Steve and Cathy's Blog

Well, during the night the sea began to kick up.  With the Great Barrier Reef to the east and the Australian mainland to our west, we figured on an easy ride.  But now the winds have shifted to the southeast at 30 knots and our heading is southeast at 17 knots.  So the waves are coming right at us and the ship is pitching. The sunrise is beautiful, though, and we have some interesting lectures to

After a 154-nautical-mile cruise during the night, we arrive at Townsville around 8:00am.  There is what appears to be a recently built cruise terminal whose dock must also serve as a container port, as there is an enormous crane right on the dock next to our ship.  We exit the ship right on time around 9:00am for our four-hour Townsville and Billabong Sanctuary excursion. Unfortunately, the PA system on the bus is on the fritz.  The

Now the very first thing that we learn about this city is how to properly pronounce the name. Peter Croyle said it best: “ It’s pronounced ‘Cans” as in “Cans of bee-ah.”  Given the worldwide relaxed reputation of the citizens of this great country, that is an apt explanation for sure. The reason we are in Cairns is pretty straightforward: we are here to visit the Great Barrier Reef.  Before we commence on that part of

The title for this post is misleading because, well, we never did make it into Cooktown.  We arrived on time around 11:00am and the ship was stopped outside the harbor.  This was a tender port, and the ship was to anchor out and we would take tenders into the town. We were up in Waves Grill having a quick lunch before our excursion, Historic Cooktown, which was to begin at 12:30pm.  All of a sudden, Cathy

The next two days are spent crossing the top of the continent/country of Australia.  The seas are fairly choppy, and there are even times when attending Peter Croyle’s lecture, which take place in Insignia Lounge in the bow of the ship, seems like a bad idea.  But that is always a gametime decision. And of course it is well that we do end up attending the one on May 1st as it is full of wonderful

We have crossed the Timor Sea and head into Darwin, Australia’s northernmost city of 146,000 residents, capital city of the Northern Territory, the population of which is only 244,000 people.  At 520,902 square miles, it is almost twice the size of Texas, which will give you an idea of how desolate the interior of Australia is. As we travel to the eight anticipated port calls in the immense country, we are sure to learn much more

We have now left Asia. We began this leg of the journey on March 1stin the Maldives, an island chain off of India, and we left Komodo Island, Indonesia on April 28th.  That is nearly two months where we made stops in twenty-four ports in twelve countries. What did we learn in that time?  Our answer: Where do we start?  Each of the countries and each of the cities in those countries had their own story

There is only one reason to visit here, but it is a great reason: to see Komodo dragons, the largest lizards on earth.  They live in Komodo National Park, a 1,000-square mile park spanning three of the five islands that are the only places on earth where they live. Our ship anchors out in the harbor around 10:00am.  We are all told to meet in Insignia Lounge at 10:00am, where we will each be assigned a

If you looked at the pictures of the busy tourist section of Bali that we posted yesterday, these pictures will look out of place even though they are of the same harbor.  We are going to be exploring a very different Bali today.  A beautiful day is upon us. Today our excursion is Balinese Arts & Crafts, a five-hour tour of several villages, each of which houses artists in a particular craft. Bali has a reputation

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