jpalbny

Thursday, June 13th. Wyndham, SA. No more lazy sea days. We're back to work on this expedition cruise! We woke up by 6AM to check out our surroundings. Not far from the dock. The Kimberley sandstone was aglow in the morning light. We grabbed a bite in Panorama, then headed out by bus at 7AM. We were doing a 10.5h tour of El Questro Station. Halfway there we stopped for photos. The Kapok bush. Beautiful yellow flowers, and cool seed pods. Here's what they look like on the inside. We arrived at the Station around 9AM. A nice specimen of a Boab tree. There were three events on this all-day tour. We met a family of original owners and participated in several ceremonies. There was a cruise through the Chamberlain River Gorge. And then a drive through the bush to look for flora, fauna, and lookouts. No pictures of the ceremonies, but it was a treat. There was a fire ceremony and a water ceremony, as well as a smoke ceremony. It was a relaxing start to the morning! We all met up for the river cruise. Beautiful red rock strata. A Little Pied Cormorant. We cut the engines and a school of fish approached. We held food over the edge and eventually a seven-spotted archerfish spit at it! That was the signal to feed them. We did see a crocodile. He isn't as well trained as the archerfish, so we didn't try to feed him! Lunch at the station. Tasty steak and fries, though sadly cooked medium. There was a chicken option and a vegetarian option. After lunch we went for a drive through the bush. We had to ford a few rivers. Good thing it's the dry season! After a few stops to look at interesting plants, we found the Saddle Ridge Lookout. A few buildings in the lower left. That's El Questro. Nothing else for miles in any direction. Back to the bus, and 2h later, we arrived at the ship. No trivia today, so we got ready for recap and briefing before dinner.

Enjoying some nice winter weather here in WA. Tomorrow's high is 32C. Planning a zodiac ride up the King George River to the Twin Falls. Good night all!

Wednesday June 12th. Lazy day at sea. We slept until a little after 7, so we were ready for breakfast in LT at 7:30. The morning was filled by laps on the deck, lectures, and lazing on our balcony. Swells no more than a meter, light breeze, and low 80s with sunshine. Beautiful! Lunch in LT then more lectures. Trivia at 4PM where we tied for first. We skipped the last lecture in favor of sunset. A few more laps to finish off our step count. Beautiful evening! Dinner tonight at Hot Rocks. The usual Ribeye, seared like tuna tartare. I bought a bottle of Catena Zapata Malbec to go with it. It was great, though probably not the bargain that the Italian wine was. We played a quick game of majority rules after dinner and came in second. Off to bed, as we have an early tour tomorrow, starting at 7AM. The Kimberley Expedition has started in earnest. No more sea days this trip!

Tuesday Evening, June 11th. We'd called for some canapés before trivia, so we weren't ready for dinner right at 7. Instead we listened to the pianist in Panorama for a bit. We went to dinner about 7:30. The menu looked good. Service was definitely a bit uncoordinated. They served bread to the table next to us, but we didn't get any. Beverages weren't refilled unless we asked, though the wine steward kept walking around with the bottles. And there was a huge gap between mains and dessert - almost 30 minutes. But the food was nice. Chris's shrimp appetizer. I had the lamb roll as an appetizer. Nicely flavorful, with a bit of spice and heat. We both had the pork tenderloin. A touch dry, as that lean cut can be if you're not careful. Would have been better with more sauce to counter that. The sambirano was yummy, once we finally got it. After dinner we went to disco night in Panorama. Decent crowd, but somewhat sedate. Only a few other dancers. We called it a night a little after 10PM.

Tuesday Afternoon, June 11th. We got ready for snorkeling and headed to the zodiac launching area. The trip was on, but they said it might be challenging with the current. We decided to go anyway. A 15-20 minute zodiac ride in, with even more splashes than this morning. But no life jacket malfunctions. We transferred over to a makeshift setup of two zodiacs tied together, got into our gear, and hopped in the water. Nice corals! Lots of fish too, but it was challenging to get good pictures of them. We were getting tossed all over by the waves and the current. I managed to focus on the giant clam, after a few attempts. Another pretty fish These bright blue starfish were striking. After about 30 minutes of being tossed about by the surf, we returned to the zodiac platform and hauled in. It had been exhausting, but lots of fun anyway. From there, a zodiac ride back to the boat, complete with another drenching. Shower time! We did much better with trivia this afternoon. Our guesses were excellent and we handily won first place with 16 points.

I noticed that, and was wondering why that happened. Your explanation is probably spot on. Those red feet will cause trouble every time!

Tuesday, June 11th. Ashmore Reef. So today we'd arrived at the Ashmore Islands. A few spits of sand within an atoll, located more than 500 miles from Darwin. It's actually closer to Indonesia than it is to Australia. We were here for the bird life, and maybe some snorkeling. We were up early enough, around 6:30, for our usual breakfast snack in the Panorama. We were in the early group today, so our tour started at the reasonably pleasant hour of 9AM. We had lots of time to look at the reef from our balcony, and even time for a few laps on deck. Looks like a beautiful day shaping up! We could see a few smaller craft within the lagoon, but obviously the large Silver Cloud had to anchor outside the reef. We'll be visiting by zodiac today. No landings are allowed. We headed down to the zodiac launching deck a few minutes before 9AM and got on the second zodiac. Off we went! The temperature was pleasant, just about 80 degrees. Enough of a breeze to be comfortable, but also enough to raise some chop. We got splashed a fair bit on the way in, but given the temperature, it was not unpleasant. After about 10 minutes we approached the shallow water and the sudden color change was quite pretty. And then this happened! Though I'd been splashed some, it wasn't any more than the others. Now you know what these life jackets look like when they are fully deployed. Unfortunately they are a bit tight once they inflate, and there weren't any spares on board, so I had to stay like this for the remainder of the excursion. We approached West Islet - one of the three specks of sand within the lagoon. It was a chaotic symphony of bird life. Terns, boobies, frigate birds, and noddies were the most abundant, though over 40 species of birds are known to breed here. We didn't try to count. The conditions were idyllic. The water was crystal clear and we drifted along, enjoying the bird life. Just remember, keep your mouth closed when looking up! No landings, but since the tide was coming in, we were able to get close to the shore. Some nesting frigate birds. As best I could tell, all were females. The males have a large red flap of skin in their neck/chest region, which they inflate in order to attract the females. I was very glad that my life vest was yellow, so that I didn't attract the birds to me! Silver Cloud awaits our return, afloat on the sun-dappled sea. The red-footed booby. They were much less numerous than the brown boobies. I found it funny that they have blue beaks, but red feet. Not very color-coordinated, at least according to our standards! We finished up and headed back to Silver Cloud about 10:20. As we were the second boat off, we were the second boat back. We were on board by 11:00, and I got a replacement life jacket as I boarded. And a few chuckles from the crew. Time to change out of these wet clothes! There was a lecture scheduled for 11:15 on the migration of people to Australia, but it was pushed to 11:30 because several zodiacs were late getting back. So we only listened to part of it, as we wanted to go for lunch at LT right at noon. We got an outdoor table with a nice view, and enjoyed some Pinot Grigio with our meals. The highlight today was the carving station, where they were serving roasted duck! We each got a whole leg and it was delicious. Moist tender meat with crispy skin. Yum! Now, to find out whether the conditions are favorable for snorkeling. We hope so, because this will be the only opportunity to get in the water during this cruise. Once we get to the Kimberley, we can't get in the water, unless we want to feed the salties.

Having a great time Que! Thanks for joining in the fun.

A few sunset pictures from last night. The sun rises and sets around 5:30 here.

Monday June 10th. #29 at sea. We were so excited to be on board that we woke up at 3:30. We dozed on and off until 5 then got up for some sunrise views. We went to the Observation Lounge and had the place pretty much to ourselves. There's a nice coffee machine too! No reserved deck chairs yet... A breakfast snack in Panorama, then more laps before our 10AM lecture, which was an overview of the cruise. We returned to our suite to a nice greeting. Lunch in LT was the usual. We went at noon and got a nice table. They were pouring an unoaked chardonnay from Margaret River so we had that instead of our usual rosé. We somehow fought the urge to nap, and visited the library instead to grab some books. Then we went to trivia at 4PM. Sparsely attended! We teamed up with a couple from Sydney (originally from UK and France), and a couple from San Francisco. And there were challenging questions! We tied for first despite an anemic score of 11. Our Silver Wind team would be disappointed with our efforts, but we were very close on several other questions. Time for a few more laps while the sun set, to finish our steps for the day, then we got ready for the captain's welcome. Amazingly, there are 224 guests and 233 crew! And the breakdown was even more interesting. 1 each from Germany, Taiwan, and Spain. 2 each from Russia, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and Indonesia. 11 from The UK 16 from The USA 19 from New Zealand - they outnumber us! And, 163 from Australia. Wow! The Captain and second in command are both from Odessa, which generated warm applause from the crowd. We had an hour to kill before dinner at LT so we went to Panorama for piano music and a G&T. We even got a dance in while previewing tonight's menu. Dinner was nice. The antipasti tray is much reduced. Probably a good thing. I broke down and tried the duck ragu for the first time in many years. Just OK. Chris had bucatini. My main was the pork saltimbocca. Delicious! Chris had the filet, nicely rare. The mains went well with a bottle of Amarone from the Connoisseur's list. Of course they brought us a nice cake, so no other desserts were needed. Off to bed after a long day!

I've not seen the series. The late boarding was due to biosecurity inspections at the start of the season. It shouldn't affect your cruise.

No apologies needed. Just reporting, and it's a distant memory now. I'm in a happy place now!

We rode that elevator down, but the WWII tunnels took us away from the elevator, so it was faster to climb the stairs. I wouldn't have minded a ride up, as our legs are very tired after all that walking!

Sunday June 9th. Territory Wildlife Park, outside of Darwin. So this was a tour set up by Silversea to make up for the delayed boarding. We drove almost an hour out of the city, in comfortable busses. Once there we got maps and a brief explanation, then we collected our lunch boxes. Lunch was meh. Some pasta salad with chicken, unripe fruit salad, an overbaked brownie, and a juice box. On the plus side, we didn't spend much time lingering over it, so more time to explore the park! We stopped first at the Nocturnal House for some cute critters. And some who were less cute, depending on your personal preferences. There was a bird show at 2PM. The lorakeets were cute and colorful but too fast for a good photo. The Bustard was much slower. Apparently they taste good too! Bad combination. And a non-bird. This beautiful specimen was a third-generation captive-bred dingo. She was adorable. A black wallaroo. I think he was looking for a handout! The Goose pond. Sans the geese! I guess it's waterlily season instead. Now, the reptiles. We ran out of time to do the Mangrove forest walk so we visited some pelicans instead. Now we only had a few minutes before the bus left. Time for one last pose, before a brisk walk to the bus. No worries. We were still 10 minutes early! Another hour back to the hotel. We got there at 5 and got ready for dinner at 5:30. They tried, but it was a crummy setup. We were all hungry from the bad lunch. We were set up in a large ballroom. They gave us two drink tickets each. Big line at the bar but we got some white plonk to start. There were menus on the table, seemingly with two entrées and two mains to choose from. But nobody took our order. I should have known that something was amiss, since the menu bid a warm welcome to the 'Sliver Cloud' passengers! At 6PM the food arrived. It was an "alternate drop" menu which meant that they dropped food plates on the table, alternating choices between every other person. We split the entrées, a beetroot and burrata salad, or a crispy salmon. The mains arrived around 7PM. They were uninspired - stuffed chicken breast, or lamb backstrap. Neither was very tasty, so we bailed on dinner, and grabbed our hand luggage to make sure we made the first bus at 7:30. We got to the pier at 7:40 and embarkation was a cluster. Passport checks. Health forms. Then a long wait for the last stop where they took pictures, registered credit cards, and distributed keys. It was very inefficient. We were lucky to be on the first bus, as we were aboard at 8:15! The line was huge when we left. Numerous Australian passengers were shocked to learn that passports were required. They were pulled out of the line while the officials tried to figure out what to do with them. I'm not sure what eventually happened to them. We checked into our suite and ordered room service. It went well with our bottle of Monopole! Much better. And then we waited... For the lifeboat drill, which finally happened at 10PM! After that, we called it a night. Luckily we go back to WA time tonight so we gain 1.5 hours. And, Monday is a sea day.

We did! We had no idea what to expect but we had a great time.

Sunday June 9th. Darwin. We slept well and were up for breakfast before 7AM. OK buffet at the Doubletree Hilton. We wanted to maximize our time this morning before the tour left at 11:40 so we headed out right after breakfast and walked through Bicentennial Park. We had a Silver Cloud sighting! She's here! The cenotaph in the park. And Silver Cloud again. Getting closer! We walked all the way to Stokes Hill Wharf and got there just at 9AM, as the RFDS Museum was opening. Good timing! This was a nice exhibition of the Flying Doctors, with real exhibits as well as some VR exhibits. Chris tries her hand at being a Flying Doctor. There were two 20-minute films, one about the bombing of Darwin Harbour in 1942 and another about the history of the RFDS. Not bad for the AUD30 entry fee. At the end of the pier, she awaits us. Too bad it's not until this evening! We still had some time so we slowly worked our way back along the waterfront. These birds were all over. Colorful designs. We detoured to see the WWII tunnels. Hastily built for fuel storage after the bombing of the Harbour, they never worked very well but make for an interesting but brief detour. A bit expensive at AUD9.50 per person. This one had lots of historical information that we didn't have time to read in detail. Now we had to climb back to the upper town. It was an easier climb than expected, though, and we passed by the Government House. Once more through Bicentennial Park. We even had a minute to sit on a bench and enjoy the scenery. Back to the hotel with time to spare! Silversea had arranged an 8PM check out so we didn't have to worry about bringing our hand luggage with us. So we headed out for our afternoon tour, having done most of what was on Chris's list for Darwin.

Just a quick update, as we are busy like usual, running around Darwin like mad people. Our two bags arrived in Darwin along with us, right on time at 2:45PM on Saturday. Because we were the first two off the plane, we were through immigration and customs within 20 minutes. Caught a cab and we were at the hotel by 3:20PM. Amazing efficiency! After a shower and a change, we headed out to explore Darwin. The Botanical Gardens were about 30 minutes away on foot, and a nice walk was in order after sitting on our butts for the past day. My phone had recorded a record low of 57 steps for Friday. The gardens were pretty. There were several weddings going on. We didn't crash them. We found our first saltie! Looks friendly. And a dragon. From here we went to Mindil Beach. A monument to the Original Inhabitants, who had used this area as a burial grounds. Nearly sunset. My energy level was flagging as well. Time to stumble back to the hotel. On the way we caught the actual sunset at Bicentennial Park, just across from our hotel. We rested our feet for a bit and then went for a light dinner. Some cheese and charcuterie at a wine bar fit the bill nicely. After the walk home we had exceeded 20,000 steps so we'd officially made up for Friday. Time for bed!

All good. They are on board with us.

I could not make this itinerary work using SkyTeam. We didn't have extra time to spend in Sydney, and the connections onward to Darwin were awful. Since Virgin Australia left the SkyTeam alliance, there's really been no substitute. And no more nice flights between LAX and locations other than Sydney on VA. Much harder to travel here now. We would have had to fly JFK-LAX-SYD, then switch carriers, and fly SYD-MEL-DRW. Without a few days in the middle to break that up, it would have been too much. So we decided to try Singapore Air. One stop and done. So far so good! Did you manage to find any direct flight from Sydney to Darwin?

Hi from the SilverKris lounge in T3, Changi. We survived the 18h flight and even arrived a few minutes early. Very pleasant flight, and it didn't even seem excessively long. Thanks for the tips, Jeff. Maybe we'll look into that on the way back, when we'll have 5h to spend here. But inertia won out this morning. And the Piper-Heidseick in the lounge helped solidify our choice. Singapore Airlines is now very careful about turbulence, as one might expect. So every time there was a bump, the seat belt sign came on, and cabin service stopped. We were actually hungry by the time they could serve the second meal! On to Darwin. Our flight leaves in an hour. Only 4h45, barely time for a nap! The weather looks delightful - low 80s and sunshine. Updates once we arrive.

Unlikely. I'd be careful about this. We're also D2D with flight credit, and I bought our own tix from Broome to Perth because that flight is NOT included. Better have a look at flights ASAP. Both Qantas and Virgin fly that route.

Lois, we arrive in Singapore around 5AM Saturday (local time) which will be 5PM New York time. We'll have about 3h for a layover, then we fly another 4.5h to Darwin. The time will move ahead 1.5 hours so we'll arrive there around 2:30PM (which will be 1AM home time). Just over 8h to go in this monster flight. We passed over the outer Aleutians, and along Kamchatka, and will be approaching Japan next. Our plane is located where it says "Pacific Ocean." The business-class seats are comfortable and they recline nicely for resting, but if you want to sleep then you pull the seat forward and it lies flat. If you're much taller than I am, the bed may seem short. The food was good, but not a huge amount. I had some shrimp dumplings in a thin but flavorful broth, with noodles and lots of delicious garlic chips. I couldn't decide between the Piper-Heidseick or the German Riesling, so I had both. I made up for the light entree by having extra garlic bread - it was delicious! I stayed up about 5h and watched a movie, then slept for a couple of hours. I'll nap again after our next meal, since it's getting to be bedtime at our destination.

Not yet, Lola. Having too much fun. The garlic bread is very tasty. And the Champagne is delicious! I will try to stay up as long as I can, and sleep more during the second half of the flight. At least that's the plan for now!

Hello from JFK T4, Centurion Lounge! We made it. And our plane arrived on time. We worked half of the day, then picked up a one-way rental at ALB airport. Home for a few hours to finish preparing for being away for the long trip. Lots of last-minute stuff to do, aNd I'm sure we forgot something! But we still had time for a lap around the block, and a shower, which our fellow passengers might appreciate for the next 18 hours. Set off about 3:45 and drove through some torrential downpours on the Thruway, but it cleared by Westchester County. Just in time for the traffic! We made a small detour to gas up the rental near JFK, and got back to Hertz just before 7PM. Quick AirTrain ride to T4, then a wrong turn before we found the SQ check-in desks. Not a bad wait. Security was slow, but we were in the lounge shortly afterwards. We got a prime table in the Speakeasy, despite it looking very crowded in the main club. Snacks, cocktails, and a smidge of wine for good measure. The vacation has started! And Chris is advertising Silversea. Ninety minutes to boarding. Looking forward to experiencing Singapore Airlines for the first time! More from the air, Wi-Fi allowing. Time for some Duolingo.

We are! The Earth may fall off its axis! I hope our plane doesn't get lost as a result. We are bringing our usual carry-on sized luggage, but checking them because we're bringing lots of sunscreen and bug spray.