July 27, 2024

Floating the Ship and reinstalling lifeboats!

Finally the new rudder stocks have been approved by DNV and both rudder assemblies reinstalled. I was so excited Tuesday to get the video of the dry dock finally filling up with sea water! On Wednesday saw they were floating and reloading the life boats. The next hurdle is passing all the agency inspections and testing, now that we are finally floating. DNV has signed off on 2 generators and 2 more need to get reviewed over weekend. Then they have to do critical test for Transitional Power. Everything needs to go off and switch over perfectly to pass! Anything that goes amiss, will have to tweak to get perfect.  PSSC and MCA are the agencies for all the technical testing. From the Hotel perspective we are all good to go. The PNI Insurance Policy has been approved and to be in place for 7/31, allowing embarkation of residents. YAHOO!  We got these updates this afternoon and Sunday we are to going to get more insights. Based on today's zoom call,  I changed my Aer Lingus return flight to Dublin, from Sunday night to Tuesday night arriving on 7/31. I have learned to always buy fully refundable, no change fee tickets!

 

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.
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:
By Patricia Patrick January 13, 2026
The water in Rangiroa is so spectacular, I wanted to spend more time drift snorkeling and checking out the area called " The Aquarium ". So today I went back out for a 3 hour session to do 3 drift passes in Tiputa pass and then spent an hour in an area with wonderful healthy corals and tons of fish, earning it the nickname " The Aquarium ".