Steve and Cathy's Blog

We are rounding the island of Borneo, passing through the Karlmata Strait and into the Java Sea.  Sumatra is on our starboard side and then so shall be the island of Java.  It is shallow as seas go, with a mean depth of only 151 feet.  During the last ice age, this was exposed dry land over which Asiatic fauna migrated into western Indonesia. Today Steve finally finishes his posts on Hong Kong.  For him, this

We will start this post with a picture of the sunrise at 6:05am today.  These scenes never get old. For the fifth time on this journey, we are crossing the equator, this time at around 10:00am today.  We are entering the Southern Hemisphere again and it is autumn.  Not that you would know it where we are now, but we will feel the effects of our southerly course in the next couple of weeks. It’s been

We get up at the usual 5:45am and are greeted by yet another beautiful sunrise.  I keep putting these photos in our posts because 1) they are very beautiful and 2) it is one of the wonderful benefits we get by being at sea and it is part of our voyage.  The scene is a constantly changing one that is a great way to start the day.  These four photos below are taken between 6:30 and

As seems to be the case often, we are treated to a beautiful sunrise, a picture of which heads up this post..  It’s around 6:00am, and we have a fairly quiet day ahead of us.   Steve is determined to file a (long overdue) post on our first day in Hong Kong, and Peter Croyle will acquaint us with Kuching. In fact, since it is a quiet day without much to discuss, we will introduce Kuching, Malaysia,

The day begins with a spectacular sunrise as we approach our next port of call.  This bodes well for our day in the Sultanate of Brunei. Brunei is, in and of itself, an artificial construct, much as you would describe Law Vegas NV.  Without the power provided by Hoover Dam, how would a city, in the middle of a desert, blazing with lights, exist?  In the same way, Brunei exists as a modern, prosperous kingdom because

The island Of Borneo is the third largest island on earth, and “is divided among three countries: Malaysia and Brunei in the north, and Indonesia to the south. Approximately 73% of the island is Indonesian territory. In the north, the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak make up about 26% of the island. Additionally, the Malaysian federal territory of Labuan is situated on a small island just off the coast of Borneo. The sovereign state

The day starts with a beautiful sunrise.  We have been seeing several of these as we are on the port side of the ship, which faces the east as we are heading south since we left Japan. Today’s Sea Day is packed with activities.  Not for us, mind you, but if you are a person who is a veteran cruiser and you boarded Insignia for just that purpose, you will have a day so packed with

As with anything in life, sometimes you just have to be at the right place at the right time to happen upon something really cool.  Our day starts with just such a thing. We might have mentioned that our day always begins at 5:45am when room service delivers a tray with coffee, milk and a croissant to our stateroom.  Fortunately, they call first, and so they are our wakeup service as well.  Getting up this early

Originally, our itinerary called for us to arrive here at 8:00am and leave at 6:00pm.  So we had booked an eight-hour excursion, Old and New Manila, for 9:00am.  Peter Croyle has prepped us about the city with his Enrichment Lecture on the subject.  Two significant things that he has pointed out: 1) it is the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia, 2) it is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, and 3) because

This is hard to admit, but there comes a time when these Sea Days are days we look forward to in order to recharge and catch up.  We just finished five straight days being in ports and were eager to take advantage of every minute.  And we did, so these next three days are a welcome respite. April 14th:  we wake up to some of the roughest weather we have had on the entire voyage.  Not