May 30, 2024
Ship Update
When we arrived in Belfast the night of the 28th, there was a residents meeting with owners. That afternoon they had just had the DCN inspection on board and we did not pass the inspection in the water processing system of the ship, due to corrosion beyond the limits in a small, but tough area to gain access. This repair is going to cost us 4 days more in dry dock to get cut out and reinstalled. The hope is that work will be completed and we with have our occupancy certificate for a June 4th boarding. Then they hope to set sail somewhere between the 5 to 7th once everything and one is aboard and approved. We will then join the itinerary wherever it falls, most likely Paris first. Sadly, for Edel this means no sailing vacation! She has been a great sport enjoying our day trips around Ireland and it has been great having the time to catch up with her. She will definitely be picking a future port to get on.
Photo above show shipyard of Harland & Wolff and you can see our ship to left of high rise in the back - all white - she is a beauty!
So new plan in this adventure has us driving out of Belfast this morning and we are headed to Bray in Wicklow County, below Dublin, to explore the area and try some new thrills! Stay tuned.
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!
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!
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.