FEB. 28th -- MAKASSAR, INDONESIA

We slept until 9:00 AM!!
Gawd, at this rate we'll live forever -- no stress!

We are already in port.  We arrived in Makassar at 8:00 AM.

Entrance to harbour - port side

Mosque right in the harbour

Habour building in Makassar

Harbour buildings - starboard side

Anyway, by the time we wash and get dressed, we have missed breakfast entirely.
We have coffee out on the Pool Deck.

We did not book a tour for today...we opted to stay on the boat.
Sorry, but it must be said.
The temperature today is 31°C/88°F and with wicked humidity.

We have a quiet afternoon.
We have our usual evening routine...Stars Lounge and Compass Rose for dinner.
When we get back to our room, we have received notification that our docking in Bangkok has been changed to Laem Chang.  So, because of this change, a lot of the excursions were cancelled or the timing is changed.  The excursion we were considering was "Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha", which was a 5-hr. tour.  The schedule shows this tour as 9 1/2 hours now...it is a 2 1/2 hour bus ride each way.  Too long!  We'll have to have another look.

We'll have lots to discuss tomorrow over our coffee.

FEB. 27th -- EN ROUTE TO MAKASSAR, INDONESIA

We are up early this morning.
It is a sea-day and we have to get to the pool area early to get a lounge chair in the shade.  We are there and in position by 9:00 AM.
We have our morning coffee on the Pool Deck...we read the paper and review our upcoming excursions.

Our little Canadian newspaper

Upon review and now that we have a better idea of what they do, we decide to change some of our tours.

We have a light lunch in Compass Rose.

We get back to our room and Kelly Morris has dropped off a book for Barry to read.  It is called "12 Rules for Life" by Jordan B. Peterson.  Barry heads to our balcony to start reading it.

I head down to Deck 6 & the Navigator Lounge with my Kindle.  I have a cappuccino, iced water, read and listen to classical music.

We go down to the Stars Lounge at 5:30 PM and meet Carol & Rich (from Naples) and have a pre-dinner drink with them.  We discuss the Oscars and our tours.  Also, there is a rumour that there are some issues with our docking in Bangkok and our location might change.  This could effect all of the excursions.  We discussed it but the bottom line is, we'll have to wait and see.

Light dinner at Compass Rose.
Back to our room and we "stargaze" for awhile and then to bed.

FEB. 26th -- BALI, DAY 2

 We slept until 9:30 AM...11 hours!!!  WOW.

We do not have an excursion today and the temperatures are the same as yesterday, so we head to the Pool Deck for the day.  We are in and out of the pool all day.
We have nothing planned for this evening.

We are departing Bali at 5:00 PM this evening.
We go out to the Promenade Deck on Deck 11 at 5:30 PM to take pictures of our ship leaving the port.

On our way out -- starboard side

On our way out -- port side

Taken with the sun behind me

Busy Harbour

Busy, busy

On Deck 10 there is a "Sail Away Celebration" (they celebrate everything around here), so we go down and have a glass of champagne.

Sail-Away Champers

We chat with Mark for a while and then head to our cabin.

We order Room Service again...Marian has Chicken Caesar Salad and Barry has a Pepperoni Pizza...and we watch a movie.
After the movie we sit outside and the stars are incredible.  Directly in front of us, along the horizon, we watch a lightning display...awesome... but we don't get the rain.

Bed.

FEB. 25th -- BALI, INDONESIA

🎶♪Bali Hai is calling... 🎶♫

The entry into Bali's Habour is beautiful.  It is very large and very busy.

Beautiful

Para-sailing

Busy.

We arrive at the dock at 12:00 noon and our excursion is at 12:30 PM.  It is called "Discover Bali" and it is 5 1/2 hours long.  We get off the boat and there are Balinese dancers on the dock welcoming us.

Balinese dancers on the dock.

I have to mention the temperatures again.  It is 32°C/91°F...approximately and it is very humid as it is their rainy-season.  I cannot believe how much the heat is bothering me!
My tolerance is really low...I feel "off", not sick but not terrific, and it is sucking all the energy out of me.  I drink a bottle of water and then sweat it out.  Hopefully, my body will adjust.

Anyway, our first stop is to see "batik" being made.  This cloth is indicative of Bali.  It is a process still largely done by hand.

Stamps used for some prints

Our next stop is to see a Balinese show...it was really hard to follow the plot but glad to have seen it one time.

The band.

Monkey...they're sacred in Bali & in most plays

Every finger movement, foot, hand movement means something.

 Then we went to the Bali Bird Park.  We walked around for about an hour, looked at all the birds.  It was quite wonderful.  They put on a show with a couple of falcons retrieving things and returning to the trainer.

Gorgeous...he almost looks fake.

We went to a Balinese Community.  This is how the people of Bali live...in a community setting with a kitchen building, sleeping quarters, living room building, central pavilion for wedding ceremonies, etc.

Our guide, Su....I know, "a boy named Sue"

Courtyard of the community

Community building

After the community, we head back to the boat.  We have been out for 4 1/2 hours but have seen everything on our excursion list.
We get back to the boat and change our clothes and go out to the balcony and have a cold beer.  We are in port overnight so there is lots to watch in the habour.
We decide to stay in tonight and get Room Service.
We get Hamburger & Fries and watch "The Right Stuff" on TV.
We are in bed by 10:30 PM.

FEB. 24th -- DRAGON DAY!!!

We wake up at 8:00 AM, open the drapes and right in front of us is Komodo Island, Indonesia.  This is just what we talked about -- what would be so great about this trip.
Everyday you wake up and you are somewhere else.
Everyday is a new adventure.

First sighting of Komodo

Our view

Our adventure today is to see the Komodo Dragon!

This is a small and very pretty island, population is about 2000 and it has one attraction.  The Komodo Dragon.  The size of the dragons range from about 2.5 metres to 3.5 metres ( 8 to 11 feet) long.  They aren't really dragons, however, they are the largest lizards on earth and an endangered species.  We were given "rules" when we signed up for this excursion...they are:

1. Don't wear red or carry anything red
2. Do not attempt to get close to or to feed the dragons.
3. Stay on the paths
4. Stay with your group and your guides at all times

Alrighty then...and away we go.

The temperature is about 38°C/100°F...it is humid and downright steamy on the island.  Our excursion which is simply called "Komodo Dragons" is a 2-hour walking tour at 12:30 PM.  We are tendered across to the island.
We are dropped off and we have a long walk along a long pier.
Barry gets off the tender, starts walking and yells "TAXI"... everyone cracks up.
Our tour is 2 hours, but they let us switch to the shorter walk which only one hour.

Just like Jurassic Park

Statue inside the gates

The beauty of a Zoom Lens

A baby

Lethargic.

Off we go into the woods and within 5 minutes we are all sweating.  About 30-minutes into the walk we are at the watering hole and the dragons are laying around and very lethargic (due to the heat, I'm sure).  The islanders do not feed the dragons, they hunt their own food.  They eat deer and wild pigs as well as the young Komodo dragons.
Our walk turns into a 2-hour walk and we arrive back at the dock the same time as all the other tours.
We then have to "run the gauntlet" through the natives and their children, who are selling their crafts and souvenirs.  This is our first encounter, this trip, with hawkers.

We go back to the boat.  Our clothes soaked through with sweat and we stink of insect repellant.  We have a cool shower, a cold beer and a 1-hour nap.

We meet Jim & Alice (Brits living in South Carolina) in the Stars Lounge at 6:30 for pre-dinner drinks.  We all have "dragon" stories.  We then go to Compass Rose for dinner and get to know each other.  After dinner, Alice suggest a night cap at the Galileo Lounge.  "Oh no", I thought "not a final-final!!!"

Jim & Alice

So,  2 hours and 3 drinks later...also dancing our asses off...we head to our cabin.
Home & bed @ 1:00 AM.
We don't anchor until noon tomorrow...Thank gawd.

FEB. 23rd -- EN ROUTE TO KOMODO ISLAND, INDONESIA

We have a quiet day at sea today on our way to Komodo Island in Indonesia.

We have coffee on our balcony and see 1000's of flying-fish.  The are small, bird-like fish that skim over the water and then dive into a wave.  We see schools of them.
It is still very hot today but with a light breeze.
It is too hot for me on the Pool Deck, so I go down to the Navigator Lounge and grab a seat by a window.

I took my Kindle to read, listened to classical music and had a cappuccino. What a lovely, soothing & quiet afternoon.

That night we go to the Star's Lounge and have a pre-dinner drink.
Dinner...back to our room & a movie.

A very restful day.
We set our clocks back 30 minutes tonight.

FEB. 22nd -- DARWIN, AUSTRALIA

We have arrived in Darwin.  It is our last stop in Australia.

Darwin Harbour

First sighting

Sunrise

Little known fact was that Darwin was bombed on Feb. 19, 1942 by the Japanese and they were actually hit harder than Pearl Harbour. (Gotta love those Enrichment Lectures!)
This is shown, in part, in the movie "Australia" starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman.
Anyway....

It is a "killer" today.  It's 38°C/100°F and that equals "oh my gawd it's hot"!!!
Our scheduled excursion for today was cancelled about a week ago and we decided to just walk into town and do our own thing.
We do NOT walk into town...it's too hot and all up-hill.  There is a free shuttle and that is just fine for us.

We walk around and investigate.  Nice town.
At about 10:30 AM we spot an Irish pub, called Shenanigans (great name, right?) with air conditioning and we head on over.

My frosty cold XXXX Gold

Great signs in pub

Barry's pick

I have my favourite XXXX Gold (and probably my last) and Barry has a Kilkenny.  They are ice-cold and lovely.
Barry ends up ordering Bangers & Mash (sausages, mashed potatoes & onion gravy) and I have some Crocodile Bites which were very good -- chewy, but good.


We take the shuttle back to the boat around 2:00 PM.

At 7:00 PM,  we have a World Cruise dinner event called "A Taste of Wild Australia" and it is a dinner buffet.
They have all the usual suspects...marinated kangaroo, emu bites, Australian beef tenderloin & prawns, crocodile skewers with all kinds of sides, salads and wonderful desserts.

My birthday buddy, Kelly & his wife, Sandra

Here we are...the end of a fun evening.

We sit with Kelly & Sandra from Alberta.  Kelly is my "birthday buddy"as we have the same birthday.  We had a lot of fun with them.

Back to our room.
We turn our clocks back one hour tonight.
G'night.

Goodbye Australia!!