December 30, 2024

GUAYAQUIL, PUERTO LOPEZ & AQUA BLANCA, ECUADOR

Christmas Morning, I left the Ship, with 5 others, for the first time for an overnight excursion. Have to admit, I didn't like having to pack, I have gotten used to life on the Ship, where it does all the moving for us! We got picked up by our excursion coordinator at the Port of Guayaquil, Ecuador around 10 a.m. We then had a 3-hour drive through central Ecuador to get over to the coast and Puerto Lopez. Our rental - the YIN YANG FLOWER HOUSE was located a 1/2 block from the beach. As we drove through Guayaquil, we saw tons of these papier mâché figurines. They are effigies they use to decorate over the holidays and then burn on New Years Eve to say goodbye to all the things that went wrong, for them in 2024. They vary in price from $10 to $100 and take vendors several days to custom make and paint. After the burn they jump over three times to send the spirits away. Alot are political and silly, regardless colorful!! 

After we dropped our stuff at the house, and had some fruit and bread, we headed to AQUA BLANCA, about 20 minutes away. It's a commune community. There are archeological remains in a small museum, a mineral pool, mud massages available and some snack shops. I totally embraced the mud massage! It felt amazing and left my skin sooo soft. Others (Scott & Kelly) had apple & lavender oil massages and Debbie, just got the mud applied without the massage. A truly unique fun way to spend Christmas Day! I went in mineral pool after mud had dried to wash it off. They also had showers and changing rooms. Then we had a home made feast back at house by 2 local ladies - fresh fried fish, seafood rice, plantains, pork in a peanut sauce, salad and amazing avocados! We all enjoyed some drinks and chatting, getting to know each other better. Scott and I took a walk to beach too - was a gorgeous night!


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ENTERING HONG KONG HARBOR

By Pat Patrick • September 1, 2026
On Saturday August 29, 2026 we achieved another historic milestone on this circumnavigation of the World , we cruised into Hong Kong Harbor. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. The land encompassed by Hong Kong is confusing. It includes part of the southern coast of mainland China, just below Shenzhen, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories . Looking at a map helps, but the rules changed so many times! I asked my buddy Chat several times, to tell me if what I was looking at was the Hong Kong that the British had owned for years. The answer was never straight forward!

HA LONG BAY, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 31, 2026
Ha Long Bay in Vietnam is one of those bucket list places I have had in my sights for years. It's the iconic picture in my mind's eye, whenever I think of Vietnam . We had made plans to go with 8 others on a brand new, swanky Red Dragon Junk boat for a harbor cruise and overnight stay, but sadly the weather did not cooperate the whole 4 days we were in port. No ships were permitted to sail, per the local government. Many of us were bummed! This is typhoon session and there was a lot of rain and high winds our first couple of days - we were hoping it would blow out the last day and we could at least do a day trip but no luck! 

HAI VAN PASS to HUE, VIETNAM

By Pat Patrick • August 30, 2026
To get to the final stop on our Vietnam FUN Tour in Hue, we had our driver take us on the scenic route called the Hai Van Pass. This 3 hour drive took us back through Da Nang and then into mountains and along coast for what is generally a very scenic route. Unfortunately for us, it was mainly covered in clouds and fog.