Our two-day stop in Jeju-do, South Korea, or as they call it here, Korea, turned into a bit of a food and market trek. Lyn woke up with a really sore knee. She said that a Menehune had danced on it the night before, leaving it hard to walk. We got to the front of the port terminal after about a quarter mile of moving sidewalks inside the air-conditioned buildings. The heat hit us, and the next bus into town would not be for another half hour. I checked the Uber app and found

When I got back from scuba diving at Raja Ampat, I noticed a small lump in my groin on the right side.  I was standing in front of the mirror and just noticed it. It was soft. It went away when I lay down.  Ellie suggested, and Dr. Google helped confirm, that I had a hernia.  An inguinal hernia, to be more specific. I was about to learn a lot more about hernias than I wanted to. First, they do not heal on their own. They need to be surgically repaired, patched like a hole in

After the best snorkeling in my life I was really looking forward to Raja Ampat. Four days at a dive resort there sounded like an opportunity not to be missed. The flight from Manado to Sorong gave us a good look at the waters of Indonesia. Beautiful blue waters with tiny islands and atols scattered here and there. The ferry from Sorong to Raja Ampat was 120,000 Indonesian rupiah in the cheap seats and twice that for premium. Being kind of frugal we went badic and we're assi

We had spent the night at a birding lodge outside Tangkoko National Park. We had seen the smallest primate, the tarsius, the night before. A 5:00 AM wake up was required to make another visit possible to see the Macaque monkeys. The hike to the beach revealed a troop there the guide called Rambo 2. At least twenty were jumping through the trees and running around on the beach. We followed them and they ran through the small number of observers who had joined us shortly after

Overnight in Bitung, Indonesia we stayed at a little place called Birding Cottages Tangkoko. In the nearby forest we saw the smallest primate, the tarsius, as the sun went down. The local Crested Black Macaque greeted us and a giant tarantula bit us farewell. The pair of Sulawesi Bear Cuscus were nearly impossible to find against the sun, but we did find them. Tomorrow we snorkel.

Having to anchor offshore and take one of our lifeboats ashore as a tender could be a crapshoot. But this was not crap. The Palau Pacific Resort was our drop-off, and it was a piece of paradise in paradise. We spent the first day lounging around the pool and snorkeling off their private beach. Did I mention that the Prime Minister of Australia happens to be slumming it here at the moment? The next day, Ellie and I got up early to go on her first scuba dive since she completed

Ellie and I were supposed to scuba dive in Micronesia yesterday and had to cancel because we were just getting over a cold and didn't want to risk ear damage or worse. This morning it was raining and we had an excursion with several folks from the ship to go snorkeling. Getting wet was not a problem. High seas from a blowing wind could be. Fortunately the weather was not so bad and we got about four hours out on the water and saw some great coral, fishes and turtles. Some in

Ellie, Sue, and I traveled from Mt. Fuji to Kyoto via Yokohama. The scenic train for a famous view of the mountain was not so scenic due...

We came by ship to Kagoshima and from there by train to Kirishima to stay at an apartment for a few days before our flight to Singapore....

Christine had met one of the top six chefs in the world. She had arranged for a group of us from the ship to enjoy lunch at his...

Hiroshima. The name says more than I ever could. We walked where they died. Where they were incinerated. Where "it" happened. The images...

Between the Go-Go of Tokyo and the Obon Festival in Kyoto, we took a break at Mount Fuji. Ellie had been told that Mount Fuji was very...

T-Nakameguro restaurant had one huge piece of beef shared by thirteen people over twelve courses.  The type of beef is called Omi...

The Shinkansen "Bullet Train" took us 700 kilometers from Hachinohe to Tokyo in under four hours. By car, it would have taken about...

We took trains from Hakodate to Hachinohe with a long walk uphill to the wrong hotel. Same company, but wrong location. Part of travel....

Got off the ship today to travel overland for part of Japan. Food experiences and rain, and painted manhole covers made an interesting...

We had been sailing up the west coast of Canada and Alaska for the last couple of weeks and have gotten off in several places hoping to...

Getting off the ship was something that just made sense. The ship would be going from San Diego to Seattle, and there was no reason to...

LaPaz Lovers Amanda and RJ had made arrangements for a group of eight to go on a snorkeling excursion in the Sea of Cortez at our stop in...

P I’ve been away from my blog for a bit, but that does not mean that I have stopped traveling.  Since Rio de Janeiro, we have cruised up...