July 11, 2024

The dreaded Rudder Stocks!

So completing the installation of the new Rudder Stocks, continues to be the critical path for getting the ship out of drydock. We found out today that this is a unique situation because rudder stocks typical last the life of a ship or 60 years! So the delicate machining needed to get new stocks made and retrofitted into our ship is not among the common practices in a ship's scheduled maintenance.  Therefore, VVR has had to fly in some experts, to help get this done and this translates to additional time waiting in drydock. Lots of other improvements and retrofits are still on going, but the two rutter stocks being milled and fitted into the existing housings is the critical component to getting the ship in the water. Once the ship is floated, they have testing to complete to get the final ok's to sail!

The VVR staff are still hopeful that all this will come together and the Ship will depart from Belfast on July 20th. However, another new

wrinkle discussed today is that Northern Ireland celebrates a Bank Holiday called The Battle of the Boyne and this is a four day Holiday starting this Friday 7/12. Supposedly, this is a Protestant Holiday and the Irish Catholic workers in the shipyard will still work. But it is unknown right now, if that will be a big enough crew, to keep progress on the rudders! Please say a wee pray! As my Dad would say "it is, what it is!" Life goes on, I'm enjoying time at home in Philly, back to the rooftop pool and yoga classes. All good here!

GUILIN, SOUTHERN CHINA

By Pat Patrick • September 10, 2026
Guilin, China is just a 3 hour,18 minute high speed train ride from Hong Kong . It is a charming city known for its dramatic landscape of limestone karst hills. In the center of town are 2 lakes, Shanhu ( cedar) and Ronghu ( banyan) that remain from a medieval era moat, that once surrounded the city. The twin pagodas, the Sun and the Moon , sit on the the shore of the Shanhu and light up the sky at night.

HONG KONG - Starting our China Adventure

By Pat Patrick • September 6, 2026
The start of our Train Trip thru CHINA - Bob and his four ladies! God Bless Bob! He is a patient man & spent a good amount of time planning out this trip, that the group was kind enough to let me jump in with them, for part of it, just days before leaving. I had been planning a similiar trip for Bosco and I , but things weren't coming together and he wasn't really excited by trip, so I thought it might be a good idea if I went with others. The five of us got off the ship in Hong Kong on 8/30/26.

HONG KONG

By Pat Patrick • September 3, 2026
So excited to get out and explore this huge city. Our Port is attached to a huge shopping mall - so it is a bit of a hike before we even get outside. When we do the heat hits us like a brick wall! There are typhoons, in the area and according to a local, when the storms come in, they first bring a wave of fog, heat and humidity to Hong Kong .