Day 57 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/22/16 - Katoomba - Day 5

Today's word was cleanup. It was time to do all the things we hadn't done in our prior four days. Since the aboriginal dance program didn't start until 10am, we had a leisurely morning including yet another visit to the Three Sisters and several gift shops. There were only seven of us attending the Waradah Cultural Center performance, but it was still cool to see it again after seeing it on a HAL shore excursion a little over a month earlier.

We hopped on the Explorer Bus (the drivers are now recognizing us by sight) and rode it over to Leura to enjoy some tea at the Bygone Beauties Tea Shop and Museum. The museum is home to over 5,000 teapots. After a tea break we rode the Explorer Bus back around to Katoomba where we checked out the Blue Mountains Cultural Center. It had a powerful AV display of the local culture and history along with a nice gallery of drawings, paintings, and etchings by local artists. The library was also a part of the complex and had good free WIFI.  

My wife was in search of a book for a friend back home, so we hopped back in the Explorer Bus and rode back to Leura (a 1/2 hour ride). We got off at stop 21, found the book, and rejoined the same bus at stop 26 at the other end of town a few minutes later. The driver was sure surprised to see us so soon! We rode back to Katoomba and found dinner at the wood fired pizza place next to the railway station. The Kangaroo pizza was excellent. We then walked the two miles back to our motel with a stop at the Aldi grocery store to purchase some breakfast provisions.

And all too soon, our 5 days in Katoomba came to an end. We plan to catch the Wednesday morning 8:15am train for the Sydney Central Station where we'll transfer to an airport train.

Observations and Recommendations 

I heartily recommend coming to Katoomba and spending 5 days. There's much to do and a car really isn't needed. The Explorer Bus with the Lyre Package gives one a days entrance to Scenic World (a very nice tourist type stop with imbedded culture as a part) and unlimited rides on their very cool rides. There's also a ticket to the Waradah Aboriginal performance. The bus connects well with many bush walks, and we took most of them.

The Echo Point Motel is a good value accommodation that's clean and comfortable but it's not the Hilton. What it has going for it is location: It's minutes from 3 Sisters and there is an Explorer bus stop right in front of it. The internet is free.  

That's all for this segment of our journey. I hope you have enjoyed following along. Our next stop for a few days is Melbourne.

Day 56 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 11/21/16 - Katoomba - Day 4

Today's plan was to walk to the Scenic World Tramway and visit this incredibly popular tourist attraction and then visit some other locations we hadn't seen yet. So off we headed on a quasi-bush walk from Echo Point. It was weird to be there with very few other tourists. The walk along the cliff was very pretty and the gondola ride was spectacular with great views of Katoomba Falls and the Jamison Valley. We also met Susie, one of the Maasdam's singers who was up here for the day as a tourist. At Scenic World we transferred to the world's steepest railroad for a ride down into the valley and rainforest. The seats are adjustable to increase the thrill factor, and we positioned them for the maximum thrill. At a 52° drop angle, it was a steep and thrilling ride. At the bottom there is a boardwalk throughout the rainforest. We walked virtually all of it before riding the inclined railway back up. After a quick refreshment break, we rode the gondola back across the Falls and then walked back over the falls and took the cable car down and back up before catching the Explorer Bus to the Everglades Gardens. 

At the Gardens, the ticket agent was a serious motorcyclist so we had some good conversation about motorcycles and riding. He's rode a KLR650 all over the US and Canada. The 13 acre gardens were built in the 1930's by a rich Belgian Industrialist and were pretty amazing. The Gardens are now owned by a Trust and kept up by volunteers. It was a little thrilling to encounter signs 'Watchout for Copperhead snakes. Move slowly.' We got back on the Explorer and rode it around to the Bear Gallery and toured it. We walked to the Shuttle Stop Take Out and enjoyed Aussie Burgers and chips for dinner. On the walk back to our motel we stopped at the chocolate Factory which was a bit underwhelming.  

We finished our day watching the X Factor results show, an Australian talent competition, and I also took pictures of all of the ship's daily programs so I wouldn't need to pack the heavy paper home.

Tomorrow will be a cleanup day where we'll visit the venues we've not seen yet. 

Day 55 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 11/20/16 - Katoomba - Day 3

Today's word was bushwalk as well. We fixed our own continental breakfast before heading out to catch our Explorer Bus. A few blocks from our hotel is Echo Point with magnificent views of the Three Sisters. But all the tourists could see today was thick fog. That had to be a disappointment for all those on tour busses where their 15 minute visit was obscured. We ride our bus to the Leura Cascades stop that we ended our walk at yesterday.  

The fog was pretty much gone at Leura Cascades by the time we got there and we started our bush walk with the goal of walking to Gordon Falls, the Pool of Siloam, and Lyre Bird Dell. The trail today was in much poorer condition and had lots more stairs and steps, but the views were not disappointing! We even encountered a pair of lyrebirds, more cockatoos, lots of butterflies, a small lizard and one foot long lizard plus Aboriginal cave dwellings. In a he first part of the walk there were a number of other people, but in the latter part, there were few to none.  

Along the way we had a very pleasant encounter with some young German tourists who were up here for the day.

At stop 20, we reboarded the Explorer Bus and rode it around to stop 1 where we bought a unique gift item for one of our children and then walked to the Gingerbread Cafe before reboarding the Explorer Bus back to our motel just as the thunderstorm was starting. It was about two hours earlier than yesterday.

Tomorrow we are going to Scenic World to ride the aerial tram, the cable car, and world's steepest inclined railway, plus a rainforest exploration. It should be fun.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 54 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 11/19/16 - Katoomba - Day 2

Today's word was bushwalk. We donned our walking clothing and backpacks and headed out after 9am from our motel and walked down the hill to Echo Point. We visited the Visitor Center and gathered some more intelligence about our proposed bushwalk along the edge of the hillside.

While the views from Echo Point of the 3 Sisters are terrific, there were even more as we walked towards the Leura Cascades (essentially a creek that cascades down over some spectacular rock formations with lots of white cockatoos sailing around) which was some 4 miles away. We were able to walk out to the first of the Three Sisters (down a series of narrow and steep stairs), Honeymoon Point, and many other scenic viewpoints. At Leura Cascades we caught the Explorer Bus to Leura where we found an inexpensive takeaway restaurant to eat lunch and use WIFI.  

We then walked back to the Railway and Toy museum and viewed an impressive collection of antique toys, trains, dolls, and much more! There was a wedding in the 12 acre garden and in that garden was an outdoor model train set in a model of the Matterhorn plus a whole building displaying more model trains! Across the street in a park ($2AUD entry fee) was a giant statute of Olive Oil, Popeye's girlfriend.

When we got on the Explorer Bus to take us back to Katoomba, onboard there were two fellows from Hawaii who were on our cruise on the Maasdam. They had come up for the day. It was fun to see them and chat a bit.

We shopped in Katoomba for some Christmas presents, and viewed some of the street art paintings on the sides of buildings and noted some places we wanted to return to. Walked back to our motel with a stop at the takeaway store/restaurant for another inexpensive meal. Just as we reached our motel the thunder and lightning began in earnest and we were able to enjoy it from the picture window in our room and rest up our feet from what turned out to be a total of some 7 plus miles of walking.

We have more bushwalking plans for tomorrow, but that tale will have to wait.

Day 53 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 11/18/16 - Sydney Disembarkation

Our cruise was finally over today. We woke up at Sydney's Circular Quay to the sounds of the mooring line motors and propellers. We did our absolute final packing and went up to the Lido for a final breakfast.

For the uninitiated, HAL uses a color coded luggage tag system to spread out the passenger disembarkation. We, for example, were Yellow 1 with a time of 9-9:30am. We were surprised when we were called at a little after 8am. We said our goodbyes to our wonderful cabin attendants, Yudha and Ewa and made our way off the ship. No passport inspection was need as we did that on board before Geraldton. However, Angela was selected for a full inspection of her luggage and backpack which went fine. We picked up our wooden items which we had to surrender onboard for inspection by the Aussies and walked down the familiar pier at Circular Quay to the nearby train station. The Maasdam was glistening in the Sydney sunshine and with the Opera House in the background. It's always been a little melancholy for me when we disembark a ship knowing it's heading on to new adventures without us. But we hacs a different set of our own adventures ahead of us.

We purchased a couple of $20AUD Opal Cards at a newspaper shop to use the train system to get to Katoomba. It was $8.20 to travel to Katoomba. One 'taps on and off' which makes for a very efficient system. We took the train to Central Station where we changed trains to the one for Katoomba and the Blue Mountains. Since we were early for the hourly departure, we got lovely seats on the upper level. We've found the Australian trains to be clean and neat, and this one was no exception. Two hours later we arrived in Katoomba and purchased our Explorer Bus ticket which is valid for up to 7 days and has some nice extra tourist type activities associated with it.  

We found it could be used to reach our motel, the Echo Point Motel, and we checked in, left our luggage behind, and headed down to Echo Point for some lunch before reboarding the hop on hop off bus to ride it around on its full circuit to get a feel for the area. We got off the bus at the first stop and wandered around Katoomba with its quaint little shops and one impressive vintage hotel, the Carrington. We decided to walk back to the motel (about 2 miles downhill). Along the way we found an Aldi grocery for some breakfast supplies and a nice Chinese restaurant (Canton Palace) plus we found a little cafe (Shuttle Stop Corner Cafe).

In our review of what we might do while up here, it's working out that we'll do a number of bush walks Which will allow us to absorb a lot of views of the beautiful scenery of the Blue Mountains.  Since we like to walk, that really appeals to us.

Day 52 - Downunder 2016 - Thu - 11/17/16 - At Sea to Sydney

Today was our final day at sea. It's hard to believe we've been on the ship for 52 days so far and we'll conclude with 53 total days. Today was our last devotional time with Rev. Barry and his wife, Julia, who played the electric piano. I read the gospel passage from Mark 15:33-37. There was the wonderful Filipino crew show at 10:30 followed by a mass crew choir singing 'We are the World'. Then for the first time in many cruises we took time to substantially complete all our packing.  

We hadn't seen our friends, Ann and John for a few days, and after Angela returned a book to them we learned that John had been quite sick. On this cruise I haven't observed a lot of coughing, but it's been there nevertheless.  

We've really liked sailing on the Maasdam. For us, it's a near perfect size ship. It was an easy two story stair climb from our room to the Rotterdam dining room for dinner. The 11th floor Lido has not been overcrowded and the Lido Market approach to service really works well. There were sufficient activities to keep us engaged on sea days without feeling too much that we were missing something by not participating in all of them. In general the ship appears to be well maintained with the possible exception of a lingering sewage smell outside our cabin which we discussed with our stateroom attendant, Yudha. During the trans-Pacific and early part of the circumnavigation, substantial sections of the hallway and stair carpeting have been replaced.

Things that concern us a bit are:

 The librarian's position is being eliminated. We understand this to be a fleet wide change.

The shipboard internet continues to be slow and expensive. We ended up purchasing an Australian SIM card ($30AUD for a month with 3 gigs of data) and also use a Glocalme SIM CARD simulator $10AUD for 1 gig of data useable within 30 days (a real bargain).

There is pressure to reduce or eliminate the lectures and/or interdenominational devotional and worship times. We feel these are quite important on the longer cruises with sea days.

We hear rumors the Maasdam has been sold. Between the Captain and other crew, nobody has confirmed this. This ship has itineraries scheduled through 2018.

There was a bit of repeat on entertainment and movies because of this being a Collector Cruise. This should be able to be easily fixed, but I have doubts it will be.

 

This afternoon the BBC Earth game show was debuted on this ship. The questions asked seemed to be the same as we experienced on our Koningsdam cruise earlier this year, so that will need to be addressed due to the high number of HAL repeat cruisers. Dr. Wright gave his final astronomy presentation to a standing ovation that was well deserved.

 

After dinner tonight in the Rotterdam Dining Room, the bar servers and kitchen staff sang a farewell song in Indonesian. Patrick McMahon presented yet his third show this cruise. It was clearly his best of three shows (all of which were high energy). He also brought Kara, the HAL Cats vocalist, on stage to do an amazing cover of the Neil Diamond/Barbara Streisand song, 'You Don't Send Me Flowers Anymore'. His show was so good that we came back for the last half (the best part) of it after watching the night's movie, Disney Films' Oceans which was good.

About 11:50pm we put out our packed suitcases, and started a very short night before disembarkation.  

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 51 - Downunder 2016 - Wed - 11/16/16 - Melbourne

It was really good to dock in Melbourne once again after being away for a couple of years. We walked off the ship a bit after 8am and walked the long cruise terminal which also serves as the terminal for the Spirit of Tasmania which makes a daily run to Devenport, east of Burnie. We had a short wait for our Exchange daughter, E (I want to protect her privacy), that lived with us for a year in 1995. It was great to see her again and catch up in person. She had taken the day off of work to chauffeur us around for the day.  

It turned out that she had planned a trip to take us to the Peninsula Hot Springs. So off we drove south of the city to the luxurious hot springs where we thoroughly enjoyed soaking in the various hot pools and continuing to reminisce. After a couple hours of this, it was time to head back to the ship with a stop at the Chapter 16 bakery for a quick lunch, and a stop at her son's school to pick him up. Then we made it back to the ship about 3:45pm for our 4:30pm onboard time.

We watched the sailaway from the Crow's Nest out the narrow channel until taking a break for dinner before resuming our watch of the sailaway. This we did because the CD announced that there would be no cast show and Annie Gong (whom we had seen twice before on this cruise) would be performing this night. As we cleared the bay, there was a very strong current between the. At and the open ocean. We reduced speed significantly, allowed the pilot to depart, made a sharp port turn, and re-accelerated to cruising speed for our journey to Sydney.

We watched a great movie about the 2002 Melbourne Cup. It was very inspiring.

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.

Day 50 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/15/16 - Burnie, Tasmania

For the third time, we made it back to Tasmania. It's one of our favorite places in the world, and it all started when we hosted a young lady from Yolla, Tasmania for a year on a foreign exchange program. That led to our coming down for her law school graduation and then again in 2014 for her sister's wedding which we followed with a cruise to New Zealand on the MS Oosterdam. These relationships have been the most enriching long term international relationships we've ever experienced (it extended to her family and even her in laws!).

We took the first port-provided shuttle to the Maker's Workshop (a super cool hands on museum) and walked the boardwalk into town where we met our hosts and friends for the day: Lana and Lindsey, parents of E who we hosted. They treated us to a short trip up to Table Cape and its lighthouse before we headed for tea in Ulverstone, the home of Lindsey's mom where we enjoyed tea and conversation. E's sister and her cute one year old daughter then joined us. We then went to a local fish and chip place where we enjoyed some local fish and chips. But all too soon they needed to drive us back to the Maker's Workshop shuttle bus pickup point. Since this is an industrial and active port, the only way a passenger can go from or return to the ship is by the free shuttle. We caught a 3pm shuttle and all too soon were back on board before the 3:30pm all aboard time. At 3:35 around 4 busloads of shore excursions rolled up to the ship.

We went up to the Crow's Nest and joined a team for the 4pm trivia contest. This was a hard game and we came in 2nd with a score of 10 out of 17. The winning team only had a score of 11! One of the official answers in the trivia game was wrong (What was Ford's first mass produced car? The game's answer was the Model A when in fact it was the Model T with 17,000,000 produced. While there was a model A before the T, it's production numbers were a paltry 2,000) - so we lost. Later the correct answer was acknowledged.

I finished the gruesome read of Lucretia's Batavia Diary before grabbing a quick dinner in the Lido before the main show, Tim Motley, who was a sort of comic, magician and mind reader. He was pretty engaging. Afterwards we watched the latest Ben Hur movie.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 49 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 11/14/16 - At Sea

The word of the day was 'late' which meant that we forgot to advance our clock by 1/2 hour to the Sydney/Melbourne time. So we ended up skipping breakfast in order to make the second to the last devotional time. Afterwards we had a small breakfast before attending the Mariner's award ceremony and luncheon.  

The Seattle Seahawks were on Sunday night football, so we watched it Monday starting at 12:30pm up in the Crow's Nest. It was an exciting game to watch. Afterwards I resumed reading 'Lucretia's Batavia Diary' which is a fictional diary of a prominent female passenger based upon the ill-fated final voyage of the Batavia. While reading, I noted a strange structure off the starboard side of the ship, so I went back to the room for my zoom lense camera. It was an oil derrick!

We had a final Gala night and enjoyed a jumbo shrimp cocktail along with steak and lobster. Annie Gong and her magic accordion returned with a new show after entertaining us when sailing out of Hawaii. Our evening ended by watching the movie 'Legend of Tarzan'.

Tomorrow is Tasmania.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 48 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 11/13/16 - At Sea - Was to be Kangaroo Island

Around 7:45am this morning, the Captain's unmistakable voice came over the PA system with the announcement that due to the high winds we would not be tendering at Kangaroo Island. It would be the second island stop on this cruise that we missed with the first being Mystery Island on the trans-Pacific segment. Instead the ship was put into slow mode and we sailed ever so slowly up the St. Vincent Gulf back towards Adelaide.

At 12:15 he gave a further update with continuing winds and word that we would be executing a 180° turn and we would sail back towards Kangaroo Island. Even with the winds we are experiencing, we are sailing in the lee of (protected side) of the island.

With the change in plans, the daily schedule was revised. Kelly, our location guide, gave a picture filled and enthusiastic presentation on Australian wildlife. Then Phil Creaser gave one of the most interesting talks we've been in. It seems he lost his voice and did the entire talk in mime and slides. It was brilliant and well liked by all.

I ended up playing trivia with Dennis and Dayle and another couple and we won it which led to free drinks from Jeremy, the Cruise Director.

In the afternoon Dr. Wright presented on the topic of the 12 Great Controversies in Astronomy. We followed that by reading and watching the waves and scenery from the Crow's Nest. There was certainly motion in the ocean! The interdenominational Sunday service at 5pm was very well attended, and afterwards our dinner in the Rotterdam Dining Room was nice with another couple from Texas.  

The evening's entertainment was a singer, Patrick McMahon, who performed earlier in the cruise. Once again it became necessary to be in the Showroom at Sea 45 minutes early to get a good seat. He was energetic and performed a wide range of Neil Diamond, John Denver, and the like. The theatre was packed at the 8pm show and well attended at the 10pm show. In between we watched 'London has Fallen' a spy - terrorist film. Lots of blood and guts!

The ship was definitely moving around after we passed through the channel separating the mainland and Kangaroo Island. We'll see how sleeping goes tonight! As we walked back to the room, we walked by the information screen and noted a wind speed of 47mph! The outside decks were also closed 'due to inclement weather'.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 47 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 11/12/16 - Adelaide

While it's Veterans Day in the US as I write this, we're already about to finish the next day. Today found us in Adelaide where we docked at 8am. A bit later we were cleared to leave the ship so we headed on out. A short walk out of the terminal and across the parking lot found us at the train station where we purchased a day pass for cruise ship passengers for $10AUD each and boarded the 9am train.

It was a 40 minute ride into the heart of the city and today was their annual Christmas parade so we found a viewing spot on the corner on King William Road and North Terrace Street. It was a festive event called the Christmas Pageant with 350,000 of our new closest friends. We met some shipmates (J & J from San Diego) there and they invited us to join them in a walking tour at 2:30pm which we agreed to do.

After the parade we walked around downtown and found the HUGE pedestrian mall on Rundle Street. It  opened in 1976 and was the first of its type and is the largest. We found some lunch in one of the many foodcourts before walking to our meeting point to validate its location. We then walked to the Central Market which the busiest market we've seen in the world. We then walked back to our he meeting point and joined our tour guide, Bob, and our shipmates. For the next 2.5 hours we wandered the downtown area learned by all sorts of Adelaide's history.

Afterwards we found St. Xavier's Cathedral before using the free tram to get us back to the Railway Station where we caught the 5:42pm train back to the Outer Harbor where we were moored. On the train ride to the port a German Couple on the ship clued us in on a cool free navigational app called Here We Go. I downloaded it and will report back later as to how I like it.

We ate a very quick dinner in the Lido (noting that a storm was moving in) and then watched the movie, The Secret Life of Pets. I'm glad I didn't spend money in that one in a theatre. At least as much as I saw! ( ;-) )

The Tanunda Town Band came on the ship and played a rousing concert of German oompah music interspersed with some modern tunes. Jeremy, our Cruise Director, also announced that the ship would not be leaving until 3am as there is projected to be a lull in the storm. Our next port is Kangaroo Island which is a very short sail away and the exit from the Outer Harbor in Adelaide is very narrow.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 46 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 11/11/16 - At Sea to Adelaide 2

Th centerpiece for today was the Veteran's Day remembrance ceremony which started at 10:45. All who wanted them were provided a poppy. Rev. Barry Sutton opened it with prayer, CD Jeremy shared a few words about the significance of the day, a cadet rang the ceremonial bell announcing 2 minutes of silence, the ship's horn gave a long blast at 11:11am, Hotel Director Mike Mahan shared a reading on the significance and meaning for the empty meal setting in the center of the stage, and a man named Barry read the Flander's Field poem, and finally all veterans present were acknowledged. It was a pretty moving ceremony.

Dr. Wright gave a wonderful lecture on the 12 most frequently asked astronomy questions, and Phil Creaser did a light-hearted overview of paleontology. I spent much of the rest of day reading much of the excellent but gruesome book 'Batavia' about the shipwreck of the Batavia and the aftermath. It makes the Mutiny on the Bounty seem like a Sunday picnic.

We're definitely not in the tropics any longer. It's in the 50's f and very windy while walking the deck. All night and day we also had about 10 foot rolling swells which certainly produced significant ship movement. 

The ship had its premiere of BBC's Frozen Planet and it was good to experience once again (we've seen it previously on other ships). Essentially it's a movie about Arctic and Antarctica with live orchestral accompaniment. The evening's movie was 'Suffragette' which we had seen previously so we didn't watch it.

As our two month trip comes to a conclusion, I took a look thus evening at the 2017 projected route and it's similar to this year and worth considering. However, the Maasdam's trans-Pacific route for 2017 begins in San Diego instead of Seattle. The Noordam is also doing a trans-Pacific route similar to the Maasdam's 2016 route, but I don't know if that route can be connected with the Maasdam's 2017 circumnavigation. 

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.

Day 45 - Downunder 2016 - Thu - 11/10/16 - At Sea to Adelaide 1

The word for today is 'tired'. With the clocks being advanced by one hour combined with staying up to watch Hillary's concession speech, it was a really short night for sleeping. So we stumbled out of bed and listened to more TV coverage of the election results which seemed to focus on why Hillary lost. The devotional time was really interesting with Rev. Barry doing an interview with Dr. Alan Wright, the astronomer who is lecturing onboard. Afterwards we did a mile walk around the ship in the cold and windy weather before attending Dr. Wright's astronomy lecture on 'Where are we?' concerning celestial navigation. Following his lecture we sat in on his Astro Chat for about 30 minutes before eating a light lunch.

Our afternoon included Philip Creaser's lecture on the geological makeup of Australia and watching the 2016 version of Ghostbusters. There was another Gala night for dinner followed by the cast's last performance of 'Classique'. Since the clocks were once again being set ahead by an hour tonight, an early bedtime seemed to be wise instead of attending the champaign party in the Crow's Nest.

Day 44 - Downunder 2016 - Wed - 11/09/16 - Albany

The question of the day today will be: Where were you when you heard the news that Donald Trump was elected 45th President of the United States? For us the news came today while we were walking around Albany, Australia. It's a charming and welcoming city which has a long and rich history associated with seafaring and whaling. We enjoyed a slow and pleasant sail in after our normal breakfast. There's a narrow channel leading one into King George Sound and past the Vancouver peninsula, and a cargo ship taking on a load of some mineral ore. As we approached the dock, the captain had the ship do the cruise ship dance, rotating the Maasdam 180° clockwise and gently bringing her alongside the pier where a fleet of tour and shuttle busses were waiting to take on their precious human cargo. At 10:02 we received our Cruise Director's announcement that we were cleared to leave the ship via the gang plank on Deck 3.

We disembarked the ship immediately to a brisk chill and found our way to the free shuttle which quickly whisked us into town. We were the only ones who elected to stay on the shuttle until the second stop near the museum and the Brig Amity replica. We got to the museum at 10:50am and learned that because of our ship being in town it would open at 11am and not the advertised 1pm time. We chose to tour the ship first (it was really interesting) with an audio guide to describe the various aspects of the ship and its cargo. All of this cost only $5AUD each. Then we toured the museum (another $5AUD) with a powerful exhibit on forced consent adoptions and an exhibit displaying aboriginal artifacts that are normally on display in the British museum in London.

Next door was the Gaol (jail), and we toured it as well for another $5AUD. From there we walked up the main street (York) admiring the Art Deco and touring St. Paul's Anglican where the helpful docent rang the bells for us. This church also has some nice stained glass which I am always on the lookout for.

We enjoyed a very nice döner lunch at a Turkish owned restaurant. It was probably one of the best sandwich of its kind we have eaten throughout the world. We also enjoyed some pleasant conversation with the owner and his wife about Trump's election. While they are concerned about him as president, I tried to convey that he was elected because the American people wanted a change.

We continued our walk around town and then back to the ship where we reboarded around 4:30pm and went to the Crow's Nest to watch the sailaway which started around 5:45pm. Once we slipped away from the dock, the Maasdam headed back out to sea around the ore carrier and through the narrow dredged channel. As the sun set off our starboard side and darkness crept in, we suddenly had a pod of dolphins cavort in front of the ship.  

After a quick minute steak and mahi mahi we enjoyed an Irish magician, Patrick McCullaugh and then watched an Australian movie, Goddess, which was a funny but perceptive 'chick flick'. We finished the evening watching the election coverage and needing to move our clocks forward one hour as we are now heading back west towards Adelaide as our next stop.

If you have been reading my blog this far (thanks for the thousands of page views!), you might be interested in how it's created. Each night as we wait for the main show (showing up 45 minutes early is important if one wants a seat on the comfortable benches), I would compose the text on my iPhone 6 using the app Evernote using my left pointy finger as I didn't bring my Bluetooth keyboard. If needed, I finish writing it later (sometimes the next day when we were at sea). Then when we reach a port location with internet access, I copy the title and text into an email and send it to my blog address where it automatically posts.

Some may ask, why no pictures? My answer is simple, it takes up bandwidth ($$) and time. Plus I try to paint word pictures in my writing style and provide helpful observations. But never fear, when we finish the cruise and get back home, I'll upload many, many pictures to a website and provide the link. I am on Facebook and do put a number of pictures there (ease of upload and seamless picture compression) during the day while we are touring for my friends to see. If you want access to those, friend me on Facebook.

Remember, while the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 43 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/08/16 - Fremantle - Day 2

After getting back to the ship late last night and an even later Lido dinner, our 7:30am alarm blared all too soon on this second morning in Fremantle. Since it was Tuesday morning here it was supposed to be Monday night back in Seattle where our Seahawks were to be playing against the Buffalo Bills. But nothing showed on our stateroom TV. So we ate breakfast in the Lido, and we got internet connected with my Verizon iPhone with an Australian Amayasim SIM card. 

By the way, if there is sufficient interest, I could do an entire post on how to obtain relatively inexpensive internet while cruising or traveling internationally. Post a comment or send me an email if that might be of interest. I never purchase internet time from the ship. End of commercial; back to our regular programming.

I learned the game was about to start, so we finished breakfast and headed up to the Crow's Nest to watch it in the big screen TV. We got a crew member to turn on the TV and we watched the game to its conclusion. While watching it I noted that the Emerald Princess had arrived that morning and was moored in front of us. I posted a picture of it on Facebook and soon received a reply from our exchange daughter in Melbourne that her in-laws were on the ship which had sailed in from Southampton, England via a last port of Bali where we had been 4 days earlier. It's a very small world out there!

Watching the game was interrupted a few times by lifeboat drill announcements for the Perth embarking passengers and the captain's sailaway announcement, part of which included words to the effect that we would be traveling quickly and to expect 'some motion in the ocean'. We actually got underway just before 12 and as the Seahawks game successfully concluded. We moved sideways from our berth and started forward motion past our 3,000+ passenger capacity cousin (both Holland America and Princess are owned by Carnival Corporation). 

While leaving the harbor area we passed a strange looking vessel that sort of looked like it might have been an ocean going cattle truck. I learned later from another passenger that it was a sheep and goat transport ship to the Middle East. There was also an automobile transport ship for new cars arriving as well.

We adjourned to the Lido for lunch; and as we were finishing, a humpback whale was spotted on the starboard side and I got a pretty good tail photo. We walked a mile on the deck in increasing swells in the ocean which caused the ship to move in a porpoise like motion up and down stem to stern. The wind was also blowing quite hard which combined with the ship's motion made for difficult and chilly walking. So we quit walking and took a seat in the Showroom At Sea for Kelly's 3pm port talk. I used that time to begin my read of Peter Fitzsimmons book, Batavia, which is a historical account of the ship and its eventual demise near Geraldton. Mr. Fitzsimmons is a very good Australian author one of whose books I've previously read. 

Kelly's talk was interesting and afterwards we spent more time reading until time for dinner. At dinner in the Rotterdam dining room, we really experienced the 'motion in the ocean'. For a long time I have thought that the axis for ship motion in swelling seas was the center of the ship. On this trip, I've really come to realize that the least motion appears to be in the stern area.

Because of the 'motion in the ocean', the cast show was postponed and we had a comedienne from Melbourne who was pretty funny and not at all vulgar. Another similar act is scheduled for tomorrow. Given the main stage is in the front of the ship, there's a lot of motion there!  

We finished our evening watching the Australian movie, 'South Solitary', which was about an isolated lighthouse keeper in the late 1920's. it was a strange and unsettling movie with an incomplete feel to the ending.

Day 42 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 11/07/16 - Fremantle

As I write this on Tuesday morning sitting in the Crow's Nest watching the Seattle Seahawks - Buffalo Bills Monday night football game, Seattle just scored to tie the game in the early going.

After docking in Fremantle around 8am, we met up with Dan & Barbara and Ann and John in the 6th floor atrium. Dan had organized a Tours By Locals shore excursion and I thought it was going to be a walking tour of Fremantle. But I was wrong and it turned out to be a full excursion in a nice VW van with eventual goal of visiting the Pinnacles which were some 200 plus kilometers or 120 miles away! Sergio, our driver and guide, met us promptly at 9am and we headed out with a scenic tour of Fremantle and Perth.  

Eventually we ended up in the Swan Valley which is noted for its vineyards. We stopped at the Sandalford Wines vineyard and tasting room where we sampled a wide variety of their wines and settled on a sweet wine similar to the Muscato we have been enjoying on the Maasdam. Sandalford is a major venue for outdoor concerts the like of Santana or Harry Connick, Jr. or Michael Buble. From there we drove up the road to the Whistler's Chocolates Company where there was more sampling. I even bought some licorice. Just a bit further down the road, we stopped at Morish Nuts, and unfortunately the Mondo Nougat candy store was closed. Sergio told us we could see some kangaroos in the wild for free. We found them at the Pinaroo Valley Memorial Park which is a picturesque cemetery. There were several mother-joey pairs and they were cute to see once again in the wild. From there we headed towards Cervantes. We passed through 3 national parks and Ed saw our first Kangaroo and Emu roadkills.

We arrived in Cervantes at 3:30 at the Cervantes Bar and Grill where we enjoyed a terrific lunch. Cervantes was named after a shipwrecked American whaling ship from the mid 1800's. However, there is a cool sculpture outside of town that features Pancho, Don Xiote, and a replica of the ship. These items are all mounted on a tall pole as a weathervane. After lunch we backtracked about 6 miles to the Pinnacles which are located in the Nambung National Park.  

The Pinnacles are a group of limestone rock formations that are each roughly 10 feet tall or shorter. The sheer number of them is very impressive. Afterwards we then drove back the 200 plus kilometers and arrived back at the ship at 8:30pm. Sergio drove us by his house near the port and our long but wonderful day was over. The Maasdam was brilliantly lit up and we were able to clear security and board the ship with our bottle of wine with no corkage charge.

We dropped our traveling gear off and went to the theatre to watch the movie, Tracks, about a gal who walked across Australia in the 1970's. we then ended the day with an 11pm pork satay very late dinner in the Lido.

Remember that while the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 41 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 11/06/16 - Geraldton

Talk about an undersell. All the information we received about Geraldton indicated there wasn't much here. Our Captain made arrangements to dock on this sunny Sunday so we would not need to tender. Because of the swells in the bay, he had to employ some hydraulic tensioning machinery and setting that took up some time. We were able to depart the ship around 8:20am and make our way down the long and steep port provided gangway. Since we were docked in an industrial port, we had to take a shuttle bus to outside the port. Unfortunately the entry ramp jammed on our bus and we were delayed a few minutes while it was manually forced into the stowed position. The bus couldn't be driven with the ramp extended.

From the shuttle stop we walked up to the HMS Sydney memorial via the very Art Deco downtown and McDonald's and took the free guided tour of the memorial. It was excellent. We walked back to the downtown area via the cathedral and enjoyed touring it along with the recently opened museum about the Architect/Priest who designed and built the cathedral. He was an Anglican Englishman who converted to Catholicism and became a priest. From there we walked the downtown area where I found a book on the Batavia in a used book store. We found a nice sandwich shop and caught up on email and the like plus I was able to restore my Google account by logging on with my Kindle Fire tablet and having a confirmation code sent via SMS to my phone. I also downloaded to the Kindle 'Batavia' by Peter Fitzsimmons which is a novel about the famous sinking in 1627.  

After lunch we walked up to the Western Australia Museum so we could see the display about the Batavia shipwreck. I also found Nemo there in an aquarium exhibit. We then walked back along the really nice beach area to the shuttle pickup point.

I should add that Geraldton rolled out the red carpet for us with lots of volunteer tourist information guides. They were so friendly and helpful plus the TI office was open on Sunday.

We were able to make the 4pm interdenominational Sunday service before watching the sailaway. The sea lane into the harbor is also narrow and twisty like some other ports we have visited. It did get quite windy out on deck 13 above the Crow's Nest. In order to make our evening a bit more simple, we ate dinner in the Lido and it was quite good.

The evening's entertainment was the English comedienne and Celtic singer in a variety show.  

Day 40 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 11/05/16 - At Sea - Indian Ocean 3

At the captain's toast he always uses the expression, 'May you have fair winds and following seas'. Today was anything but that. The temperature has dropped 20° fahrenheit, and we had a rolling oncoming sea of around 12 feet that caused the ship to pitch or porpoise all day long as we walked the deck. It's quite something to walk uphill on one side of the ship and walk downhill on the other side. Fortunately the stabilizers were working and we didn't have much rolling action. Over three different walks we got our 10,500 steps or nearly 5 miles walking in.

Alan's morning lecture on Pluto was one of the best he's given, and Philip gave the last of his lectures on possible World Heritage Sites. We had dinner in the Rotterdam dining room with Larry and Pat from Arkansas along with Peter and Gloria from the Sunshine Coast, just south of Brisbane. Peter and I really hit it off talking cars and motorcycles.  

The evening's entertainment was a Celtic singer, Kaitlyn Carr from Scotland. She had the cutest brogue accent and sang and played several types of flutes. She's also the wife of the British comedienne. She was so good we bought her CD and came back for her 10pm concert.

Tomorrow is our first port back in Australia at Geraldton. It was converted from being a tender port to a docking port due to the projected sea swells in the harbor.

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 39 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 11/04/16 - At Sea - Indian Ocean 2

Today was passport return day and interview with Australian immigration officials. This we did after our breakfast and morning devotional time. From there we did the first mile of walking the deck. Alan gave a very interesting talk on radio telescopes and seeing things that can't be seen optically. A quick lunch followed and we walked another mile before doing a photographic scavenger hunt competition that we ended up winning. This little contest was just another way to get excercise as we scampered all over the ship in search of items to photograph.

Philip Creaser's afternoon lecture was about cultural world heritage sites and it was also interesting. We then finished up our 10,500 step goal after which I backed up the photos on my phone camera. Gala night returned and lobster was one of the main entrees (5 of 6 at our table got that item). Then main stage entertainment was a redo of the musical Droom by the cast performers.

We adjourned to our room with a DVD movie 'Casino Royale'.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 38 - Downunder 2016 - Thu - 11/03/16 - At Sea - Indian Ocean 1

It's always good to be back at sea for a few days and it was especially true now so that we could escape the repressive heat. Since game 7 of the World Series was on starting at 7am on Thursday even though it was being played Wednesday evening in Cleveland, we began watching it in the room while dressing and preparing our 6th laundry sack (this is probably the best benefit of being a 4 Star Mariner with HAL), and we took an hour break from the game for breakfast and the morning devotions with Rev. Barry. He has a great joke to start every devotional time! Then we went up to the Crow's Nest to watch on the large screen TV the remainder of what turned out to be an excellent ball game with the Cubs winning 8-7.

Lunch was a quickie in the Lido and we joined Kelly's 1pm port talk in progress before watching Philip Creaser's presentation on Australian World Heritage Sites. There was time to do a mile walking the deck before we took in a presentation on Thomas Kinkade and his art. Afterwards, I took the time to back up my cameras' pictures to a thumb drive. I still need to do the same for our phones' pictures.

We took dinner in the Rotterdam dining room with a couple from Wisconsin and a couple from Colorado. The evening's main stage entertainment was a dance couple, Sriani & Craig. While they are multiple competition dance champions, we found them a bit boring to watch. The ship's movies are now starting to repeat, so we skipped the 9pm movie and plan to do the same tomorrow. It turned out to be a good time to retire early. And like has been true most of the cruise, our laundry was returned in the same day!

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 37 - Downunder 2016 - Wed - 11/02/16 - Bali

After a pleasant overnight sleep we awakened around 7am and went to the Lido for breakfast. It was a bit crowded this morning as most guests were looking forward to the Bali stop.

After breakfast, we went up to the Crow's Nest to watch the sail in. As we approached the harbor, the channel became much narrower and the ship was really close to the reefs. But the channel was clearly marked with twists and turns. And there was a wreck on the starboard side and another ahead of us as we reached the point where the captain pivoted the ship 90° counterclockwise before backing into our berth.

A musical troupe and dancers entertained us while the ship was cleared for disembarkation. Once the announcement was made we made our way out of the terminal area where we met our guide, Agung, and our driver Yoyo. I should add that Dennis and Dayle from Vancouver, BC organized the tour using Tours By Locals which we have also used in other parts of the world.  

We headed off through the crazy traffic (and I do mean crazy, more on that later) and found a money changer so we would have local currency for spending throughout the day. We then found a Batik studio (Goak Batik) where we learned how Batik is done. Plus the gals got to do their own Batik, and we found some Batik clothing.

It was then time to head for the Monkey Forest and enjoy the Grey Macaques. These little critters are very aggressive about any loose items or food items. The first macaque we saw had stolen someone's selfie stick and was totally fascinated with it. Inside the forest I watched a man almost lose his Bermuda shorts as he had food in his pockets! The macaque was not at all interested in the food it could see, but it was totally enthralled with the lump in the fellow's right front pocket. Besides the macaques there was all sorts of statuary. Keep in mind that Hinduism is the predominant religion on this island.

A stop at the Bali Pulina Plantation to sample coffees came next (of course using the crazy traffic). Besides showin us coffee plants, we observed a wide variety of herbs and spices being grown along with the hand method that they processed the coffee beans. Speaking of the coffee beans, the way they get the outer plant material off the seeds is to feed them to a cat like critter who eats the beans and expels the hard shelled beans as excrement. Those beans are then cleaned and crushed to get the softer coffee bean which is hand roasted. The end product is called affectionately catpuchino! We were served a sampling of the coffees and I have to admit as a total non coffee drinker or lover, I really enjoyed most of the samples. My favorite was the lemon tea!

We then drove to a local restaurant (Warung Babi Guling) where we're enjoyed a pork lunch and a local beer, both of which were quite good. The beer was especially good because of the high heat and humidity. On the way back to the port, we stopped at a Hindu temple and dressed in a respectful ceremonial robes to enter the grounds.  

Speaking of the traffic, it was the craziest I've ever experienced! There are thousands of scooters and motorcycles carrying every manner of person or persons and cargo. There are scooters and motorcycles on our left, passing on our right (keep in mind they drive on the left here), lanes are only a suggestion, helmets and safety riding gear are non existent, right turns or cross traffic can suddenly materialize in one's lane. It's quite a dance! But I observed very few dented vehicles!

Back at the port we shopped a bit more before reboarding the ship. We had received an email that our ballot submission wasn't done correctly, so we resubmitted them. Also my Google account was locked because I tried to access it in Indonesia using my Australian Sim card. So I'm not sure I'll be able to update my blog. I find Google's two factor authorization to be a real bummer when traveling internationally. It happened last year in Singapore as well. It plain just doesn't work!

Remember to savor the journey even though the destination is important!

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 36 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 11/01/16 - Komodo Island

Once again we woke up in paradise at the entry to Slawi Bay, Komodo Island. We ate our customary breakfast and went up to deck 11 to watch the sail in. The craggy mountain islands were extremely stunning as we sailed to our anchorage point. We met up with our group in the Ocean Bar to obtain our tender tickets. For this port one needs to have an authorized guide and confirmation letter which our organizer, Janet, took care of. After a safety briefing by a park ranger, our guides led us down a narrow pathway into the scrub forest. We weren't 100 yards out of the village when the group encountered our first Komodo dragon which crossed the path between groups and found a resting place in the shade. This led to a picture taking frenzy and I have to honestly say I was totally impressed by the size of the Komodo! As we came around the bend in the trail, I was within 18" of the tail of the Dragon. We continued our stroll through the forest and saw some large birds and deer (the latter are primo dragon food). As we came to a watering hole there were 4 large Komodo dragons and they were mighty impressive. They were both docile and moving around with their prey seeking forked tunges being fully extended as they examined this motley group of tourists. As we continued our stroll back to the dock, we saw a few more deer.  

Back at the dock, we gathered our snorkeling gear that we had left behind and headed over to the longer dock where our snorkeling launch was tied up. 11 of us boarded the smaller launch while the remaining 26 went on the larger launch. As we sailed to the snorkeling beach, we were served water or soft drinks and watermelon. The launches anchored off the beach and we donned our snorkeling gear. I let myself off the boat and was first impressed by the warmth of the water and then by the beauty of the coral. There was also a mild current which I used to slowly glide me over the coral and hundreds of fish of many colors. I'd then swim against the current and repeat the glide. I was able to snap many pictures and was in the water about 1 1/2 hours. It was clearly the best snorkeling we did this cruise. But we didn't find Nemo! I snorkeled my way back to our launch and was the last onboard. We were served a TERRIFIC Indonesian meal of noodles, rice, chicken, fish, super delicious pineapple, and more watermelon.  

Back at the launch dock we made our way to the tender dock which required us to walk the gauntlet of child and adult vendors hawking wooden Komodo dragons, shell angel fish, pearl necklaces and the like. I had spotted a t-shirt design and color I liked and we negotiated a good price for a pair of them. That, of course, brought other vendors over when money was displayed. But we survived and made our way to our tender dock and boarded one of the last tenders to take us back to the ship.

Onboard we showered and I went up to deck 11 to watch the sail away. All the tenders were re-stowed but I noticed the port side tender dock which retracts back into the side of the ship. Eventually the Captain came on the PA system and announced that we would be delayed until the door could be closed. This turned out to be about an hour and a half.  

On the sail out, a pod of dolphins frolicked in the ship's wake and it was fun to watch. They were some of the first large sea mammals we've seen and definitely put on a show. We were also blessed with a terrific sunset behind the hills of Komodo Island as well as glimpses of some of the many thousands of islands that make up Indonesia.

We had a simple dinner in the Lido before attending the evening's entertainment which was a juggler from Adelaide, Mr. Spin. He was entertaining.

During Jeremy's (CD) introduction of the evening's talent he mentioned that he saw the many signs that were being posted on stateroom doors saying, "No cabin service required. Enjoy your day in Bali." Since 50% of the crew is Indonesian, Jeremy indicated there would be over 750 guests on board and showed his appreciation of the passenger gesture. We had previously posted the sign on our door and also gave our stateroom attendents a tip to be able to help them on their day in Bali.  

After the show we walked laps on deck 6 so We could reach our 5 mile goal. While doing this walk we noted we seemed to be sailing faster than normal. When I checked my GPS I found we were sailing at around 24 miles per hour which is fast for this ship.

It was a terrific day at Komodo Island and this should be a bucket list stopping point for any serious traveler.

While the destination is important, savor the journey.

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 35 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 10/31/16 - At Sea to Komodo Island

Overnight the seas remained quite calm and the temperatures remained quite warm. After breakfast and devotions, we walked the deck for a couple miles with 5 for the day being our goal. We saw lots of flying fish and my wife even saw a small turtle. It was fun to play our game of standing on the forward starboard railing and watch for a flying fish. Once one is spotted I resume walking to do another lap. 4 laps equals a mile. Rather than attend the morning lecture on asteroids hitting the earth, we adjourned to the Crow's Nest to watch Game 5 of the World Series. It was good to see the Cubs win 3-2.

After a really quick Lido lunch, it was time to go to the 2pm Paleontology lecture which was about small extinct and non-extinct mammals as found at Riversleigh. It was then time to resume walking the deck to get my 5 miles in and look for more flying fish. The flying fish were a bit more elusive in the afternoon. Approaching 5pm, we came closer to the south shore of Timor island and I picked up a 2g cell phone signal. I was able to pay our VISA bill and check Facebook and email before the signal got too faint. After a quick Lido salad for dinner, we went to the 6pm Elliott Finkel concert piano show. Once again he was excellent, and ended his concert with a medley from Rogers and Hammerstein.  

My wife wore a really cute Halloween dress for the 8:30pm Halloween party in the Crow's Nest. I wore her black t-shirt that reads 'My Halloween Costume' and a lighted skull necklace. At around 10:30pm, the Crow's Nest was closed 'so that they could clean up' but it was really closed so there could be a crew party.

While the destination is important, don't forget to savor the journey.

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 34 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 10/30/16 - Darwin

This morning we awakened early at 6am to get a jump on some internet tasks that we needed to get done in preparation for the end of our cruise. Up in the Lido I fired up our portable SIM card (Glocalme) and we submitted our presidential election ballots, checked Facebook and email, uploaded my blog, activated my Amaya Australian SIM card, and reserved a motel room for our stay in Katoomba.  

The ship finally docked at around 8am which was an hour later than scheduled. Fortunately, clearance to leave the ship came quickly.

While doing these tasks we saw the local hop on hop off bus stop in front of the terminal. So we quickly did some Google research and saw it would fit our needs for today. It's a bit irksome (mildly stated) that HAL would sell a $14AUD RT ticket into town and not mention that for $33AUD one could purchase an all day hop on hop off bus trip that goes throughout the city including 3 museums and it departs from and returns to the cruise terminal.

So around 9:30 we left the ship to stand in the heated shade of a parked container trailer. It was over 90f with high humidity! The HOHO bus arrived and we were on our way. Despite the heat, while the bus was moving, the airflow was refreshing. Soon we arrived at the Darwin Experience Museum which is devoted to primarily remembering the events of the Second World War but it also has some Vietnam War exhibits. We spent a few hours touring the exhibit and grounds before hopping back on the HOHO bus which took us to the Royal Flying Doctors museum where we were treated to several movies and lots of exhibits documenting the contribution of this organization and its planes as it strives to provide healthcare in some of the most remote places on the planet. It's a really good museum. We then caught the HOHO bus back to the ship's terminal where we did some last minute shopping and conversation with our shipboard neighbors. All of this was done in air conditioned comfort.

We grabbed some quick sandwiches from the Lido and took them to the Showroom where Elliott Finkel put on an informal classical piano concert which was excellent. Afterwards we attended the interdenominational Sunday service at 4pm where the pastor's message was on Forgiveness. It was one of the best attended services we've been in on the ship.

At dinner we learned that we have sailed on 2 other recent cruises with one of the couples (Prinsendam Black Sea in 2014 and the Koningsdam Christening in 2016.). The cast put on the production show 'Dance' and we wrapped up the evening watching the movie 'Central Intelligence' about an accountant.  

While walking back to our room on the outside deck, it was still extremely warm, and at dinner the seas were totally flat with a gorgeous sunset.

Tomorrow is a sea day and our clocks go back another 1/2 hour tonight to get us on Indonesian time.  

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Tim Bowman

Burien, WA

Tim Bowman

Tim Bowman

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Tim Bowman

Sent from the Road Somewhere

Day 31 - Downunder 2016 - Thu - 10/27/16 - At Sea to Darwin 1

Today was the first of 3 sea days on our way to Darwin. After breakfast and our devotional time with Rev. Barry, we went outside on deck 6 to watch the beautiful green water slip by along with many atolls and barren islands. We also had scenic commentary by a reef pilot, but he was hard to understand because of over modulation. The morning lecture was given by the astronomer, Dr.Alan Wright on the top c of contact with other worlds. Afterwards he held a cosmic chat in the piano bar that was well attended. The afternoon lecture by Philip Creaser on the gemstone Amber was really good. It was followed by a lesson by Louis Burns on playing the didgeridoo. He had about 30 pieces of white PVC pipe which has a tonal quality similar to a wood based instrument. It actually was fun watching mostly old people blowing on white pieces of pipe. Hyperventilation was in play! Afterwards I walked laps on deck 6 to get my 5 miles in and watch the world go by at 16 miles per hour. Early tomorrow morning we should be in the Bass Straits.  

It was Gala night again and we had a couple from Sydney and one from Alaska. It was a good discussion. The evening's main stage entertainment was Vox Furtura in a reprise show. They were once again VERY good. I'd say they are in the top 5 of all the entertainment we've enjoyed on cruise ships. The evening movie was 'Dead Calm' which was a thriller starring Nicole Kidman set on a sailboat and filmed near Hamilton Island which we visited a week ago.

Remember while the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 32 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 10/28/16 - At Sea to Darwin 2

It was another lazy day at sea. The water color changed from a greenish blue to a deeper blue as we crossed the Arafura Sea. And the temperature continued to climb although walking around on deck 6 was quite comfortable especially since we are near the equator and the sun is overhead due to our westward course.  

The morning lectures were good. Kelly and Melanie presented on the shore excursions on the next part of this segment. Dr. Write spoke on the topic of the Sun. In the afternoon Philip Creaser spoke about mammal fossils and Kelly returned to give location information for the next three ports of call. Again both were quite good. Now I had to pay the price for attending the lectures: I finished walking my 5 miles for today (it's 4 laps on Deck 6 to a mile).

Dinner this evening was in the Canaletto and it was wonderful. We had an ocean view seat and our waiter was the same waiter who typically serves us in the morning and remembered our tea preferences. For a those unaccustomed to the Canaletto, it's one of two specialty extra charge restaurants onboard, and its theme is Italian cuisine. The seafood soup and baby romaine lettuce salad was excellent as was the grilled shrimp and cod.  

The evening's entertainment was Louis Finkel, a very accomplished pianist. He was quite good and his closing medley of a salute to New York City was magical. The movie was a documentary about the women's pursuit cycling team in the London Olympics. This team was a definite underdog with a minimal budget competing with Australian and British teams with $40,000,0000 budgets. But they earned the silver medal!

Afterwards we took a short walk on the deck, and it was extremely warm for 11pm as we are approaching the equator.

Day 33 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 10/29/16 - At Sea to Darwin 3

One starts to appreciate the size of the Australian continent when it's now the third day of crossing a bay on our way to Darwin!

This morning after a really interesting devotional during which Rev. Barry interviewed an 89 year old retired pastor who had a very full and long ministry in Australia, we walked a mile on a very warm deck. For days and days we've not seen any wildlife in the water, and the water is now a deep blue color. The reef pilot, Gerrit-Jan Hulsebos gave a lecture on reef piloting. He's Dutch and his first ship was the Maasdam. Now he works for Australian Reef Pilots (one of two companies providing Great Barrier Reef pilotage services).  

Alan Wright presented a lecture on where we came from and following a quick lunch Philip Creaser presented a session on the Riversleigh Wirld Heritage Fossil Site that he dug at. It was the least attended of his sessions but still interesting. I then spent the rest of the afternoon walking the deck to get my 5 miles in. Along the way I finally saw a number of flying fish and 3 dolphins or porpoises. It's been several weeks since I've seen any wildlife from the ship, so that was my excitement for the day.

After dinner in the Rotterdam Dining Room, the entertainment tonight was a variety show of Francis Diatschenenko and Tommy Proulx (guitarist and saxophonist) followed by a documentary, The Infiltrant, about taking down a Colombian drug lord.

Day 30 - Downunder 2016 - Wed - 10/26/16 - Cairns

It wax a smooth overnight sail from Hamilton Island. With a scheduled 10am arrival, we awakened leisurely and took our breakfast in the Lido. We skipped the 9am devotional time as we wanted to watch the sail in. It's a very narrow channel with lots of markers which indicated we were at high tide. We had really nice seats up in the Crow's Nest and the city slowly came into view in the brilliant green water darkened in numerous spots by reefs. After making one last left hand 90° turn we headed for the cruise terminal dock. Upon reaching the dock the ship did a 180° clockwise rotation to be lined up to do a straight departure later in the day.

We met in the Ocean Bar the other two couples who we were taking the Eco Safari tour with and waited for the clearance announcement. It never came so we joined the line to disembark the ship. After a brief wait, suddenly the line began moving; and we were off the ship on a very steep gangway. Our driver and guide, Kevin, owner of Wilderness Eco Tours met us and we all paid him $358AU per couple before getting in his pristine Toyota Land Cruiser.  

As he drove us out of the city, he began to orient us to the area. Without going into a blow by blow description of the tour I would summarize it by saying that we spent much of the day on very narrow and twisty mountain roads crossing from the flood plain through the tropical rain forest into the outback and back again. We had great stops at the Copperlode Dam, another high waterfall along Davies Creek that Angela and I scampered down the rocks to look at more closely, the Barron Falls Lookout and Railway platform, as well as an ice cream stop at Emerald Creek Ice Cream where the products are all made there! While I couldn't partake in the ice cream, they had scrumptious jerky! Also during the day we had a splendid homemade picnic in the rain forest along a little creek. Many of the roads and numerous water crossings would have been wonderful to ride on a motorcycle. Back in town, Kevin took us to a place next to the city hall where there were lots of fruit bats hanging in a tree. They were quite noisy and moving around a bit but wouldn't be flying until dark.

Since we were only a few blocks from the ship Angela and I elected to walk back to the ship which we did in a meandering way along the sea wall and downtown streets. It's worth noting that there is NO swimming in the beach areas adjoining the city as it it built on reclaimed mangrove swampy areas and home to saltwater crocodiles! By crikey, I'm not tempting fate.

We ate dinner in the Lido and it was dark by 7pm so we elected to watch the movie, Sapphire Girls, at its 8pm showing in the Showtime at Sea. We had seen it previously on another cruise and it's quite good. The rest of the evening was pretty low key since there wasn't much going on around the ship.  

About a week ago, a pipe burst in the aft end of the ship on deck 6 and a number of passengers needed to be moved and many fans were installed to draw away the moisture. Tonight those were all gone.

We now have three sea days before reaching Darwin.  

While the destination is important, remember to savor our the journey.

Day 29 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 10/25/16 - Hamilton Island

Waking up early to the rumble of the propellers and turning on the bow TV channel we could see that we were once again in paradise only this time at Hamilton Island. From the Lido we could see the greenish tint to the water. Because the harbor is relatively shallow, today would be a tender port with a combination of ship based and shore based tenders.

With our 4 star Mariner status we got out on one of the earlier tenders. Upon reaching shore we obtained a free boarding ticket for the 20 minute island shuttle tour which gave us a feel for the island. Essentially the island is a water playground for Australians. There are residences and condos and hotels, and in general I'd venture a guess that they are expensive. A later visit to a local real estate office confirmed this!

After the shuttle tour we walked back over to the Catseye Beach area and snorkeled a bit in the morning seeing only a few fish. We decided to wait for the 1:30pm low tide and ate some lunch and did our online US Election voting in the Wildlife Park cafe. We then headed back to the beach at one o'clock and snorkeled quite a bit farther out. There we saw quite a few more fish and my wife saw a sting ray. Another guest reported seeing a turtle. A cool thing was that the beach hut provided full body suits called stingers which served as protection against jellyfish and the sun! After snorkeling we walked back to the marina and strolled up and down the Main Street. One of the cooler things we saw were a bunch of beautiful white Cockatoo birds that were begging for food from some people eating outside along the harbor.

Departing the harbor area we got on the last tender (one of the large shore based ones) which departed at 3:30pm and we were the last 2 passengers to scan on to the vessel (a new first for us!).  

The sailaway was one of the prettiest we've experienced. The Maasdam rotated 180 degrees and steered a zigzag course in between the numerous small islands and reefs through very green water and warm air temperatures. After showering we enjoyed a very pleasant dinner in the main dining room with another Cruise Critic couple from Ontario, Canada.  

The evening's main stage entertainment was another saxophonist from California (Pete) following which I watched one of the Terminator movies (not a favorite genre for me) before heading for bed. Tomorrow we are not due to dock in Cairns until 10am, and we have an exciting day planned.

While the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 28 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 10/24/16 - At sea to Hamilton Island

On this sea day we left the room this morning to a stronger smell of sewage and spoke with our cabin attendants who had reported the issue two days ago.

Fortunately up in the Lido for breakfast, it was a pleasant and sunny day to eat breakfast before the morning devotional time with Reverand Barry. Afterwards I went to the Windows 10 class and realized it's no longer sponsored by Microsoft. A HAL employee teaches them. These classes are very popular but for me a bit too basic. And they avoid all issues of connectivity with Apple or Android products which is sad as MANY guests have questions along those lines. I'd love to teach or share that sort of information.

As the Seattle Seahawks were playing on Sunday night football (shown here on Monday morning), we watched the game until 11:30am and went to a special Indonesian Luncheon for the guests doing the two segments of the cruise. The food was the most flavorful of the cruise so far. We adjourned back to the Crow's Nest to watch the remainder of the game which resulted in a 3-3 tie.

During the Captain's noon navigational and meteorological update, he reminded us about protecting ourselves from the Zika virus by covering up in the Indonesian ports and using bug spray (which we have!).

We then joined the afternoon speaker (Philip Creaser) presentation on Volcanoes and Limestone formations around the world many of which are World Heritage sites. He's a great speaker who doesn't read from notes! He was followed by Louis Green, an Aboriginal artist, who gave a digeridoo presentation that was quite good. He answered a number of questions about aboriginal culture and digi's.

From there we headed out to deck 6 to walk off the big lunch (20 laps or about 5 miles). The seas were calm and with a following breeze, there was no apparent wind. The temperature was quite comfortable as we are sailing north to the equator.

We took a very light dinner in the Lido as the lunch was so filling. The evening's entertainment was Vox Furtura, a men's quartet and talent finalists in Britain's Got Talent TV show. They were superb! We also took in the movie, Jane Got a Gun, before watching the end of the second Vox Furtura show.

Day 27 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 10/23/16 - Brisbane

Talk about a quickie! We arrived in Brisbane around 7am and docked at the cruise terminal located on the river that meanders through town. Since we didn't need to disembark until 9am, we had a leisurely breakfast and I uploaded a large number of my daily blogs. We met with our little group of 6 and proceeded off the ship where we met our guide for today, Charlie. Charlie is a volunteer for Brisbane Greeters which is an arm of the local government which promotes tourism. The tour is free and no tips are accepted, although contributions can be sent to the Brisbane Greeters.  

Charlie led us to the high speed ferry which would be our method of transportation from the ship to the downtown area. These ferries called Watercats are catamarans and they are a major way of getting around and are pretty cool to travel on. The ferry made multiple stops on both sides of the river before reaching our stop in downtown about an hour later. We then strolled our way to the lovely botanical gardens where the flowers and trees were beautiful, the birds prolific, and an excellent example of repurposed ground. Upon entering the garden, we spotted this unique looking vehicle which seemed to be used for hauling person's in wheel chairs. The driver parked the vehicle and exited it in his wheelchair. He was quiteapproachable and I learned that he designed the vehicle and it was constructed from the front of a wrecked vehicle and a custom rear chassis. It was VERY professionally built. I'll have pictures in my photo album which will be posted at the completion of the cruise. Leaving the garden, we walked by the technology university and towards downtown. Along with the way we saw many historical buildings including the original government office, post office, print shop, and the treasury building and many more. The latter building is now a casino. On the main shopping street, the TI office uses the very ornate lobby of a former theater. It's drop dead gorgeous!

Following a visit to the ANZAC Memorial we made our way back to the ferry for our hour ride back to the ship.

Onboard the ship we enjoyed a small snack to ride us over until dinner before watching the sailaway until the Sunday church service at 4pm. Dinner this night was back in the Main Dining Room where all three couples had RV's in addition to cruising. This led to a very energetic table discussion.

The evening's entertainment was Francis Diatschenko, a very good classical pianist from Darwin. Given that we had previously seen the movie, we adjourned to our room to watch the World Series of Poker and get to bed a little earlier. On the way back in our hallway, we detected a sewer smell. Hopefully that's not a bad sign of things to come!

While the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 26 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 10/22/16 - At sea to Brisbane

Finally another day at sea!

We met the new chaplain, Barry, from Melbourne at the devotional time and then headed to the first presentation of the day on the upcoming ports of call by Kelly and Melanie. Afterwards we had a Cruise Critic meet and greet in the Crow's Nest where we connected with other CC members. Thank you to those who came up and thanked me for the blog. I'm a bit behind in getting it posted although I keep it written on a current basis.

We had two new lecturers today but we missed the first one due to the M&G. Our digerie doo player gave another demo and the second lecture by the geologist was quite good. Gala night occurred once again and we had great table talk. The evening's entertainnentcwasxa Captain's Toast followed by the cast show of Atlantic Crossing. We concluded our evening watching the movie 'Eye in the Sky' which was very good about the use of spy satellites and drones and related equipment.

Day 25 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 10/21/16 - Sydney -2

6:45am came really early and inside the cabin was the acrid smell of smoke. I checked all of our chargers but it wasn't one of those creating the smell. We got dressed and finally looked outside where there was a significant haze in the air from what we learned later was undergrowth burning.

After breakfast, we went to our tour bus which was to take us to a Nature Park and to the Blue Mountains. The Featherdale Wildlife Park was wonderful and it was good to see the wallabies, koalas, echidnas, birds, and kangaroos. The one hour visit was too short, and it was crowded. We headed on to Katoomb where we saw the 3 Sisters and a cool aboriginal presentation. Afterwards we had a great lunch at the Heritage Hotel before heading back to the ship. We acquired some HOHO bus info and based on what we saw, we decided to change our end of cruise plans to come back and spend time in the Blue Mountains!

The tour busses arrived back around 4:15pm and there was supposed to be a Muster Drill at 4:30pm, but that was delayed until 5:00pm as it took time to clear the tour bus participants back on the ship.  

After the Muster Drill, we shoved off and began the last 29 days of this cruise for us. Up in the Crow's Nest, a group of HAL travel agents forced a number of us out of prime seats for the sailaway. I personally think that during the sailaway no group should be allocated prime and exclusive viewing areas.

After the sailaway we grabbed a quick dinbercin the Lido before watching a New Zealand movie about 2 people trying to escape from the law in the NZ outback. It was quite good! The evening entertainment was 'Listen to the Music' which introduced the cast for this segment and allowed us to meet the new cruise director, Jeremy. Afterwards I spent the next few hours in the Lido updating my blog as I was a few days behind. Fortunately tomorrow is a sea day!

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 24 - Down-under 2016 - Thu - 10/20/16 - Sydney -1

We had a leisurely wake up as we didn't need to get off the ship promptly. After breakfast we waited for the clearance for in-transit guests to leave the ship. In fact all guests and personnel had to leave the ship and pass through immigration. Once we were through immigration, we headed for the shuttle to Darling Harbor as the ship was moored at the White Bay Cruise terminal which is a nice terminal (it's just located in a remote harbor location). The shuttle dropped us off by the acquarium and we walked up to Kent Street which had a camera store that I had located online. They had none of the model I was seeking, so we walked a few more blocks to a second store which had none also. But the clerk recommended a store across the street BJ HIFI. This store didn't have it either, but he checked his online inventory and found a display model without the battery in their Broadway store which was about a 2 mile walk away. So I bought it (a great price at $266US) and had it held for me. Why you ask would I go through all of this? I have a Nikon AW100 that the display quit working at Dravuni Island while snorkeling. The replacement model, an AW130, uses the same batteries so I wouldn't need to resupply myself with another charger or battery.

So off we headed on our walk down George Street past the Great Southern Hotel where we stayed 2 years ago, through Chinatown, and to the store where we picked up the camera. I put my battery and SIM card in it, set up the settings and fired it up. It worked! Along the way we picked up a couple travel guides for Australia and at some spicy Mexican food for lunch.  

It was then a long walk back to the shuttle which took us back to the ship where we unloaded extra gear, changed clothes and headed back on the shuttle to the acquarium. From there we walked to the Sydney Opera House where we watched My Fair Lady (directed by Julie Andrews). After the performance, another couple shared a cab with us back to the ship.

Back onboard around 11:15pm, I spent another couple hours doing electronic research and attempting to set up my Australian SIM card. Since morning was going to come early, I finally had to stop without it being successfully being set up.

While the destination is important, remember to savor the journey.

Day 23 - Down-under 2016 - Wed - 10/19/16 - At Sea to Sydney 2

Today was the last day at sea for about 700 passengers. We had our final two lectures: Sandra Millikan on Melbourne and Barry Dreyer on a key Australian/NZ battle in the Vietnam war. Both were quite good. There was also the Indonesian crew show at 10:30 followed by a mass sendoff by a large number of the crew. Kiki also announced that she was leaving HAL on Thursday. I didn't hear what she was planning to do.

The evening's entertainment was a combined show of Annie Frances and Ashley Curruthers. Both were excellent. While the Marriage Game was played in the Showroom at Sea, we elected to watch a chick flick about two female cousins saving their inherited Brooklyn pastry shop. We also watched portions of the baseball playoffs.

While the destination is important, savor the journey.

Day 22 - Downunder 2016 - Tue - 10/18/16 - At Sea to Sydney 1

For many of our fellow passengers, today would be their next to last day on the ship and the daily schedule was filled with activities. Besides our morning devotional time with Father Robert, the Chief Engineer, Tom Mahon, gave a virtual tour of the engine room to a packed Wajang theater (usually this presentation is given in the Showroom at Sea but it was being used by a Mariner's award ceremony) I found the most interesting statistic to be that the ship gets 62 feet to the gallon of fuel!

We went to the awards ceremony and the luncheon that followed. Following a mile walking the deck, one o'clock found us back in the Showroom for 3 straight sessions. Sandra Millikin presented an architectural history of Melbourne, Barry Dreyer presented on the Japanese mini-sub attack on Sydney in WWII, and the cast of singers and dancers fielded questions from the audience. This group will be on the Maasdam until November 18 until 

It was the last gala night and the surf and turf was good and the fast main dining room service continued. The cast presented 'Classique' which is a favorite of ours and we've seen other versions of it on other HAL ships. We ended our night watching the movie 'Comedy loves Misery' rather than attend the final Captain's Ball.

DayDay 21 - Downunder 2016 - Mon - 10/17/16 - Noumea, New Caledonia

We woke up with a high anticipation to two snorkeling excursions today. We were first greeted by an energetic indigenous dance troupe and a quick breakfast in the Lido followed. Then as we reported to the Showroom at Sea for our excursion passes, an announcement was made over the PA system that 'due to sustained high winds, all snorkeling trips were cancelled for today'. Bummer!! We heard the other options, but deferred our decision until after returning to our stateroom to change clothes and leave our snorkeling gear behind. Back at the Showroom at Sea, we decided to take the Choo Choo Train to get a lay of the land. It was excellent, and over two hours, it gave us a perspective of various locations of the the city.

Back at the port we wandered around looking for electronic stores in search of a replacement camera for my waterproof camera who's display quit working at Dravuni Island. The supply of waterproof cameras was quite sparse and in the end I didn't purchase one. I'll look again in Sydney. We used an ATM to get some local currency for some lunch and souvenirs. We then walked back to the American Square and checked out the McDonald's. It was super crowded so we found a a little French Cafe and enjoyed some French sandwiches and sodas.

Refreshed, we went to the Noumea cultural museum which cost us only $0.50 to get in! They had a lot of artifacts, but there was virtually no explanations in English. My wife was loving it as she speaks French, I got bored so we split up and I walked across town to the WWII museum which I found to be quite good. They had an English audio guide and I listened to virtually all of the pre-recorded material in the museum. Over a million US troops passed through New Caledonia (which means New Scotland) on their way to battles in the Pacific. 

After touring the museum I made my way back to the port where I met up with my wife. We purchased some souvenirs and walked back to the park where there was free WIFI. Since most everyone from the two cruise ships was back at their respective ship, getting on the free WIFI was pretty easy. After we had checked email and Facebook, we walked back to the ship and reboarded it 20 minutes before the scheduled reboarding time of 4:30pm.

The sailaway was quite interesting because of the high winds and the jagged course and the numerous reefs to be avoided. But we made it safely out and eventually dropped off our pilot quite a ways out to sea. We took dinner in the Lido so we wouldn't have to freshen up and were then entertained by an energetic Aussie pianist, Ashley Carruthers which was followed by a To Tell the Truth game show.

Day 20 - Downunder 2016 - Sun - 10/16/16 - Mystery Island

Mystery Island will continue to be a mystery as we were unable to anchor and tender due to high winds and sea swells with projected worsening conditions throughout the day. While in the anchoring point, the Captain came on the PA system and announced we would not stop here and would have an unscheduled sea day. Kiki, our cruise director, then announced there would shortly be a revised daily schedule available by 10:30am. It was out by 9:30am.  

We watched portions of the baseball playoffs and tried walking the deck, but the wind was pretty intense and the ship was both pitching and rolling which made for an unenjoyable walk.  

Sandra Millikin gave an interesting slide show on unusual Australian buildings headlined by the Sidney Opera House.

Because it was an unscheduled sea day, we were able to make a lunch reservation in the Pinnacle Grill which was fabulous. It was so filling we decided to skip dinner. In the afternoon, Barry Dryer gave an outstanding presentation on General MacArthur and Harry Truman. We also participated in the interdenominational Sunday service before enjoying some tea in the Lido.

The evening's entertainment was a trio of guys who call themselves 'The Aussie Boys'. They were so good we came back for the 10pm show after my wife sang in karaoke.  

The ship continued to rock and roll through the day and evening. Here's hoping we'd be able to snorkel in Noumea, New Caledonia tomorrow.

Day 19 - Downunder 2016 - Sat - 10/15/16 - At Sea to Mystery Island

Once again we had a sea day. We spent much of the morning walking the deck and watching the flying fish. It's worth noting the that the flying fish in the area seem to be larger and they were flying much further. At times they seemed to fly out of sight.

Our first lecture was by Sandra Millikin on the Architecture of the Prison Colonies. It was followed by a what to see in Sydney by Kelly, our Destination Specialist. Unfortunately our ship is docking in White Bay which is a long ways from Circular Quay (pronounced Key) which is the normal cruise terminal and where much of the tourist action is found. Then Tom presented a history of New Caledonia.

Dinner was another Gala night and we had a lively discussion at our table in the stern of the Rotterdam dining room. Tom from Ottawa was a motorcyclist and we enjoyed lots of motorcycle conversation. The entertainment this night was an impressionist and comedian, Jeff Burghart, who we have seen previously on another cruise. We ended our day watching a Tom Cruise movie, Cast Away, which was filmed in Fiji and wax about a fellow who survived an airplane crash and was marooned on a desert island.

Day 18 - Downunder 2016 - Fri - 10/14/16 - Dravuni Island

It's really fun to wake up in paradise. Dravuni Island comes as close as I can probably imagine. Dravuni Is an island in Fiji with a population of 200, a nice mountain, no roads or cars, surrounded by extensive coral reefs and beaches.  

We tendered in and walked through the village to the coral reef area about 1/2 mile down the island. Unfortunately the tide was out which made the 2 hours of snorkeling difficult although the reefs were beautiful and we saw some electric blue starfish, angelfish, and many other types of small fish. We decided to hike up the small mountain, and it was very scenic and I took a number of pictures. It was also an opportunity to scope out the beach on the other side of the island. Armed with that knowledge we hiked back down the mountain and through the jungle to the new beach opposite the village.

The new beach had a nice sandy section that went out 1/4 mile with a nice reef beside it. We snorkeled there for a few hours thoroughly enjoying it until my camera batteries died. There were lots of little fish. Afterwards we hiked back to the village and enjoyed some fresh coconut milk and the meat from the coconut. I also found a lamb BBQ that one of the villagers was cooking. For $5US it was a real treat and something we try to do in destinations we visit.  

We rode the tender back to the ship to pick up our cellphones and my second camera. Then back in the village I walked around taking candid photos while my wide listened to the village men singing. All too soon we tendered back to the ship for our 4:30pm departure. The tenders were restowed, the ship raised its anchor and pivoted 180° and sailed through the narrow channel in the coral reef guided by the pilot boat and 3 other small boats that marked the reef boundaries.

I showered and prepared for what turned out to be a most unusual dinner. My first clue should have been when the attendant pouring the water referred to me by name. During our meal the dining room manager came over and thanked me for a positive comment I had made earlier in the week in response to a survey. This pointed out to me how HAL takes the comments seriously and does pass them on to the staff.

My underwater camera appears to have failed as it won't turn on the viewing screen even though the power light is on.

The cast performed a stage show, HEAT, which had an energetic Latin theme. Afterwards we watched a terrific documentary titled Eddie the Eagle about an Englishman who had the dream of being an Olympic participant.

Remember to savor the journey despite the destination being important.