering 300 years ago, under Spanish Colonization to Today. Many of the historic buildings, churches, fort and prison remain. Kimberly and I walked it for over 4 hours, and we saw maybe a quarter of it. We sadly gave up due to the heat, humidity and our exhausted feet and missed the Corpus Christi procession to the Manila Cathedral with the Bishop, by just a half hour! If only we had known ahead of time!