Another beautiful sunrise greets us as we travel through the Java Sea.
It is a warm and pristine day, and we pass the morning quietly while anticipation of our arrival in Bali grow, as our ship glides by the beautiful Indonesian scenery.
We have lunch in the Waves Grill and say good bye to one of our very favorite dining staff members, Evica (pronounced Eee-veet’-sa) from Croatia. His contract is completed tomorrow morning. He will get off and spend a month here in Bali before heading home. We have our picture taken with him, and another one taken with him and Anatole, another Croatian and one of our favorite people who work on Insignia.
Our patience is rewarded around 1:30pm as Bali comes into view from Deck 10, where we have gone to watch Insignia sail into the harbor. Wow, we quickly begin to understand why this is called one of the planet’s favorite vacation spots! The water is dotted with small motorboats, people parasailing, dozens of small excursion boats, water taxis and ferries. The peninsula on our port side is covered with red tile-roofed houses, hotels, beautiful beaches and hundreds of people enjoying the sun.
Our tugs come out to greet us and take us into the dock on the other side from all the tourist activity. It is a very small, narrow harbor with some obviously shallow water, so the maneuvering has to be precise.
It takes about half an hour to slowly and carefully turn us around and nudge us into the dock. We are parked about two hundred yards from a large Liquid Natural Gas tanker unloading its cargo (The enviro scolds in America would have a heart attack to see such a ship parked virtually next to a cruise ship with a thousand people aboard. Not here. What should that tell us about LNG ships?).
We have a big event tonight, an Around The World event for which we must meet in Insignia Lounge at 5:15, so the rest of the afternoon is passed resting up for the evening entertainment.
Around 5:30pm, we disembark in the Port of Benoa and about one hundred and fifty of us board buses. We are heading for one of the many, many resorts in Bali. This one is the gorgeous five-star Taman Bhagawan Hotel and Resort. Right off the bus, we are greeted by beautiful young Balinese women in native costume, are each given a scarf that is a typical Balinese garment worn by both men and women, and walk into this huge courtyard where the event will unfold. The walkway is lined with more beautiful young women in native costume, each of whom greets each guest. Brian O’Dell and I are snapping photos like crazy.
We enter the dining area and are offered sparkling wine, red and white wine, beer, and soft drinks as we make our way to our assigned tables. We are spending the evening with the O’Dells, the Rosenthals and Pat Watt, and we see that our table is very nicely situated to see tonight’s entertainment that will take place after a delicious buffet dinner of genuine Indonesian food. The sun is setting as we begin to roam from station to station filling our plates with all kinds of interesting dishes. What a feast. Of course, along with the food, wait staff is serving wine and beer to us throughout the meal.
Even before we had finished dinner, the entertainment began. Bali has a tremendously interesting culture, much of it due to their Balinese Hindu religion. For at least an hour, we were treated to a narrated set of five or six performances. It was dazzling, and a wonderful introduction to this culture we have been so anxious to see.
Cathy and Barbara O’Dell took advantage of a bus going back to the ship around 8:15. Steve and Brian stayed around until there was just one table of about fifteen Oceania guests and staff. We closed the event. It was a very fun time, and they returned around 10:30pm. We have been anticipating this event from the beginning of our journey, and it most certainly met those expectations. What a start to our visit!
