March 28, 2025

RIO DE JANEIRO - Day 5 - CARNIVAL CHAMPION'S PARADE

Apologies loyal readers - I am way behind again! Had some computer glitches and then an excursion to the Amazon (post coming) and then things just got busy. I never have enough hours in the days to do everything I want! Hopefully will be current shortly.

 

Above is partial gang of residents that took part in celebrating the end of Carnival in Rio, going to the Parade of Champions at the Sambadrome (holds 90,000 people in stands). From L to R - Scott, Gary, Delia, ?,Christy, Me and Lori. Almost everyone in the crowd dresses up in some fashion - it's the hugest party I have ever been too, and it doesn't even get started till 10 Pm at night!! Twelve Samba schools compete all week and this parade celebrates the top 6 schools. Each school (which has to have a minimum of 3,500 members)gets to perform for about an hour with full fireworks at the start of each performance and a break of about 20 to 40 minutes in between, to clean up and clear the street, for the next performance. The 6th best school starts their performance at 10 p.m. and the winners are supposed to be on by 3 a.m. However they started late, the breaks in between schools were much longer, and therefore the best teams #1 BEIJA FLOR & #2 GRANDE RIO performed in the daylight hours, finishing at roughly 8 a.m!! Only Callie (Scott's friend who is visiting) and Gary and myself made it all the way through! Shown below some more or our crowd Sheri, Bob & Sarah - our crazy section and the 3 of us, who stayed to the very end! We then had to get through the crowds and make it back to the ship - had breakfast and then the ship sailed away from port, and we slept all afternoon!

Below are some highlights of performers - I have tons of photo's & video's will add more once I get caught up.

View more

SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA .....

By Pat Patrick • June 1, 2026
Somewhere in the South China Sea, i n a galaxy far, far away ... was the Odyssey and a bunch of fun loving travelers....who had an idea for a fun cocktail party!

CORON, PHILIPPINES

By Pat Patrick • May 30, 2026
Yesterday we joined in with many of our fellow residents to take in some of the many water spots around Coron . We signed up through Get Your Guide, others used Trip Advisor and they both contracted with Psalms Travel Services in Coron. As I've explained before, figuring out our excursions in each port, is a big time suck for me. We prefer to find local venders without having to go through the big agencies (because you usually can get better service, pricing and customization) but sometimes it is just easier to stick with the big guys, when the excursion is super popular. Psalms turned out to be an excellent operator and I laughed when I saw they had used the below images on their Facebook page today. Didn't realize my pink dry bag stood out so much!

CORON, PHILIPPINES

By Pat Patrick • May 30, 2026
We are currently docked at the port of CORON , in the Palawan archipelago islands, of the Philippines . While the port itself is nothing special, and the surrounding town is hardly thriving, the people here are amazingly friendly, joyful and so happy to be around! You can see from below, they have a ton of hotels and restaurants but mostly it's their water actives that attract a fair number of tourist. Known for their crystal clear water, dramatic limestone cliffs and powdery white sand beaches. June is the start of the rainy season, but so far the weather has been good.