Author: Kristin
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Singapore
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Our last night on the ship, we docked in Singapore. We dined in Polo Grill with a view of the city. Our final day has arrived and we disembark in Singapore. We left the ship and took a cab to our hotel (which Tim found for us), the St. Regis. Although it…
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Australia
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On our sea days we had two interesting lectures on the history of Australia. It has been continuously inhabited for 60,000 to 65,000 years but only “discovered” since the 18th century. It was settled by Southeast Asians during the ice age. Their history is one of the oldest continuous cultures in the world.…
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Indonesia
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Having left Australia, our next destination is Indonesia, a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Comprising over 17,000 islands, it is the world’s largest archipelagic state and 14th-largest country by area. The archipelago has been inhabited since prehistoric times. By the second millennium, it had become a…
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Melanesia, Part III
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Tonga Tonga is the South Pacific’s only monarchy, and Nuku’alofa is its capital. It is the administrative center of the country and home to the Royal Palace and graves located on the waterfront. Tonga was first inhabited about 3,000 years ago by Austronesian-speaking people of the Lapita culture from Southeast…
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Melanesia, part II
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Cook Islands Rarotonga is a kidney-shaped, volcanic island and the largest and most populous island in the Cook Islands, known for its stunning natural beauty and vibrant culture. The island features volcanic landscapes, lush foliage, and beautiful beaches. Its capital, Avarua, is on the north coast and where our ship anchored. The…
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Undiscovered Melanesia
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Ra’iatea Our first stop on this leg was the island of Ra’iatea, the second largest of the Society Islands. We docked in Uturoa, the main town on the island. Ra’iatea is a “sacred” island, considered the birthplace of Polynesian culture because it is the birthplace of the gods. It has many…
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French Polynesia
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Nuku Hiva Our first port is Nuku Hiva one of the 14 islands that make up the Marquesas group. It is the capital of this group, the biggest of the Marquesas Islands, and the second biggest island in French Polynesia after Tahiti. Its rugged wooded terrain rises to Mount Tekao which…
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South Pacific
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Oceania P Pacific Lagoons and Retreats–San Diego to Pape’ete, French Polynesia Departure We boarded the beautiful Oceania Vista on March 7th; this is our second voyage on this ship and we love it. The Vista was christened on May 8, 2023. On this trip, the Vista has about 1000 passengers,…
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Aruba
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Our final stop before Miami was Aruba, another island I had never visited before. I started by hopping on the Oranjestad trolley that goes from the Cruise port to the downtown. It makes six stops along the way. The stops include the House of Parliament, National Archaeological Museum, Fort Zoutman, the Protestant…
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Curaçao
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The next stop after two days at sea was the island of Curaçao. Lying 68 miles off the coast of Venezuela, it is a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Willemstad, its capital lies in Schottegat Bay, one of the finest natural harbors in the West Indies. It is part of…
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Two Sea Days
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Heading to Curaçao We were supposed to stop in Cartagena, but because of the political situation, we went past to Curaçao. For more than two centuries, Cartagena was the main gateway through which the Spanish Empire transported the riches of South America to Europe. Gold from Colombia and Peru, and silver…
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At Sea
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Wednesday: 10/8 Today we continue our route southeast along the coastlines of Costa Rica and then Panama. We will travel about 505 nautical miles, and the course will take us around Isla de Coiba and Punta Morro de Puercos in the Peninsula de Azuero. We are close to shore, only 25…
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Traversing the Panama Canal
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Today started early. The pilot came aboard around 5 am. There are two sections to the canal: the old Canal for smaller Paramax ships and the newer Canal for larger, new ships. The Queen Elizabeth is the largest of the Paramax ships, so we used the old canal. New, larger ships are…
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Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Tuesday 10/7 Puntarenas is called the Pearl of the Pacific. It sits along the Gulf of Nicoya on a peninsula in Costa Rica. It is the largest city in the central Pacific and home to fine Spanish colonial architecture. The first European to discover Puntarenas was Gil Gonzalez Davila in 1522. The…
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At Sea–Heading to Costa Rica
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Saturday: 10/4 As we were having breakfast we were treated with another pod of dolphins, some spinners, entertaining us with their jumps and flips. There was a huge number of them, and the show continued for quite a while. We were warned that we were travelling through a tropical depression, and…
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Los Angeles to Cabo
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Tuesday 9/30 This morning, we arrived at the Port of Los Angeles, which is actually in San Pedro, south of Los Angeles. Again, having lived in the area, we had no desire to go offshore; however, Bob needed to get a prescription filled, so he walked until he found a…
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San Francisco
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Sunday: San Francisco 9/28 Overnight, we picked up our pilot to guide us under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco. That all happened before I awoke, so I will have to see it when we leave tonight. We docked at Pier 27 on the Embarcadero, close to Fisherman’s Wharf. Since…
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Leaving Seattle
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Thursday: 19/25 The day has finally arrived; we are packed and just waiting to leave for Pier 91. I did not see the Queen Elizabeth arrive this morning although I did see the Coral Princess come in. It will be paralleling us to Los Angeles and then will return to Vancouver, B.C.…
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Columbia Icefield and Athabasca Glacier
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It was another early morning, so we ordered to-go breakfasts from the restaurant in the hotel. We were picked up at 7 a.m. for our long day exploration of Banff and Jasper National Parks. The Ice Fields Parkway is a 144-mile span on the highway from Banff to Jasper in Alberta. It…
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Lake Louise
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Originally the indigenous Stoney or Nakota people named the lake “Ho-Run-Num-Nay” which means “Lake of Little Fishes”. In 1882 a native guide took Tom Wilson to see the lake; he was the first European there. Wilson called it “Emerald Lake” because of its color. Two years later in1884, the Canadian Geographic Board…