Happy New Year, Darwin, Komodo Dragons and Reality

December 31, 2017


At Sea East of Darwin


We rarely get 'dressed up' while on vacation, but New Years Eve dinner aboard the Regatta gave us just such an excuse.  Having a photo taken of the two of us is also a rarity, but I wanted to 'memorialize' this evening since we were going to experience New Years 14.5 hours earlier than our friends and family on the East Coast of the U.S.

An amazing menu for the evening was definitely enjoyed!

Now - the operative question - did we stay up until midnight to see in the New Year?  As usual, the response is no - we only made it to 11:00 PM, but that was totally okay for us!




January 1,2018

Darwin

A lovely city (which was 99% closed for New Years day).  Poor planning by the cruise line to have us here when so much was unavailable, but we still took a Hop On - Hop Off bus tour (that I'd booked in advance - and we just stayed on for the 70 minutes it took to make the loop) to get the lay of the land and a narration of the history of the city.  Very interesting and lovely.

 

 

Lovely marina area with high priced condos

And back to our ship, Oceania Regatta

January 3, 2018

Komodo Island, Indonesia

Today, we are anchored just off Komodo Island - home of the Komodo Dragons.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of uneven walking to actually see the Komodo Dragons and therefore, we're enjoying a nice quiet, slightly empty ship since it was prudent for us to go ashore.  Unless you were taking an organized tour (either through the ship or privately), passengers weren't even allowed to leave the ship.  Not very safe - due to the animals, not the humans.

Reality

So I took the opportunity this afternoon to do some laundry (just think - only 4 small washers and dryers for @ 650 passengers).  I appreciate that many passengers have the ship do their laundry, but I'll pinch pennies where I can, and at the cost of their services, I do my own.   Jeffrey and I had been out by the pool (mainly in the shade) most of the morning, and he's now taking a nap while I catch up on-line.