August 21, 2024

Meeting my cousin Gerard for first time in person.

My maternal grandmother, Anne Conway was the fourth born of twelve siblings. Her brother Tom was #10 and ten years younger. My Mom Mom left Castlebar, Co. Mayo Ireland for the USA in 1929, at the age of 21. Tom later moved to England, first Liverpool and then married and moved to Birmingham, England. I believe my grandmother never saw her brother Tom again, who would have been 11, after she moved away.

 Gerard is Tom & Nora's only son and he goes between Birmingham and Stoke on Trent and works as an electrical engineer, for GE. Gerard and I have exchanged emails and notes over the years, as we were introduced by other Mayo cousins and both of us had looked into tracing our family's history. I reached out to Gerard to see if we could possibly meet when I went with group to Liverpool, this past weekend. Gerard agreed, since his home is only about an hour away. So Sunday, we meet at the Albert Docks and caught up over a nice brunch at Botanicals Cafe. Then we enjoyed the sunshine and open air on top the Hop on and off bus getting off to see St. Luke's Farm Market and the interior of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral.   

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After a couple of hours touring and getting to know each other, we went back to Albert docks to join the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour.

PAPEETE - NIGHT LIFE- BACHLORETTE PARTY

By Patricia Patrick • January 19, 2026
I threw together an impromptu Bachelorette party for Angie tonight! Angie and Gian are getting married for a third time in Hawaii next week.They will be alone this time and it turns out she never had a Shower or Bachelorette to celebrate her first 2 marriages on the Ship, last May! Our girl deserved a fun night to celebrate her! So we took over a section the outdoor seating at Les 3 Brassuers, and their great band had us all up dancing! It's amazing what you can do with a bunch of WhatsApp messages to fellow ladies, some tulle, sparkles and always handy flower lei's ! One of the ladies even went and bought her some lingerie! I love our supportive community!

PAPEETE, FRENCH POLYNESIA

By Patricia Patrick • January 19, 2026
I got to go Sailing Again! We were supposed to head to the COOK ISLANDS after the lovely Rangiroa and the Tuamotu Archipelago, but due to stormy weather there, with all unprotected tender ports, they made the decision to head us southwest, back to the protected port in Papeeta (Tahiti). We got lucky and Holly ( pictured below) found us a sailboat available for charter.

RANGIROA, FRENCH POLYNESIA - Drone Shots

By Patricia Patrick • January 14, 2026
Since Janette Emerich is generous enough to share her drone photos with all of us on board the Ship, I have to share them with you all. This beauty is why I said we felt like we were in a screen saver the whole day in Rangiroa! I love the height perspective in the photos it really captures so much more. Blue Lagoon below: