I was surprised to see a small island a few miles off our port side early this morning.   After reviewing our location, it appears to be the Indonesian Island called Pulau Dana. The island is uninhabited except for one annual pilgrimage by the Raijua elders each year. I did notice some sort of tower near the center of the island, but I couldn’t figure out its purpose from my vantage point.

Pulau Dana

What are the towers for?

The morning air was hot and humid, but not unbearable, and I walked the promenade early and my shirt was sticky with sweat by the time I finished and I was glad to get back into the air-conditioned interior.

Good Morning Amsterdam’s guest was the ships HR Manager, Julie.   She is responsible for taking care of the crew and all of their requirements from training and orientation onboard to transportation to and from their home countries. She is also responsible for coordinating the crew family visits while we are in Indonesia over the next few days. We will average about 650 family members visiting the ship during each port. Each crewmember is allowed to sponsor up to 6 guests.

Donna and Julie

Good Morning Amsterdam

Barbara, the location guide, presented and interesting overview of Semarang and Jakarta.   The constant emphasis is on how horrible the traffic is and we are all but guaranteed to be stuck in traffic for hours and hours.    We will be taking ship tours in all these ports as I don’t care to find out if they are exaggerating the traffic situation or not.

Barbara – Location Guide

Indonesia Port Brief

Judy went to crafts this afternoon, while I played Texas Hold’em.   Afterwards, Judy spent an hour by the Seaview pool getting some sun while I took it easy in our cabin and did a little reading about Indonesia.

We received flyers in our rooms today advertising the arrival of Princeton Custom Tailors from Hong Kong. They will be onboard from Bali thru Hong Kong and will be open for business in the atrium on deck 5 from 4pm to 10pm.   If you order early, your clothes will be ready upon our arrival in Hong Kong. A copy of the flyer is HERE

Our guest for dinner this evening was Azita, the ship’s acupuncturist.   She was our guest earlier this cruise and is always a wonderful addition to our table.   As we were finishing dessert, Greg Andrew, from the Elton John show, stopped by and bid farewell as he is leaving tomorrow to head back to Brisbane.

Azita at Table 52

Paul Adams, the comedian who joined us in Darwin, provided the entertainment tonight.   He was quite funny and apparently has some history with Gene since Gene took great fun in heckling Paul a few times during his performance.