The Great Barrier Reef ... and survival at sea

Seas so smooth you could water ski on them.    That's what greeted us as we "turned the corner" from the northern coast of Au...

Darwin ... and rescue at sea

One of the truly pleasant (and I would say unexpected) aspects of this voyage is the introduction to some very enjoyable cities and towns i...

Bali ... or bust?

The good people of Bali (and we met a lot of them) would likely be disappointed if they read what I'm about to write. In fairness, my v...

Summer in Port Hedland

If you look at a map of Australia, on the upper left hand side of the continent (the northwest corner), you may see a very very tiny dot wit...

The jewels of Western Australia

When Celebrity said that we would be going to Perth, only to find out that we would actually be docking in a place called Fremantle, 30 mi...

When the ship hits the fan

I have sometimes wondered why cruise companies choose certain ports.  Some are obvious as being major tourist spots with lots to offer lik...

The roughest day in five months

Leaving the smoky skies of Hobart, we sailed west past the rugged coastline on Tasmania, our last stretch of the Tasman Sea.  Within a cou...

Oh you Tasmanian Devil

The standard operating procedure for this cruise is that we leave port anywhere between 5:00 and 7:00 in the afternoon, and we arrive at t...