South Georgia Islands

white penguin - not albino since some color

 Day 1

First Stop-Grytviken

It is a former whaling settlement.  It was in existence from 1902 to 1966.  It was the first of six and the last of the whaling settlements in South Georgia.  Before it was a whaling settlement, it was used by individuals for seal hunting and processing.  The seal hunters left their huge pots behind (think witches' cauldron) and in Swedish Grytviken means pot bay.  Now it is a historical site and an area full of fur seals with some penguins too.  There is a choice for a hike, so Linda and I send the men on that and take the chance to explore the old settlement.

Falkland Islands

West Falkland Islands of Saunders and West Point (day 1)

After a day at sea where we learned all the rules for stepping foot on land in this part of the world and welcome talks, we are ready to make out first “ports”.  I put ports in quotation marks because we did not have  a wharf or pier to step out onto but rather we did wet landings in the zodiacs.  So glad for waterproof pants and boots!

Iguazu Falls

Our first glimpse seemed big until we traveled further

Our next leg of this adventure takes us to Iguazu, Argentina to visit the Iguazu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site.   

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is not a city that is on the radar of a place to visit for many people.  From the little time we spent there, I would recommend visiting it.  The photo above is technically one street and is the widest in the world and oh you can barely see the bottom 3 lanes in the photo.  Our hotel was on the street and this is a photo from our room.  Now it is a long flight going south to get to Buenos Aires as in 9 hours from Atlanta, but not as much of a time change as in flying to Europe.  Our flight arrived in the morning and by afternoon we were ready to explore some.  By chance, our hotel was a block away from their opera house.  I should back up here for a minute.   

A London Thanksgiving

Iconic London Bridge

 For the last few years, Jeff and I have gone to Washington DC to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter.  We started the annual trip since we had time and she only had a couple of days then her time off changed, and she had the whole week.  Thus, this year off we all went to merry old England.

French Polynesia - end of cruise

 

Bora Bora

This is the last fun port for Jeff and I since when we get to the next one we will leave the ship.  We have been to Bora Bora before and enjoyed snorkeling when we were here 3 1/2 years ago.  One of the people we met on this ship knows of a guy with a snorkeling excursion, so we and 12 others book it which means he and another guy are bringing boats for us.  So, the "friend" is Patrick and yes, he knows these people as do several other people when we get off the tenders in Bora Bora (all ships have to anchor offshore here).  We get off the tender and Charlie the husband of the lady who booked the excursion is welcomed by Patrick and at least 2 other people.  I think they come here more often than she let on!

The Twilight Zone

It is Sunday July 13, 2025, and we are in Apia, Samoa.  Then 24 hours later, it is Sunday July 13, 2025, and we are in Pago Pago, American Samoa.  No there is not a typo there and yes you read it correctly.  While sailing from Samoa to American Samoa we crossed the international dateline, so we had the same calendar date 2 days in a row.  It proved to be a challenge for some of the ship's computers.  Reservations for the specialty restaurants had to be done manually and at one-point American Samoa dropped off our itinerary.  Unfortunately, both countries are very religious so many things were closed at both stops since it was Sunday to both islands - no shopping and we had to be conscientious of the times as we passed churches.

Vanuatu and Fiji

I got my revenge from Jeff putting me in danger on these trips!

Mystery Island, Vanuatu

Vanuatu is an island nation that was under both British and French control (together believe it or not) until the 1970s.  Now it is a popular tourism spot for Australians.  Originally, we had 2 ports in the country, but the other island is still rebuilding after a one two punch of earthquake and cyclone both in December.  We did visit Mystery Island so named during WWII.  The US built an airstrip on the island in such a way that the Japanese could not figure out where the planes were going and coming from.  Now this is a little island as in you can walk around the whole thing in 30 minutes so it is kind of amazing that A there is an airstrip here and B that it could be so well hidden!  Also no one lives on this island.  The locals believe it is inhabited by spirits so it is taboo to live here.  All the recreation we will be offered is brought over from the main island.

Cruising around Northern Australia

secret WW II tunnels under Darwin

Darwin

You might remember that Jeff and I spent a couple of days in Darwin before our Kimberley Coast cruise and Darwin is on the small size.  We have decided to skip the couple of excursions the ship offered - nah we don't need to see more crocodiles and not dying to go on the WWII tour around town.  We docked in the middle of the afternoon so after we went through immigration we headed on a pedestrian passage to the other side of the harbor to a different dock where the Royal Flying Doctors and the Darwin WWII Museum is located.  We were told the museum was good from our earlier cruise's fellow passengers.  We also have a sunset cruise booked for the evening; thus, we had less time than ideal for the museum.  Having said that 1 1/2 hours would have been more than enough since it is not big.

Hunting Dragons

 

Our first port stop on this cruise is to Komodo Island, Indonesia as in the home of the Komodo Dragon.  This island is the only place in the world you will find them.  We booked an excursion with 18 other people that took us to see the dragons and then to the pink beach on the island.  This is a small place; there is a small town on the other side of the island, but most if not all of the island is a national park.  As such, entry is closely controlled and if you did not have a prebooked tour, you could not get off the ship!

Munduk, Bali, Indonesia

Floating Temple

 On the road to Munduk

We leave our resort by 7 in the morning to catch the ferry back to the island of Bali where we have a driver/guide waiting for us to drive us up in the mountains to Munduk and will stop at some tourist places along the way.  I should point out that driving through Denpasar, Benoa, Ubud and all the southeast parts of Bali is slow because of the traffic.  They cannot widen the roads due to so many family shrines right at the road and there is too much traffic for two lane roads.  Once we get out of the touristy areas and into the country traffic is much easier.

South Pacific Paradise - Bali & Lombok Indonesia

Ubud

We get in around 10pm after a trying flight experience, but we are here as is all of our luggage (gate agent in Broome messed up our luggage) and the screaming family is gone.  We are pleasantly surprised at the hotel and our room.  Our room has its own private patio with a small pool.  We unpack and hit the bed - we're tired

Kimberley Coast Cruise Part 2

Today we are visiting 2 places.  First up is Freshwater Cove followed by Montgomery Reef.  We are here in the morning.  We will be greeted by the Damibmangari traditional owners who will welcome us with a ceremony and then we will walk 1/2 a mile each way to see some rock art. Jeff and I were surprised to learn that they have a store so this might be a level of civilization - will let you know.  As the name implies freshwater is available year-round here.  This is the mainland with the reef nearby.  The reef is 154 square miles.  

Kimberley Coast Cruise of Australia, Part 1

 Our first day was a sea day so while we were busy and had fun, I will say no more.  Well I will point out to you that we will not visit a city or town until we get to Broome which is the end of the journey.  You cannot drive to any of the places we are going.  You can get relatively close to some of them, but never where we will be.  The next day was our first "port" day.  We went to the opening for King George River and its twin waterfalls.  

While it is remote, Seabourn keeps its reputation up and serves a glass of champagne when we get to the falls.

Kakadu National Park, "Top End" Australia

Lots of legs reveal Dad protecting these chicks, Comb Crested Jacana, aka Lotusbird

 It is easy to forget how big Australia is. Our flight from Sydney to Darwin will take around 5 hours so similiar to crossing the US from the East to the West Coasts.  Once we land, we get our stuff and our rental car and Jeff practices driving on the wrong side of the road for a minute and we are off.  We are ultimately heading for the Kakadu National Park, but want to pick up some provisions first so we are stopping at a shopping mall/center with a grocery store.  We are heading out to a big land of nothingness and it is hot like a southern US summer day so humid too.  The Aussies recommend 3 liters of water per person per day, we won't do that much but we do buy water and some fruit and granola bars for snacks.  Now we are off.  Off down a long straight 2 lane road for 3 hours till we hit the large thriving metropolis of Jabiru.

Sydney Australia

 

We landed in Sydney early in the morning after the airline crew was sure we knew we absolutely could not bring all sorts of food into the country and had us fill out declaration forms.  Once we were off the plane we wandered through parts of the airport until we hit customs and out into the main airport.  We are here for basically a long weekend and unfortunately it is supposed to be a rainy one.  We took a cab into the city, and I saw a sign about road closures due to Vivid Sydney, so I asked the cab driver what it was.  Seems we are here at the start of a big modern arts festival.  There will be lighting up of buildings and special performances and fireworks on select nights.  We are now looking forward to the lights show even though it is now raining hard when we get to our hotel.

World Figure Skating Championship in Boston

As many of you know, Cierra and I often go to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.  A couple of years ago it was announced that the World Figure Skating Championships would be held in Boston in 2025.  We immediately agreed we were going.  We usually go to the championship weekend of the US event but splurged and bought tickets for the whole event which meant I spent most of my time Wednesday through Sunday at the TD Garden Arena in Boston.  Since it was a full week this time, Jeff came along too and shared the 2nd ticket with Cierra while she worked some days.

New England, Finale of our Autumn Cruise

 

Portland, Maine

We heard from family that Portland had a great food scene, so we signed up for a food tour. It seems, Portland’s waterfront was revitalized in the 1990’s which made it a tourist destination.  Now they have multiple James Beard award winning restaurants and bakeries.  We have done several food tours and this one from Maine Foodie Tours was very good because the food was great, and the guide gave us a great overview of the community and its history along with many stories regarding the local food scene. Besides the places below, we stopped at the Harbor Fish Market which is the source for many of the restaurants.  It had an amazing selection.  I had no idea how many different types of oysters there are either.

Maritime Provinces, Part 2 of our Autumn Cruise

 

  

Corner Brook, Newfoundland Island

We are now on the island of Newfoundland which is part of the Newfoundland and Labrador province of Canada.  It is supposed to be warming up some for us, but there is a steady rain outside that is ruining that fact.  On top of that, Jeff and I have an ATV adventure scheduled which warned us to dress warmly and in layers.  They are true ATVs so windshield and roof and holds 6 people but no doors so brr.  Happily, we dressed pretty well except we both had wet, cold hands at the end.  We also had helmets to wear which helped keep your head warm and dry.  Yes, I know that is not the reason for the helmet, but it was for our trip.  We drive around town some (town population 19,500) and see the James Cook monument.  Seems he first learned to navigate and became a cartographer here while mapping the area in much detail.  After a stop at the ATV shop for a comfort break, we are on our way to the trails.  

Quebec Provence, Part 1 of our Autumn Cruise

 Montreal

We got in on a Saturday afternoon after a taxi ride that took for EVER - longest ride in a long time due to traffic. Our hotel is kind of close to the old town and close to a food hall called Time Out Market which is part of an international chain we discovered in Capetown, SA.  We dump our luggage and headed for the food hall.  Turns out it is in a shopping mall called Eaton Center.  After a nice Spanish meal we wanderd the shopping center some and then headed out in the cold (40s and windy) to old town.  After a longer than expected walk we are in the old town area.  Unfortunately, some of the roads are being rebuilt so areas aren't that accessible, but we still find shops to explore.  Starts to look like rain so we head to a bar/restaurant for a drink while the rain passes.  It is now dark outside so time for another selfie!  Back to the hotel where we eat dinner and head to bed.  Next day we have a food tour with Secret Food Tours planned.