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.