On the Pursuit - The Kimberley Coast, Indonesia & PNG - and a really keen choo-choo train!

[shark b8]

“Chef’s Dinner” last night. Pretty good, the curry-squash soup was the clear winner, at least for me.

 

[shark b8]

Shenanigans onboard.

 

 

 

[skybluewaters]

18 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Lunch on deck at the Patio.  I killed a fly by smacking it with my fork.  First time for everything, I guess.  😝

 

 

 

[shark b8]

For any diehard foodies - pix from the Chef’s dinner the other night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

Dinner tonight was in The Club.  To me, this is how Mother Nature intended us to eat fish. 

 

[shark b8]

….and then we come back to the suite.  And we’re privy to this.  Never, ever gets old, right?

 

 

 

[highplanesdrifters]

Just now, shark b8 said:

Never, ever gets old, right?

Yep

[whogo]

1 hour ago, shark b8 said:

For any diehard foodies - pix from the Chef’s dinner the other night. 

 

 

Let me guess. Chocolate and butterscotch sundae with peas?

Edited August 21 by whogo

[shark b8]

Rained most of the day in Alotau PNG yesterday.  🌧️🙁

[shark b8]

But last night was……taadaaa!   Indian Market dinner.  Curries (rogan josh, vindaloo, tikka masala), veggie pakoras, naan, mango chutney & basmati rice.  Yum!

 

[shark b8]

Four of the last five days were sea days, thus the dearth of port-reports lately.  But there’s a little something coming up later today, which I hope will be a highlight.  Stay tuned.

[shark b8]

On 7/24/2024 at 5:18 PM, shark b8 said:

They give everyone a medium-sized backpack, which you’ll have with you each day on the coach, stored on the rack above the seats, and then you can also have one (p/p) “carry-on” size/style suitcase or duffel bag etc, which you will have at the various hotels, but when on the road, they are stored in the coach’s locked luggage section, inaccessible to your seating.

 

Hey, want to clarify something, going back to the pre-cruise Ghan train.  Packing is a concern with them, and since a few readers have mentioned planning to do the train, I realize that I unintentionally conflated a few things while composing/writing and gave a completely wrong report.  The luggage that is “stored in the coach’s locked luggage section, inaccessible to your seating”, is your “big stuff”, in our case the remainder of what we needed for the longer cruise.  During the day, in your cabin, you obviously have your backpack, but you can also have airplane-carryon-size bags - I don’t know why I pretty much wrote the opposite (above), I was probably trying to think a step ahead while writing.  Anyway, apologies for the brain-fart. 

[shark b8]

On 8/12/2024 at 6:35 PM, shark b8 said:

….if you have anything planned for Honiara. Or is it a charter out straight away? …

 

Looks like I forgot to follow up on this on this thread.  The flight from Honiara to Sydney is around 2:00p, but all who are taking it are offered one of those quick-tour/airport shore excursions, presumably they’ll drive us around for an hour or two and then get us to the airport in plenty of time for the flight.  I had tentatively signed up for a separate Guadalcanal shore excursion, assuming that since I was allowed to, it would fit in with the airport/flight schedule - but checked with the Square, they told me about the bus tour/airport thing, and canceled the lounger Guadalcanal tour. 

[FlyingScotSailors]

14 hours ago, shark b8 said:

I unintentionally conflated a few things while composing/writing and gave a completely wrong report.  The luggage that is “stored in the coach’s locked luggage section, inaccessible to your seating”, is your “big stuff”, in our case the remainder of what we needed for the longer cruise.  During the day, in your cabin, you obviously have your backpack, but you can also have airplane-carryon-size bags

Now we are confused!  Are you conflating the Ghan train with the Red Centre Experience coach?

 

Did all your luggage fit in your train cabin, or was some of it stored elsewhere?  Similarly, was all your luggage taken on the coach, or was some stored in Alice Springs until you reboarded the Ghan?  With laundry on the Pursuit, and no formal wear, we are hoping to take smaller suitcases.  They are not what we would call "carry-on size", but based on our last few flights, they would be considered "carry-on" by many!

 

Thanks for your help.  No rush since we will not start packing until April.

 

[shark b8]

Sorry about this!  Yes, we did the Red Centre Experience, which is a 6-day package out of Alice Springs, the midpoint of the Adelaide/Darwin route.  But I believe the luggage arrangements would essentially be the same, if one just took the train straight from Adelaide to Darwin, or vice versa.  Upon check-in at the train station, you keep your (one per person) carryon suitcase, and check your larger suitcases.  If you do the Alice Springs tour, your checked luggage will go with you, from the train to the hotel, and will be available in your hotel room.  If you are not doing the package, you don't see your checked luggage until you reach your final destination, whatever that may be.  Clear as mud?  🤷‍♂️

[shark b8]

We actually had a third carryon (a duffel bag kinda thing) in addition to the “one per person carry-on” allowance in your train cabin.  No one would begrudge you a little fudging on the rules, what they are trying to avoid would have been exactly our situation - we had two larger size suitcases with most of our cruise-stuff, which would simply not have fit in the cabin if they had been allowed.  Or if they actually could fit in the cabin, WE probably couldn’t.  Even the Platinum class cabins are not exactly spacious.  Packing is the one travel duty of Mrs Sharkbait, and every time we return from travel, she says “we’re going to pack lighter next time”.  Then, when next time rolls around, we pack too heavy again.  Just seems to be a fact of life.  

[shark b8]

When we first boarded in Broome, I selected and charged a ride on the submersible, but they didn't know, at that point, what day it would  be offered.  Yesterday was that day, in the Conflict Islands, Papua New Guinea.  They ran 8 trips, 45 minutes each, throughout the day.    My review would be:  great piece of machinery, not so great viewing experience.  I mean the unit itself is cool beyond words.  And small.  Very small.  (And I’m not).  The day of the trips they will have taken the submersible to the dive site area, and then 6-people-per-dive take a zodiac to the area, to access the sub.  The surface access wasn’t bad, there’s a railing on the top of the zodiac, to grab onto, as well as the usual “sailor’s grip” thing with crew members.  Then one descends a ladder into the unit and crawls a few feet to a seat - three on one side, three on the other.  It’s just that these units are apparently designed around people about 4 feet tall, which I am emphatically not.  Very cramped, knees in chest.  Then, as it turned out, the actual viewing was a big disappointment.  We descended to about 50-60 meters (~170 feet) to the sea floor.  On the way down, I caught a momentary glimpse of a reef shark, but he disappeared before I could try to take a pic.  The sea floor was just not very interesting, some small coral here and there, but nothing of particular note.  Obviously Seabourn is not responsible for the quality of any given reef, and the clarity this day was not helped by the very windy conditions on the surface.  It was just not impressive, had I done and seen the same thing with scuba, I would have classified it as a dive that was, at best, mediocre.  Win some, lose some.

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

 

 

 

 

 

[shark b8]

My seat-mate in the submersible was wearing a “Lahaina Divers” cap.  (Lahaina is on Maui, and sadly enough was the absolutely wonderful quaint seaside town that was essentially wiped out, in the ghastly fire not so long ago).  Anyway, as we were all exiting the submersible and getting on the zodiac to go back to the ship, we sorta looked at each, traded brief dive-familiarity, shrugged, and said, well…..fun to do the trip, pretty boring viewing. After 250-300 scuba dives, you just accept that some of them will be unmemorable, but I didn't pursue anything.

 

And then….this afternoon there was a message on our suite phone, from Adam, the head Expedition guru - he said that there were reports about the trip and the charge would be fully refunded.  I’m conflicted - yes, it was disappointing, and kudos to Seabourn to acknowledge it and react, but was any of it a fault on Seabourn’s part?  

[Robisan]

7 hours ago, shark b8 said:

Lahaina is on Maui, and sadly enough was the absolutely wonderful quaint seaside town that was essentially wiped out, in the ghastly fire not so long ago

We just passed the one year anniversary of the fire. For those interested, here is a narrated drone video showing how widespread the devastation was and the progress made after one year. Still heartbreaking to see.

 

 

[shark b8]

A stowaway in the suite.

 

[shark b8]

Honiara in the Solomon Islands.  The town is on the island of Guadalcanal, so naturally the brief tour included the WW2 memorial.

 

 

 

 

[SLSD]

On 8/21/2024 at 7:41 AM, shark b8 said:

For any diehard foodies - pix from the Chef’s dinner the other night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On 8/23/2024 at 7:24 PM, shark b8 said:

 

vcompress_158.mov 3.18 MB · 12 downloads  

 

vcompress_159.mov 3 MB · 9 downloads  

 

 

 

Thanks for posting these.  

[SLSD]

On 7/29/2024 at 12:22 AM, shark b8 said:

With cave paintings.

 

 

 

I finally have time to read your report---fascinating.  

[shark b8]

The transition from Honiara to Sydney:  after the brief Guadalcanal island tour, we were all dropped off at the airport.  The Seabourn-chartered flight to Sydney was just over 4 hours - as it happens, I had previously wondered about seat assignments....we are so-called "Diamond Elite" Seabourn members, and we were placed in 2 of the 8 (I think) "Business Class" seats, so that was an appreciated touch.  Then dropped off at the Sydney hotel.

 

The Seabourn-assigned Shangri La hotel in Sydney is smack in the middle of "The Rocks" area near the harbor.  (pic-from-window below).  There was a Seabourn hospitality area just off the hotel lobby.  And the next day, our flight back to Honolulu was not until 8:30p, so I asked at the hotel desk if we could arrange a "day room" kinda thing, so that we didn’t have to check out eight hours before we had to move on.  The hotel manager happened to be within earshot and they then arranged us to have a 5:00p checkout (for about an additional $120), which I thought was eminently fair, especially compared to previous attempts at late check-out I've attempted around the world.  

 

Seabourn then had arranged our transfer from the hotel to the airport - A driver arrived ten minutes before the stated time, we had a private transfer in a late model SUV.   

 

And, I know I've been a major complainer about the airport-experience these days - most of us generally agree that we love travel but not so much the getting-there-and-back.  I have to say, this stuff was absolutely seamless this time - at the Sydney airport, we barely stopped walking.  The Immigration process was amazing - insert your passport into this kiosk, proceed and have your pic taken by that kiosk, and......keep walking.  No face-to-face with anyone, no line.  Customs the same - virtually no delay and hassle.  Oh, if it could always be like this!  (Obvs these sorts of things always surely depend on day-of-the-week- and time-of-day and how many flights just landed.  But if we're getting closer to this experience in general, I say hip hip hooray). 

Edited August 28 by shark b8