December 5, 2024

St. Maartin's & Anguilla 

I heard the best way to see Anguilla was from the water - so I set up a chartered boat for 10 of us to do that on black Friday November 29th. So much fun!! Any day on the water is a great day and this group was a great mix and lots of fun! On the left is my cousin Cathy and Tripod ROD (new nickname he is trying out), my neighbor on ship, Dr. David Austin and his visiting girlfriend Suzanne and Peter Devine (who we found out has not been in water or swam in over 50 years - oopsie!) On the right, is lovely Holly Hennessy (self- proclaimed mother to Captain the Sailing Kitty), the super well-traveled, retired attorney from San Francisco, Scott Hauswirth, Me, Terri Chmurak (nicknamed Wendy Terri by Cathy and I, because we forgot her name and she allows our goofiness!) and Sherrie Cornett - who like Peter didn't care about snorkeling just wanted a fun boat ride! Captain Allen and first mate Andy who kept the drinks flowing rounded out the fun. 

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We meet at a marine close to our Ship's mooring and had 7.5 hours to tour. First, we came out of south side of St Maartins, on the Dutch side, past the airport and headed north to Anguilla, across the canal, with French side of St Martins in the distance. We first went to Rendezvous Bay for a swim, then onto Little Bay to swim and snorkel. We had a lunch stop at Roy's on Sandy Ground Beach,  and another snorkel and swim stop at Meads Bay. The weather was good with a quick shower hitting while we were at Lunch and again on our ride back to the marina. We stayed a little longer at each stop than was planned because Shoal Bay, the furthest out destination was experiencing high winds and waves. 

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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 .

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!