MONDAY, MAR 1ST--AT SEA

Wish you could have seen the beautiful full moon last night shining down over the ocean. We were enjoying more great food and service at a table for two next to a window where we had this awesome view. Next to our table was the Captain’s table and his phone rang and he abruptly left the dining room. We then noticed the ship slowing to a near stop. He returned about 15 minutes later and I said, “Looks like we have stopped”. His reply was, “We have a mechanical problem and have slowed”. During his daily 9am PA, Captain Dag said we had slowed due to “technical problem” and would be delayed arriving in Manila but hopefully we would be there by 10:30am or maybe noon. The crew is very disappointed also because many of them are Philippino and are looking forward to visiting with their families for a few hours. I have just learned from a “reliable source” that our problem was a pretty serious “technical problem” (not life threatening so do not worry) and that consideration was given to proceeding direct from here to Hong Kong for repairs. We are making good speed again and the excellent engineering department has fixed the problem for now anyway. I think it will be interesting when we arrive in Manila and what may happen with our itinerary after that. Suppose to go to China. So another smooth night of sailing in the South China Sea last night, and as I said, with a full moon hanging over us lighting up the ocean. Not a cloud in the sky today with smooth seas. Absolutely perfect cruising weather with nice breeze and 81F. Just checked Shanghai, China, weather, where we are to be this Friday, and high is suppose to be in upper 40’s. That is huge adjustment for us! George and I came in 2nd in shuffleboard tournament this morning. Mike & Bob are tough opponents though. Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby was one of the lecturers this morning and Rebecca said she was very interesting. I went to gym as have a pound to lose. I had a Slim Fast bar again for lunch today also. This afternoon I am just going to relax and do nothing. I am thinking of sitting our on our balcony and just watch the deep blue ocean water pass by. In a couple of days we will be passing through the part of the South China Seas where our naval aircraft carriers were deployed for years during the war in Southeast Asia, more commonly called Viet Nam War. Thousands of combat air strikes were launched off these carriers and some did not return. I flew over this area 78 times on my combat missions from Guam to SEA. I just want to sit and reflect about those days, 38 years ago. In two weeks I will be stepping foot in Viet Nam for the first time. I’ve only seen it from 30,000 feet high overhead. I need to do this.

SUNDAY, FEB 28TH--BRUNEI

It is 1pm and we just got back on ship from our “Panoramic Brunei” scheduled 3 hour tour that lasted 4 hours and did not show us what it said we would see. It said we were to see the Sultan’s Palace but we could only see the roof from two miles away. His palace has 1788 rooms! I gave you the cost of it in yesterday’s port. Brunei is approximately the size of the state of Delaware but the Sultan gets about $140 million a day from its oil and gas production. That is why he provides medical care and education free for the less than 400,000 citizens. They have a very small military and very little crime. Alcohol is banned here. I did manage to get some nice photos of a couple of Mosques. We also stopped for tea and very nice snack buffet at the 5 star, Empire Hotel and Resort. As you will see it is a grand hotel and very beautiful. We are only about 50 miles from the Equator so as you would expect it is very hot and humid here. The people are all happy since the Sultan is very generous with them. Their houses (partly subsidized and then given 50 year interest free mortgages) are quite nice, especially when compared to what we saw in the Tahitian and Indonesian islands. A lot of people live along the Brunei River, actually in the water, on houses built on stilts. I will be attaching a photo of that also. Good news is our ship’s internet is back in operation. We could not even call off the ship for about two days. Just in case you were wondering why no posts to blog, that is reason. Rebecca still has head cold but seems to slowly be getting better. She has not felt well for the past two weeks and says she is tired of being sick! Great dinner in dining room last night as we both had French fried soft shell crabs for appetizer and the beef Wellington for entrée. Fantastic show with ship’s young singers and dancers last night. Bjorn, the Chief Engineer, called our suite yesterday evening and personally invited us to join him for dinner on March 3rd. He will be flying back to Dallas when we arrive in Hong Kong, March 10th. Well, we sail out at 4pm and will be at sea tomorrow before arriving in Manila on Tuesday. We will be going to church service at 5:15 this evening. Remember to read the post below this as I am putting them on blog at same time so you haven’t read it yet.

SATURDAY, FEB 27TH--AT SEA

We enjoyed our dinner in Prime 7 last night and the fantastic show with the Broadway songs by JR. Prior to dinner we had another “block party” and took a couple pictures that I will upload to the blog as soon as I can. Rebecca was feeling dizzy so went back in suite after about 15 minutes. Not sure what that was all about as she was ok a few minutes later and did go to dinner. We are cruising in the southern portion of the South China Sea today on our way to Brunei. Brunei has extensive off shore oil drilling making it a very rich country. Actually, it is ruled by a Sultan who is the richest man on the Earth. He had a $300,000,000 palace built for himself, his two wives, and 11 children. His 400,000 countrymen enjoy a very high standard of living and most services, ie, education and health care are provided free. Internet and FOX News channel are not available today due to a satellite problem. Both are feeds from the same satellite. Not sure if it will be back up today or not so am writing this on a Word program and will cut and paste it on blog when satellite is available again. We went to a 10am lecture by Sandra Bowern titled, “South-East Asia, Brunei, and the Philippines”. Then at 11am I attended lecture by Professor Sheldon Simon, an Asian politics specialist, entitled “An Overview of Asia in World Politics”. Both lectures were very good and nice to learn some things about what we will be seeing during the World Cruise. Then at noon I went to an informal meeting for veterans of the Armed Services. We had 7 guys there. Peter, from Great Britain, was most interesting as he was part of the British force that landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day Invasion. I could have listened to his stories about D-Day all day long. So for lunch today we dined in our suite on a Slim Fast bar. We have to cut back on all this eating. I have not mentioned the sailing conditions for several days. That’s because we have had smoooooooth sailing with lots of sun. Ship’s internet was down last night and all day today. Technician and parts are being flown to meet us in Brunei.

FRIDAY, FEB 26TH--DAY TWO IN SINGAPORE

We were to sail from Singapore at 1pm but the Captain says they have another engine problem so will be delayed until 3pm now. I will start this now and finish it after my 2pm croquet and 3pm darts tournaments. I uploaded the pictures I took yesterday onto the blog this morning so there are some new photos to view. Our tour yesterday was very interesting and our guide was very informative, probably best guide to date. There were two very nice, air conditioned buses of us on this tour agenda. Singapore is one of the 20 smallest countries in the world. It is an island just a couple of miles south of the Malaysian Peninsula and is approximately 20 X 40 miles in size. There are just over 4 million people living on the small island so 80% of them live in the hundreds of high rise apartment buildings that you see in my photos. 50% of the people are Hindu with the rest Muslim, Catholic, and Christian. Each of the apartment building has to have all four religions living in them in certain proportions. Singapore was a British colony from 1824 until it declared its independence in 1963. So it is now the Republic of Singapore on the island of Singapore and the capital city is Singapore. There is very little crime here as punishment is harsh. For example, bringing drugs into the country or armed robbery is a hanging offense. The city is also EXTREMELY clean. As you can see from my photos taken in a local market, everything is spotless. Note the lovely fresh vegetables that are brought in daily from Malaysia, Viet Nam, and Thialand. The meat and fish are also very fresh and brought is from other countries nearby. There is no land for agriculture here so all foodstuffs are imported. In fact most everything is imported. When we were in the market there was no odor from the fish so you know it was very fresh. Although we did not go downtown, it is very modern with deluxe hotels and modern shopping complexes. Our next stop after the market was at the WWII war cemetery of Kranji. The Japanese invaded Singapore in Feb 1941 and the British were force to surrender 7 days later. 2000 Indian, British, Australian, and Malayan soldiers were killed and 80,000 taken prisoners of war. Our next stop was at the POW camp where we visited a museum with artifacts, drawings made by the POW’s, and some photos of this hellacious camp. The Japanese tortured, starved, and used POW’s as laborers. 30,000 of the 40,000 Indian POW’s fought for the Japanese against the Allies in Burma. Only 6,000 POW’s survived their 3 ½ years in captivity before being liberated by American and Australian forces. So, enough history for today. We are sailing again from the port of Singapore, the world’s busiest port. Tomorrow will be a day at sea before arriving in Muara, Brunei on Sunday, our time. The port after that will be Manila in the Philippines and many of the crew are from the Philippines so they are getting more excited by the day. Several of our favorite waiters and bar staff will be leaving the ship then so we will really miss them. Tonight we are going to the steakhouse, Prime 7, with Allan & Carolyn for dinner at 8pm. There is another “block party” this evening from 5:30 to 6pm. Again, this is when we will take our wine glasses into the hallway outside our doors and meet our neighbors on aft of deck 6, where we are. Was lots of fun last time and should be more fun this time as we will know most of neighbors, may have some new ones though.. Going to showroom after dinner as JR of cruise staff will be performing again. He got a standing ovation after his last show.

THURSDAY, FEB 25TH--SINGAPORE

Oh, my gosh! It is 10:15pm and I am just getting to the blog post. We were delayed getting into Singapore harbor dock due to ship traffic in the harbor. So our tour was delayed getting started and ending. We had a fantastic tour but was too long and I did not get off the bus at the last stop which was a Hindu temple. Probably missed some colorful photos so please forgive me but my knees were hurting and also neck pain. We got back on ship at 5:45pm and our neighbor was having a birthday dinner in French restaurant at 6:30 for 12 guests so had to make quick shower and change. Actually we had the whole restaurant, Signatures, to the 12 of us so was like a private restaurant and was so nice. Caroline, our next door neighbor, was celebrating her 72nd birthday today. It was a very nice party and the Signature’s staff were great. Please forgive me as I am exhausted from our nearly 7 hour tour today. I just uploaded pictures from our last port, Semarang. So tomorrow I will try to tell you more about today’s great tour and get those pics uploaded. I am exhausted now. We cancelled tomorrow’s tour and will do Singapore downtown with our friends. The ship sails at 1pm so do not have much time to spare. Tomorrow I will tell you about our adventures today.

WEDNESDAY, FEB 24TH--AT SEA

I have no idea what happened to time today. It is already 6pm and did not get pictures uploaded that I took yesterday at Borobudur. I barely have time to write this so it may be short. Have to be at dinner tonight in an hour. Allan is showing us and another couple his “unbelievable” (according to him) card trick after dinner. So Rebecca is now down in doctor’s office again. She coughed a lot again last night but today she says she is feeling better. At 10am I entered shuffle board contest with George as partner again. We have won last two tournaments but came in second today. The guys that beat us are leaving ship tomorrow in Singapore. Good! At 11am we went to another of Sandra Bowern’s lectures. This one on history of Singapore. At noon Allan, ex-Marine, and I, ex-Air Force, went to meeting of veterans. We had 2 Navy, 2 Marines, and 2 Air Force guys show up and had a great time sharing “war stories”. After lunch I had a croquet tournament at 2pm and Baggo tournament at 3pm. Lost both but lots of fun. Then went to gym for 1 ½ hours to workout. Rebecca is not working out until she gets better and that bums her out. If you know her well, you know she is afraid of gaining even 1 single pound. Dinner and show last night were great. Tonight we are going up to La Veranda for a less formal dinner. Then we will go to the show room to hear Karen Beckett, the Australian singer, perform again. Tomorrow we dock in Singapore at 9am and we have a 6 hour, “Round Island Tour” leaving ship at 9:15. It is the end of the second segment of the World Cruise so passengers will be leaving and new ones coming. The General Manager, Michael, said there will be 50 less passengers on the Singapore to Hong Kong segment. We will remain over night and depart Singapore at 1 pm the next day. Right now, we are crossing the Equator again and heading northbound.

TUESDAY, FEB 23RD--SEMARANG, JAVA, INDONESIA

Up really early for me today as had 6:15 tour departure from ship. Told Rebecca she better stay on ship today and try to get better so I went on tour alone. I wanted to get some photos of the temple since I came all this way to Java. First, want to say we had a great time last night at dinner with Bjorn, the Chief Engineer, and Gergana, the shops manager. Ok, now for my “Monumental Borobudur” tour experience. There were 9 buses of us and we all left at the same time as had a police escort for the 2 ½ hour drive each way. There was one police car in lead with siren going and one who would chase cars away if they got between any of the buses. The buses never had to stop the whole way which was incredible considering all the traffic on the roads. We went right through the stop lights. I felt like I was in the Presidential motorcade. I will say it again Regent is FIRST CLASS and is taking our security seriously. So about half way to the temple we stopped for coffee, tea, Indonesian snacks, and restroom break. Same thing at same place on way back to ship. Our guide talked most of the time on our morning drive with information about the island of Java and its people, as well as info about the Temple. We arrived at the Borobudur Temple at 9:30. It was sunny and very hot. I did not climb the steps to the top of the temple due to my bad knees but several folks did. I got some photos from ground level. I also got some photos of the 10,000 foot, active volcano with smoke coming out of it. I did not last long in the hot sun so went on down to the restaurant (on the temple grounds) where we were to have an Indonesian lunch buffet. I got a good seat right in front of the stage where local dancers and a band preformed. Food was so-so but it was a very nice venue and show was very good. The buses, with escort, departed at noon for our trip back to ship with refreshment stop enroute again. We arrived back at ship at 3pm and we just departed at 4pm for Singapore. I took 120 pictures today but will not put them all on the blog site. Will take me some time to edit and upload them so may not be done this evening. Tomorrow is a day at sea again and will arrive in Singapore on our Thursday (your Wednesday). This will be end of the 2nd segment of the world cruise so many passengers will be leaving us again and we will get some more new ones. There will be a lot of empty suites next segment (Singapore to Hong Kong) however. Well, Rebecca is still coughing some this afternoon despite the $520 doctor bill we got from her two visits yesterday. So I am sending her back down this evening for another nebulizer treatment. Want her healthy before we get to Singapore. We will dine along in Compass Rose (main dining room) tonight. I requested a special seafood dinner for the two of us. We will be having clam chowder, French fried soft shell crab for appetizer, and entrée of fried shrimp with a baked potato. Unfortunately the regular menu for tonight is a great one. Probably go to show as it is production show with ship’s young singers and dancers. Now I can say I have been there and done that at Borobudur as I took pictures and bought the T-shirt!! 5 bucks for the T-shirt.

MONDAY, FEB 22ND--AT SEA

We had a great time at dinner last night with Jamie, cruise director, and Dana, his wife. Rebecca has been coughing for several days now but is bad when she lays down. So last night she coughed from 10pm to 1am continuously. I took her to see ship’s doctor this morning and he says she has really bad case of bronchitis. Half of the ship’s passengers are coughing so it is going around. If untreated it hangs on for weeks. So he gave us lots of drugs and put her on a machine where she breathed a vapor with medicine in it for 15 minutes. Think they called it a nubulizer or something like that. Haven’t gotten the bill yet but other passengers say to expect it to be over $500. We bought travel insurance, thankfully!! So she has to go back this evening to let him listen to her chest again and maybe another vapor treatment $$. This doctor is VERY nice and everyone likes him. We are suppose to dock in Semarang which is on the island of Java and is Indonesian at around 5pm this evening. We will still be dining with the Chief Engineer and shops manager tonight at 7:30 as it is also formal dress tonight. Not sure if we will go to the show at 9:30 as it is the Australian pianist again. Besides we have a 8 ½ hour tour that departs at 6:15 tomorrow morning. It is 3 hour bus ride each way to see “Borobudur”. It is one of the world’s most photographed Buddhist temple sites. It is a massive temple that took nearly a century to build back in 800 AD and was not discovered for nearly a thousand years. It’s a lot of bus riding but came all this way so will go take some pictures. May not post to blog tomorrow as is long day touring. Going to play in darts tournament now.

SUNDAY, FEB 21ST--BALI, INDONESIA

I had planned on getting a lot of good photos today since I was hiring a car and driver for the day. Well, that didn’t happen. Rebecca coughed most of the night again so thought it best we stay on the ship today. I got in a two hour workout this morning before we had a bite for lunch. Not sure what happened to the day but it is already 3pm. We will have to get “cleaned up” early as our church service is at 5:15 this evening. At 7:30 we will be dining with the cruise director, Jamie, and his wife & social hostess, Dana. I assume there will be another 2 or 3 couples also invited. Poor Jamie is probably getting frustrated with me as I have had to call reception a couple more times lately about the Horizon Lounge music being too loud and I can hear it in our suite. Tomorrow night is a formal night and we have been invited to dine at the Chief Engineer’s table again. We had reservations for Prime 7 so reluctantly gave them up. We had a great time dining with Bjorn last time so did not want to pass up the opportunity to do it again. We will be sailing at 5pm today and will be at sea tomorrow on our way to the Indonesian island of Java. Rebecca has appt to get her hair cut in the afternoon and I will probably be playing some more games. Oh, yes, the Indonesian show last night was fantastic. The dances are very unique and costumes very colorful. Our special pre-show dinner in Signatures was disappointing. The cabaret show following dinner was quite good with a lovely Australian singer, Chloe Dallimore, performing for us. I only attached 8 new pictures today. First six was of our purchases yesterday and last two of flowers.

SATURDAY, FEB 20TH--BALI, INDONESIA

Up early as we dropped anchor on the island of Bali at 7am. We tendered ashore for our “Ancient Bali” tour at 8:30 with our friends Allan & Carolyn. Once again we had a very nice, small air conditioned bus and there were only 22 in our group. When we stepped ashore we were greeted (as you will see in photos) by beautiful Balinese girls and a Balinese band. We were literally attacked every time we got on and off our bus today by locals trying to sell us all kinds of hand-made things. They followed us on motor bikes to every stop the bus made on the tour. We had a nice 30 minute ride through the countryside seeing lots of rice fields, their primary crop, before our first stop was at the ancient village of Tenganan. The government makes them rotate crops-rice, soybeans, and sweet corn. Anyway, the village was very interesting and once again lots of hand made clothing, wood carvings, pottery, and you name it! The Balinese love to bet so they have rooster fighting and even cock roach fighting which they bet on. The roosters are treated well with special feed and they even massage them. We went into a home that certainly was not like yours and mine as you will see in photos. In back of house with no walls separating them were the pig pens. In fact they were next to a cooking area!! Our guide said the Balinese do not eat meat (chicken, pork, or beef) except for special celebrations. They normally eat seafood and lots of rice and fresh vegetables & fruits. Bali is mostly Hindu unlike the rest of Indonesia which is 95% Muslim. Hence, there are thousands of temples on Bali and every house has a small “family temple” always located on northeast side of their houses. There is a caste system in Bali and there are 4 classes of people. Our guide said he was lowest class and it all depends on what you are born into. Each class has a talking dialect and if he talks to a higher class person he has to speak in his dialect and visa versa. First question when they meet someone new is to ask what their class is. Fascinating class society, religion, and village customs. Another interesting fact is menstruating women are not allowed to be in public as they are considered, “not clean”. Also the family land is passed down to the sons, not daughters. They are expected to marry a man with land. Next stop was at the Royal Palace of the King back in late 1800’s. Not one of my favorite stops but got some photos for you. Last stop was at Rama Resort Hotel right on the bay for some Indonesian snacks and drinks. Here we were treated to a Balinese show with band and colorfully costumed dancers. Then back to the harbor. We bought some Balinese handicrafts again today. I will try to take a picture of them for tomorrow’s post. Everything is very inexpensive here and they expect you to “bargain” with them. Our guide said to pay about 70% of what they first asked. Tomorrow we were suppose to go on an 8 ½ Regent excursion called “Discover Bali”. But I found a guy today that has an air conditioned van and he will give us day tour for 6 people for only $80 (that’s for all of us). So we can see what WE want to and for how long WE want to. We are to meet him on shore at 9am. Yes, we are spending two days here on Bali. Tonight we have “Dinner and a Show”. Set dinner at 6:30pm in Signatures Restaurant followed by a cabaret show only those at the dinner. It is featuring a female Australian singer and dancer. Later at 9:30 in the show room we will be seeing a 47 member Balinese group performing traditional songs and dances. That should be very good.

FRIDAY, FEB 19TH--LOMBOK, INDONESIA

Room service boy woke us up at 6:45 this morning ringing our door bell. He was early as we were expecting him at 7am. We had to be ready to leave ship at 8:15 for our tour on Lombok. So while I had my coffee I called my parents back in southern Illinois. It was 5pm there. We are 14 hours ahead of them now. I used our suite phone (via ship’s satellite) and we had a good connection but finally call was dropped before saying bye. Good to hear their voices after nearly 5 weeks. It is now about 4pm and I am uploading the photos I took yesterday evening as we sailed from Komodo and today’s photos I took on Lombok. I have some nice photos of the evening sky you may enjoy. We enjoyed a less formal dinner up in the La Veranda where they were featuring pastas. Rebecca now has “bug” in her chest and is coughing a lot. Then we enjoyed the show featuring Karen Beckett, an Australian singer. Sorry for jumping around but now back to our hot, but wonderful day in Lombok, a less developed Indonesian island. We had to tender ashore so our tour, “Lombok Handicrafts” finally boarded some very nice air conditioned little buses around 10am. Our first stop was at a shop where pottery was being hand made. As you see from the photos, they made everything. We bought a couple small things of course. Our travels took us past lots of rice fields as that is main product on west side of the island. They get 3 crops a year off their land and it is all hand planted and harvested. Our guide said tobacco is grown on the east side. There are thousands of motor bikes here in addition to small cars and trucks. The country people are very poor and use the “horse cars” to take the vegetables and other stuff they grow to the village markets. There they sell, barter, and buy what they need. Our second stop was a REAL EYE-OPENER! Friday is market day and we went to one. What we saw was unbelievable and I doubt all the photos I took there can paint an accurate picture of what was taking place. Let me begin by saying that the people here on Lombok are very friendly, nice, and seemed glad we were there. You would probably have to be starving before you would eat anything in this market. Saying the place was filthy would be way to nice. Flies were having a banquet. You could barely walk along the narrow pathways through the maze of people selling and bartering their produce, fish, eggs, chickens, spices, and God knows what else. We especially enjoyed this part of our tour on Lombok. They knew no other way of life so seemed happy. Then on to another village where we walked down a dirt street and watched ladies sitting on a stilt platform with a thatched roof with their looms weaving beautiful cloth things. They sat there 365 days a year for 9 hours a day weaving. A young girl had to master the art of weaving before she could marry. Rebecca bought this beautiful, hand-made scarf/shawl for $20. Their houses had nothing covering the windows (just a hole) let alone air conditioning. There was an open trench along the streets (sewer system). No one wore shoes. Last stop was at a black pearl shop that also sold local honey and candy (or what they called candy). Indonesia is know for its black pearls. Rebecca did not get any here but bought another strand at harbor stand for $20. It was a fascinating day for sure. We were back on our nice cool ship around 2pm. Will sail at 5pm for a very short ride over to Bali. They are having a deck dinner and party up on pool deck tonight like on the first segment. Deck is decorated very nicely with ice carvings, carved vegetables and fruits decorating the buffet tables. Really is quite spectacular! Again, we will not attend. Dinner in air conditioned dining room for us!

THURSDAY, FEB 18TH--KOMODO ISLAND, INDONESIA

This morning we passed close by some very beautiful Indonesian islands on our approach to the island of Komodo. I am uploading the photos of last night and today in Komodo as I write this so hope you will enjoy them. I started with a five picture sequence of last night’s sunset taken from the Observation Lounge. The lounge erupted in cheers just as the sun disappeared because we saw the “green flash” of light that occurs for a milli-second when the sun sets at sea. We had a wonderful evening with cocktails and dinner with Sandy & Wink Martindale and their good friends from LA, Donna & Vic. We talked and talked and talked. We almost missed the show because of all our talking. I am not big on instrumentalist shows but Australian pianist, Jon Darsk, was quite the showman. Ok, back to our adventures today on Komodo. Komodo is a small island, 22 miles by 9 miles, and is home to the famous Komodo Dragons. As I believe I mentioned yesterday, they are the world’s largest lizards and are descendents of the dinosaurs. Our group of 25 was guided for an hour’s walk on a trail through the Komodo National Park. We had 3 Indonesian guides equipped with long forked poles to ward off a dragon if it decided to attack us. We found 4 dragons lying in a clearing. There were also 3 more Indonesians by them for added protection. They hardly moved though and seemed to enjoy staring at us also. Our guide said they eat deer, wild hogs, and water buffalo. They cannot see very well but have a keen sense of smell and hearing and can chase their prey at a speed of up to 18 mph. They are also excellent swimmers. Deadly weapons include their tail, used to knock down their prey; serrated teeth, filled with deadly bacteria that can create a serious flesh-rotting infection within days; and razor-sharp claws, which they use to slash through their victim’s belly. They only eat about once a month but can eat 125 pounds of meat at a time. Remember they weigh 250 pounds. The new born dragons will live up in the trees for 3 or 4 years until they are big enough to fend for their own on land. We are now sailing away and once again enjoying some incredible vistas. Finally, after more than a month, I am seeing some magnificent island postcard-like scenery. I’m going to like Indonesia! I was just out on our balcony talking to our neighbors, Caroline and Don who were sipping on some martini’s, and we began passing schools of dolphins. It is a lovely evening out on balcony-83F. Tomorrow we will be in Lombok, Indonesia. Oh, yes, Rebecca bought 2-22inch strands and 2-18inch strands of black pearl necklaces today on Komodo. Total price was $45 for all four.

WEDNESDAY, FEB 17TH, AT SEA

We are enjoying another smooth day of sailing in the Tumor Sea which is located between Australia and Indonesia. Today is mostly sunny and 85F with the ever present high humidity. Tomorrow we will be making a stop at Komodo Island, Indonesia. This morning I tried calling my mother to wish her a happy birthday but they were not home so left a birthday message. We then went to a lecture by Sandra Bowern entitled, “The History and Culture of Indonesia”. It was VERY good and will help us understand the four ports we will be visiting in Indonesia. Then at 11am we attended a “Celebrity Lecture” presented by Wink Martindale and his wife Sandy. Wink has hosted over 20 tv game shows and has another premiering on The Game Show Network on March 4th. He discussed his career that started in radio and continues now in the tv world. His wife Sandy told about her life both before and after meeting Wink. Most interesting was her story of dating Elvis Presley for 6 years. Wink and Sandy knew Elvis very well and gave us a lot of insight into his life. Sandy was also best friends with Brenda Lee and the agent for Barbara Mandrell, Dolly Parton, and other country singers. Rebecca and I are very fortunate to be having dinner tonight with the Martindale’s and the LA couple they are traveling with. This afternoon I am going to enter a Bocce, Italian bowling, tournament at 2pm and a shuffle golf tournament at 3pm. Ship’s internet is down now and I was beat in first round of Bocce. Ok, since I cannot post this as internet is down, let me tell you a few facts about Indonesia. Indonesia is comprised of over 13,000 islands and is the 4th most populous country in the world. 90% of Indonesians are of the Muslim religion, however the island of Bali is 95% Hindu. As I said tomorrow we will be on Komodo Island mainly to visit the Komodo National Park and see the rare dinosaur-like reptile called the Komodo Dragon. This giant reptile often measures up to 11 feet long and weighs over 300 pounds which makes them the largest lizards on Earth. They can be very dangerous so we will be guided by an park ranger. Since they live in the wild, sightings are not guaranteed. Hopefully we will, so I can get some pictures.

TUESDAY, FEB 16TH--DARWIN, AUSTRALIA

Another great day touring here in Darwin, Australia! We left ship on a bus at 9:30am and first stop was the Aviation Heritage Center. And there she was almost filling the hanger--a B52G. The very same model of B-52 that I flew over 2000 hours in and flew 78 combat missions over North and South Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia back in 1972. It was good to see the old BUFF, as she was affectionately called. It stood for “big, ugly, fat, fellow”. I ended up being the tour guide, telling some of our passengers on our tour all about the B-52. I have SO many good memories of the airplane and my fellow crewmembers from my days in the Air Force. This B-52 is on loan to the museum from the United States and could be taken back if the airplane is ever needed back in service. During my 78 combat missions I dropped nearly 1.6 million pounds of bombs on Southeast Asia from planes like this one. She will always be a love of my life as she always safely brought me back. Some other stats are: she weighed 488,000 pounds at takeoff on our SEA missions and over 200,000 lbs of that was jet fuel, she could fly just over 12 hours without aerial refueling and indefinitely with fueling inflight behind a KC135 tanker, there was a crew of 6 (2 pilots, 2 navigators, an electronic warfare officer, & a gunner), unlike most other planes the navigators would have had to eject downward if the airplane became uncontrollable (the other 4 of us eject up). Luckily, I logged a landing for every takeoff so never had to leave the B-52 via ejection. From there we went to the Crocodylus Park where we saw both the huge salt water crocs and smaller fresh water crocs. As you will see in the pictures the salt water crocs can jump completely out of water for food. They can grow to 20 feet in length and can also run faster than a human can for short distances. Not too many people here in Darwin will go to the beach as the crocs could dine on a tasty human with no problem. Also during rainy season (right now) the water is full of poisonous box jelly fish so definitely no swimming in ocean now. Our guide at the park was dangling chicken heads on the line to get the crocs to jump. The fresh water crocs are smaller but also would not mind dining on your arm or leg. There is also a picture of a “joey” in the pouch of a wallaroo that is cute. Last stop was at the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory with its collection of Aboriginal art and pictures of what was left of Darwin after the level 5 cyclone of 1975 in which 90% of the city was destroyed. Returned to ship at about 2pm and had a little lunch before spending the last 2 ½ hours working on this blog. We are sailing at 6pm for Komodo Island, Indonesia but will be at sea tomorrow again. So for the next week we will be doing stops in Indonesian ports. I better go get some exercise before dinner.

MONDAY, FEB 15TH--AT SEA

Sorry, I am a day behind on posting but yesterday as a busy sea day. Will do yesterday’s post before leaving on excursion this morning. Ok, was a sea day after missing the port of Thursday Island. Once again ocean was fairly smooth and it was a warm, sunny day. After sleeping in, we went to “Coffee Connection” for coffee around 10am and visited with a couple from San Diego. At noon there was meeting of private pilots and airplane owners so I attended that. There were about 8 of us with varying backgrounds. By far I had the most flying hours. Our friends from San Francisco showed me a picture of their 8 passenger airplane. WOW! It was one nice airplane. At lunch Jane, friend from Las Vegas, as me to help her download Skype in her laptop. I told her to bring it to where games were being played as I was going to play “baggo” at 2pm and “top toss” at 3pm. Jane ended up also playing the games and think she is now hooked on playing. Took me two hours to get Skype downloaded so that worked out good. Last evening was formal night and there was cocktail party at 6pm for all the “Seven Seas Society” members. There are over 600 members on the ship now. We were in for a surprise as Michael’s (the hotel general manager) wife sang 3 songs with the band. She is a very lovely lady, ex Miss California and had sang on Broadway. What a lovely voice and hopefully she will sing for us again some night. At 7pm we met Norman and Cathy for cocktails in the Observation Lounge. Also joining us was the Australian singer, Peter Cousens. He will be leaving the ship today, here in Darwin. We all were treated to a beautiful sunset but none of us had brought our cameras. Norman & Cathy moved from South Africa to the Miami area a few years ago and are two of the few WC passengers younger than us. It was a great night and really enjoyed the conversation. We talked so much that we were late getting to the showroom. Ship’s singers and band put on “Jazz Legends” show.

SUNDAY, FEB 14TH--VALENTINES DAY AT SEA

Valentines Day here! I surprised Rebecca this morning as I had bought a VD card before leaving Dallas. So when she opened the laptop computer this morning, there it was. Tonight we have reservations in Prime 7, the specialty steak & seafood restaurant. At 9:15 this morning we attended the interdenominational church service. It was led by our cruise director, Jamie. I would say we had about 50 people attending. Right after that I entered the shuffleboard tournament and was again matched up with my partner, George. George and I won the last one and won again today. Rebecca said I must be getting good. I said, “No, George is good, I am just lucky!” This morning we passed off the northern tip of Australia and had a very nice view of some WWII shore gun emplacements. The ocean here is a beautiful emerald color. It is another fantastic, sunny day and 85F. Rebecca did a load of laundry this morning while I played. After writing this we will go have some lunch before my golf chipping tournament at 2pm. I got way too much sun yesterday when doing my hour walk up on the open deck. Today I used suntan lotion and wore a hat but it was way to windy for the hat. Last night’s show was excellent. Once again we enjoyed the dynamic singing of Peter Cousens from Australia. Last night he did mostly Billy Joel songs. Wish you all could see this beautiful emerald ocean.

SATURDAY, FEB 13TH--AT SEA

What “lake” are we cruising in today??? Ocean looks like a swimming pool so enjoying the smooth ride with lots of sun today. Was 86F at 9am but now at noon it is 82F. I walked on deck for an hour this morning and with wind from the ship making 17 knots, it was not too uncomfortable. Showered now and ready for some lunch. This afternoon I have croquet and darts tournaments. During the Captain’s daily 9am PA, he said at noon (now) we would be going through a 2 mile gap in the Great Barrier Reef. Well, it is noon and he just made another PA saying that they had to shut down one of the 4 diesel engines for repairs so they could not maintain enough speed to make it to Thursday Island tomorrow morning. We were only scheduled to be there 5 hours anyway. So he has changed course and we are proceeding toward the next port of Darwin, Australia. So now we will have two more sea days before arriving there on Tuesday. He said they anticipate having the engine back on line later this afternoon. We could see the reef after all. I took my telephoto lens up to take photos but really needed wide angle one so not sure how pictures will come out. The reef was just below water level but the colors of the water (due to reef) was beautiful. There are also some very small islands in the area. What a great day weather wise and great cruising with these calm seas. We had table for 10 last night at dinner with my special request for veal parmesan. Table just to big to hear everyone though. We were on front row in showroom for the production show by ship’s singers and dancers. GREAT show. This is taking me all day to write. Just back from my tournaments. No luck in croquet but came in second place in darts. My shuffleboard partner, George, beat me. Lots of fun.

FRIDAY, FEB 12TH--CAIRNS, AUSTRALIA

Finally some nice weather. We docked in Cairns, Australia, at 7am today. Cairns is on the east coast on north corner of Australia. Tourism is #1 here with sugar cane production as #2 for local economy. The two big tourism attractions are The Great Barrier Reef and the Australian tropical rainforest. Our excursion this morning was to visit the tropical rainforest. Our tour bus took us west of city past some sugar cane fields to the base of a mountain where the rainforest was. There we boarded the “Skyrail” which is the world’s longest gondola ride at 4.7 miles long. It took us over the rainforest with a stop at the beautiful Barron Gorge and Falls. My pictures of the falls cannot depict the true beauty of the falls with rainbows formed from the sun shining through the fall’s mist. Then back in the gondola to continue over the rainforest to the little rainforest village of Kuranda. The tropical rainforest canopy was so dense below us that only 1 to 2% of the sunlight ever reaches the floor of the forest. The trees stretch over 100 feet up seeking the sunlight. There are over 1000 known species of plants down below us. At Kuranda we shopped (oh, boy!) for an hour before boarding our bus for the ride back down the mountain and back to our ship. On the tour with us were Carolyn & Allan from Dallas and Jane & Martin from Las Vegas. In addition to the six of us, Caroline and Don, our next door neighbors from Nashville, will dine in Compass Rose tonight. All 4 of our suites are close together on starboard side of deck 6. I have requested the chef prepare veal parmesan for all of us again tonight. Garlic bread too!! Anyway, we all loved our tour today and were thankful for no thunderstorms as forecast. This afternoon it is mostly sunny, 85F, and 80% humidity. Sure beats the record snowfall that Dallas had today. Our Pensacola friends say they were also having snow flurries today. Global warming???? Ok, now let me backup. We went to Wink Martindale’s lecture about game shows at 6pm yesterday evening. I got a picture of Wink and Rebecca that I will add soon. They are traveling with another couple from LA so we ask if the four of them would join us for dinner and he gave us his suite number and said to call and set it up. He had just refused that same request by couple in front of us. Last night we joined Allan & Carolyn up in the less formal La Veranda restaurant where Allan had arranged for us to have blackened salmon for dinner. Well, the chef’s idea of blackened was “burnt”! We all had a good laugh though. I ended up with lasagna. After dinner we went to the show. The seas FINALLY calmed down and we had a very smooth ride yesterday evening and all of last night. We don’t sail until 11pm tonight and will be at sea again tomorrow. Looking forward to show tonight as it is with the ship’s young singers and dancers. Seems I may be coming down with a cold, yuk!

THURSDAY, FEB 11TH--AT SEA

Much better ride last night and so far this morning. It is now 9am, Thursday, here and we just finished our coffee and cereal from room service. Our position is approx 19S150E and are 300 nautical miles from Cairns, Australia, our next port of call. Will be docking there tomorrow morning at 7am. Had a much better ride last night and so far this morning. It is mostly cloudy with rain showers all around and 82F. I have Skype set up now and tried calling my parents and Rebecca’s brother but internet is not very good now. As more passengers log onto the ship’s internet it really slows down and is not very reliable. Can’t make calls in evening when everyone is at dinner because it would be in middle of night back in states so will get up earlier and try to beat everyone else here on ship. I did get to talk a minute or two with my dad so was nice to hear his voice again. All you more “senior” (will not say older) people may remember the TV game show host, Wink Martindale. He and his wife, Sandy, boarded in Sydney and he will be doing a couple of lectures for us. This evening will be his first. Rebecca & I had a nice talk with them before last night’s show. Long story but he used to visit family in house next to Rebecca’s mother’s house. So they talked about the past, Tiptonville, and Boyette’s (catfish and hush puppy restaurant on Reel Foot Lake). We will try to have dinner with them some night as they will only be on ship for two weeks. Sandy, his wife, dated Elvis for 6 years before they met. Should be interesting talking more with them. They are super nice. We are miles from land but there are several birds flying around the ship now. Not to interested in the two other lecturers on ship now. One is an astro-journalist who talks about the skies in the Southern Hemisphere. The other is a British sports journalist. At noon we are having another meeting of Masons that I will attend. Other than that we are just going to relax today. Will talk around the ship and talk with some of the people we have become friends with. I think our Dallas friend, Allan, has arranged with the chef for some blackened salmon for dinner tonight for the four of us. Will go to Wink’s lecture before dinner and the show after dinner. We really enjoyed Peter Cousens show last night. He is a fantastic Australian singer and sang mostly Broadway show songs last night. I would say he is in top 10 of all the headliner show artists we have heard on our 60+ cruises. It was his first performance on Regent Cruise Lines and Jamie, the cruise director, said it certainly will NOT be his last. Tonight’s show is by Hayden Smith again. I talked about him on Feb 8th post.

WEDNESDAY, FEB 10TH--AT SEA

Last night was another night of rocking and rolling and ship is still moving about today but not nearly as bad as last night. This certainly has not been our smoothest cruise. This morning it is mostly sunny and 85F with a nice breeze up on deck. At 10am I entered the shuffle board tournament and an older gentleman named George and I won! Prior to that I managed to get the Brisbane photos uploaded on my blog. Hope you enjoy them. After shuffle board I went down to “coffee connection” for a cup of coffee and there sat Rebecca. Two of the cute dancers walked by so told them how much we enjoyed their show last night. We talked for quite a while. They had also “cuddled” a koala yesterday. We are skipping the lectures this morning as can watch them later on tv. After lunch we will go to gym. At 3pm I want enter the “top toss” tournament. Tonight’s show is an Australian signer, Peter Cousens, so will go there at 9:30pm after dinner. I also want to send some emails today and will try to download “Skype”. For those not familiar with Skype, it is a way to make calls through computer. So maybe we will be talking with some of you soon.

TUESDAY, FEB 9TH--BRISBANE

What a great day we had here in Brisbane!!! This morning we sailed from the ocean into Brisbane Bay and on up the Brisbane River. The river was lined with industry as you will see in my photos. We docked at a very nice new cruise terminal but the big cruise ships will not be able to get this close to Brisbane as they will not fit under the bridge (also pictured). Regent had free shuttle buses from terminal to city for those not on tour. We were booked on the “Highlights of Brisbane and Lone Pine”. So we boarded a bus at 10am and headed past city to our first stop, The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. Here there a approx 130 koalas, plus kangaroos, wallabies, emus, and other Australian animals. For a change the weather cooperated and we had a great time. The koalas were so cute. For $16 Rebecca got to “cuddle” one (it’s name was “Sprite”) and I got pictures of it. Koalas sleep over 21 hours a day as the eucalyptus leaves they eat requires a lot of energy for them to digest. How they sleep up in the trees without falling out I will never know. The kangaroos were also very neat animals. We could walk out in a field with them and try to feed them some pellets. You should have seen Rebecca trying not to step in all the kangaroo do-do. We were told to stoop over to their level when feeding them or they might try kicking us. I fully grown (6 foot) red kangaroo can kill a human by kicking them with its back legs. I got REAL low! I hope you enjoy the pictures of these animals. I even got a picture of a “joey”, kangaroo kid, nursing. Looks pretty big to be still nursing though. The emus would walk right up to you. They can run 50 mph for short distances so are really fast. After 2 hours at the sanctuary we headed to Brisbane for a thorough tour of this beautiful city. It is surrounded on 3 sides by Brisbane River. It is a very clean city and all the Aussies are very friendly.
We were suppose to sail at 6pm but Captain just made PA saying we have another medical emergency so will be delayed a half hour or so. They just sent a stretcher team to a suite. The ambulance is on the way. We will be at sea the next two days enroute to Cairns, Australia. We enjoyed the formal night last night and the show was very good. Tonight’s show is the two professional dancers and ship’s singers and dancers. I made a request with the chef for fried oysters for my dinner tonight. Does not look like I will get today’s pictures uploaded until tomorrow. I promise they will be worth waiting for. You should be able to view them tomorrow evening, your time.

MONDAY, FEB 8TH--AT SEA

Hello Super Bowl fans! Game will be starting at 9:30am, Monday morning here which is in 15 minutes. They are doing $10 and $20 board for wagering on the game. By the time I got there the $10 one was sold out so got a $20 square. They are broadcasting game on big screen in the showroom. It is decorated with balloons and they are setting up food and drinks tables. Not sure what the food is going to be as wanted to come back and make this post. Not sure which team I am cheering for. We left dock at Sydney on schedule at 10pm last night but returned about an hour later for a medical emergency. One passenger was put in an ambulance and 4 others got off with their luggage. We sat out on our balcony in bath robes as we returned and left again at midnight. On our way now and Captain says we will be docking on schedule tomorrow morning in Brisbane. Mostly sunny but showers in area with temp of 82F this morning. Rocking and rolling with 15 to 20 foot swells. This afternoon we have to go get fitted for a World Cruise jacket that Regent is having made for the 300 passengers doing full WC. Not sure what it looks like but guess we will find out this afternoon. I will also enter the darts tournament at 2pm before going to gym. Tonight is “formal optional” dress as is Captain’s Welcome Aboard Party for the 300 new passengers that boarded in Sydney. Show tonight is an Australian instrumentalist and vocalist, Hayden Smith, so will check that out. Tomorrow in Brisbane we have a 9am four hour tour of the city and to Lone Pine which is the first and largest koala sanctuary. There are also kangaroos, wallabies, and emus there. Just hope weather cooperates! Better go watch game now. Will try to attach pictures this afternoon. I took over 100 in Sydney but will not attach all of them. I have some nice pics of the Opera House taken at night.

SUNDAY, FEB 7TH--SYDNEY

I’m sure Sydney is a great city but we have not been able to see much of it as it has rained pretty much steadily for our two days here. Think it did not rain in city this morning but we were on an 8 hour tour on the Blue Mountains. They are a 2 hour drive west of the city. Mountains were covered with fog and it was raining up there so we could not see a thing but did manage to get wet. We spent an hour & a half at a place called Scenic World where once again we could only see about 300 feet in front of us and only managed to get our feet muddy and wet. Stopped at a small town for lunch but Rebecca & I stayed on the bus as did not want to be standing that long with my knee problem. Funny part is the bus driver did not know we had stayed on and he took off for gas station with radio blaring. While he was fueling bus I got off and ask if he could turn the radio down and he said, “Are you still on the bus?” He was a very nice young man. On the way back to city we stopped at the 2000 Olympic Park. I was wanting to get back so I could walk through “The Rocks”, part of Sydney next to where our ship was docked, and take some pictures. Got back at 4pm but it was just starting to rain again so we gave up. I stopped by the concierge and said we were having problem again with the music from the Horizon Lounge just below our suite. For my CruiseCritic followers that is a negative for deck 6, aft. Vibration does not bother us but music does. On a more positive note, we are sailing at 10pm tonight for Brisbane. Tomorrow will be a day at sea again as we arrive there on Wednesday (our time). Jamie, our cruise director, just said they will be out on deck 5, starboard side, (it is protected from the rain) playing departure music. That will be on deck right below us so will be out on our balcony as we leave Sydney harbor. We should have an incredible view of the Opera House. Speaking of that, I did not tell you about our tour yesterday. We drove through Sydney and our guide gave us an interesting narrative of prominent buildings and its history. At Bondi Beach it was blowing and raining hard so could not get off bus to take any pictures. All the pictures had to be through rain covered bus window while it was moving so did not even try. We did have a VERY nice tour of the Sydney Opera House and got to go into two of the huge auditoriums. So sorry there are not a lot of pictures that I will be adding sometime tomorrow taken in Sydney. Unfortunately, weather forecast for Brisbane is 80% thunderstorms and will be in Cairns on Friday with more thunderstorms. Australia could be a “washout” for our cruise! Wish weather had been better here in Sydney. There is lots to do and see so guess we will have to return someday. As an aside, there are thousands of Chinese visiting Sydney now as apparently it is big destination for them to celebrate the “Chinese New Year”.

SATURDAY, FEB 6TH--SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Soggy Sydney!!! Woke up early this morning so I could take some good pictures of us sailing into Sydney harbor. Looked out balcony doors and it was foggy, ship was rocking, and wind blowing. So I headed up to Observation Lounge on deck 11 at 6:30 and got a good seat by window which is facing front of ship. Perfect place to view our arrival other than out on deck. They had coffee and pastries available there so was very nice. I tried to go out on deck but wind was really howling so retreated back to Observation Lounge. About that time Rebecca showed up. Visibility improved as we approached harbor but as you will see in my pictures (will not upload them until tomorrow evening however) the ceiling was low and tops of buildings were in clouds. We had ring side seats for sailing into harbor. Hope you will enjoy the pictures.
The departing passengers were not cleared to leave ship until about 9am but were mostly on their way by 10am. It was a well organized disembarkation as usual with Regent. We got to say good bye to Andy and Tammy, financial lecturer and his wife. We are docked right downtown , an area called “The Rocks”. The famous Opera House and Harbor Bridge are close by. Unfortunately, we have view out balcony that is looking right into a restaurant. So we headed off the ship to check out the downtown area . Started raining so we returned and has been raining ever since. It is about noon now so will have lunch soon as we have a tour at 1:30 entitled, “Sydney Sights, Opera House, and Bondi Beach”. Be back later.

FRIDAY, FEB 5TH--AT SEA

Posting to blog earlier today as room service delivered our Friday morning coffee at 8am. Should have left tv off because saw on FOX News that market was down big time today (Thursday). Not the way I wanted to start my day. The “Crew Capers” show yesterday evening was the best we have seen on a ship. We have a very talented crew. About all of cast was from Philippines and they did some of their dances and some singing. One of our waiters did fantastic Michael Jackson dance imitation. We had a very nice dinner with two couples from San Francisco who both have done multiple world cruises so was interesting to get their prospective. After dinner we went to another great show featuring singer from Australia, Donald Cant. Then we had nice talk with two couples who are also our neighbors on deck 6, aft. They both are getting off tomorrow in Sydney and will miss them as they are such nice people. One couple is from Vancouver and the other from Brisbane, Australia, but they knew each other before the cruise. They are all going to Brisbane tomorrow. We will meet them for cocktails tonight before dinner. Told them they can follow us on my blog. As for this morning, at 10am I am going to another of Andy’s financial lectures followed at 11am by lecture about the 1975 political crisis in Australia. This morning it is cloudy with showers around and 78F with very high humidity. A little smoother sailing this morning. Just checked weather forecast for Sydney and looks like rain for both days we will be there. Will be arriving there tomorrow, Saturday, at 9am. I want to be up early so I can be up on deck when we pull into Sydney harbor. There is a pre-dinner show at 6:15 by magician tonight so you know we will not be going to that. Change to today’s plan. Now going up to enter shuffleboard tournament at 10am with Allen as my partner.

THURSDAY, FEB 4TH--AT SEA

Sunny and 78F now at 3pm but ship is rocking and rolling some today. Seems to be improving this afternoon though. Kind of slow getting around this morning but finally got out of suite about 9:30 and went to “coffee connection”, as they call it. Can get specialty coffees, juices, continental breakfast stuff there. Rebecca sat and talked with Carolyn, our Dallas friend, while I went to another of Andy Heath’s financial lectures entitled, “What’s in Store for 2010”. Two Australian immigration men boarded in New Caledonia and we all had to appear before them this morning with our passports. Was fast and easy as all they did was look at us and stamp our passports. OOPS! Just heard code word on ship’s PA indicating someone is having a heart attack. Doctor, nurse, and appropriate ship’s officers respond immediately. At 11am we went to a lecture on “Sydney, Past and Present” by Sandra Bowern. I know some past Regent cruisers are following my blog so they may know her and how dynamic of a speaker she is. Rebecca went to a meeting of women who were in sororities at noon. Then we had lunch in the dining room. This afternoon we are doing some laundry and I went down to the computer lab to print out a copy of my blog to date. Rebecca is working out now but I am resting my knees from the tour yesterday. Climbing on and off bus and up and down steps is not good on them. Last night we ended up going down to dining room for dinner but did not go to the show. Tonight is formal night as is Captain’s Farewell Party for those who will be departing ship in Sydney on Saturday. After the Captain’s little speech there will be “Crew Capers” show. Several of the crew will entertain us with songs and dances. This is always delightful show. Most of the crew are Philippino but many other countries are also represented here on the Voyager. We are having dinner tonight with Charlie and Joan Davis who we just met on this cruise. They are also our neighbors on back of deck 6. Will go to the show tonight as it is the Australian singer, Donald Cant, again. We really enjoyed his first show. Well I added the 34 pictures I took yesterday on New Caledonia so am up-to-date now with pictures. Now I am going to sit out on our balcony and drink the local beer I bought yesterday in New Caledonia called, “Number 1”.

WEDNESDAY, FEB 3RD--NOUMEA, NEW CALEDONIA

Noumea was pretty much like any modern city and our tour, “Noumea and Its Countryside”, was just a drive around the city, no country about it! We stopped at Conception Church, café for coffee and cake, and lookout point on hill overlooking the city and bay. Will try to post those pictures tomorrow. I added the pictures from Vanuatu this morning. We missed our second tour, “Glass Bottomed Boat at Duck Island” as first tour got us back too late for it. New Caledonia is a French governed island and has large deposits of nickel, copper, chrome, cobalt, and manganese which are mined here. Most of their tourists come from Australia as it is only a 3 hour flight from here. The French also vacation here. The largest coral lagoon in the world is here. During WWII the US built the airport and added a lot of infrastructure. I will be adding pictures of costal guns that protected the harbor during the war. So, last night we dined in Prime 7. Only one little problem, I had oysters Rockefeller for appetizer and they had sand in them. Took a full glass of water to finally wash all the sand out of my mouth. Rebecca’s filet and my NY strip steak were perfect as usual. We arrived at the show late but did not stay long anyway as it was some magician doing card tricks. Was totally unimpressed with that so left. Not sure why all the cruise lines insist on having magicians. Tonight’s show is the violinist and cellist again. Another show that we were not impressed with for their first show a few days ago. We were thinking about dining in our suite tonight but sun is shining on our balcony and it is hot there. Ship is not sailing until 7:30 tonight. May still decide to do it. You can order from room service a selection of the same food that is being served down in Compass Rose, the main restaurant. So if you are too lazy to go out, you can dine in! Next two days will be at sea heading down to Sydney where we will arrive on Saturday morning, the 6th. This is the end of the first segment of the world cruise so probably half of the passengers will be leaving the ship and new ones will board. As I said earlier, there are only just over 300 full world cruise passengers. We will be in Sydney for two days. We are hoping for smooth seas!

                                                      Charlie & Joan

                                                        Jamie & Rebecca

TUESDAY, FEB 2ND--PORT VILA, VANAUTU

As I write this we are just sailing out of Port Vila on Vanuatu. This is the island where the “Survivor” TV show was filmed this past year, and also, thousands of US troops were garrisoned here during WWII. I must say we were impressed with the island what little we really saw of it. We were only here from 7:30am to 2:00pm. We were up early as we had to meet for our excursion at 7:15. We sat outside back of La Veranda for our breakfast as it was very comfortable sitting in the shade of an umbrella. We finally boarded 11 passenger vans for our 20 minute ride to the Ekasup Cultural Village. This was in the jungle where a tribe member of the Ekasup’s took us to different places to explain how they lived off of the ocean and jungle. There were also tribe members hiding in the trees and jungle as we walked down the jungle paths. They later danced and played homemade instruments for us. As you will see from the photos I will attach later, they were dressed in tribal garb. The guide explained and showed us how they trapped wild pigs and wild chickens, caught fish and lobsters, and made medicines from leaves, flowers, and roots of plants in the jungle. He also explained tribal customs and history. Cannibalism was practiced on the 83 islands of Vanuatu until the missionaries came here. Marriages are arranged by the parents and the man must pay for the bride with wild pigs. This is still done by the tribal natives living self sufficiently in the jungles. My words cannot portray adequately the story we heard on this incredible tour. It was definitely the best tour by a long way so far on the cruise. Back at the ship, other passengers on different tours also said they had wonderful tours on Vanautu. So this was a wonderful surprise today. Last night before dinner we had some wine up in the Observation Lounge on top of ship which is all window facing the front of the ship. We sat there listening to Jerry, the very talented guitarist, play as we watched the sun set over the peaceful Pacific. We both reflected on how lucky we were to be in a position now to enjoy doing something like this. God had blessed us during our careers and was now blessing us with the incredible view of his creation. Our requested veal parmesan dinner was once again very tasty. After dinner we were entertained by Donald Cant in the showroom. He is best known as one of Australia’s “phantoms” in “The Phantom of the Opera” and is one of their leading musical performers. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed his singing. We are looking forward to him doing another show for us in a few days. We will be arriving in the port of Noumea on New Caledonia tomorrow morning at 10:00am. Tonight we are dining in the steak & seafood specialty restaurant called Prime 7 again. YUMMY! Better go join Rebecca in the gym now though.