The harsh shore of the Houtman Abrolhos Islands off the coast of Western Australia

The Event Staff team tried to beat the guests in trivia today, but bombed BADLY

Shafi Saboowala fits Squeekie with the pearl necklace she will model tomorrow

Kim De Klerck and her crew in the Pinnacle Grill relax after the Bush Tucker Dinner

Squeek and Moss with their boomerangs—and their bush hats

Squeekie with the black pearl necklace she is about to model

Jim Sheridan introduces Squeekie to the crowd

Flying fish jump out of the water; the Indian Ocean is very smooth today

Squeek and Moss with Bali’s Gunung Agung Volcano in the background

Squeekie took this picture of sunset over Bali


Day Thirty-three (Saturday, February 21, 2009)-- Today was an “at sea” day as we cruised north along the West Coast of Australia, headed toward Indonesia. We are in the Indian Ocean, and it has been surprisingly calm. Late in the morning we attended a “Culinary Question and Answer” session in the Wajang Theatre. This featured Bernie, the Executive Chef, Bart, the Culinary Operations Manager, and Thomas, the Dining Room Manager. These three men are responsible for the supply, creation and delivery of the food aboard our ship, and it was interesting to hear them describe the logistics and techniques used to achieve the wonderful results we have enjoyed. I was particularly interested to learn of the logistics of supplying this ship with its needs as it travels around the world. What was described was a combination of containers delivered to certain ports in advance of need, and supplies purchased in local ports, especially fruits and vegetables. We have noticed that the food on this cruise has been better than that on other cruises we have taken, and we learned that this is because the World Cruises and the other Grand Voyages have bigger food budgets than do the shorter cruises. Another thing we learned is that Holland-America is reacting to changing times by relaxing its dress code to a degree. Does this mean that the “Grand Manner” will die? I certainly hope not!!

At the noontime Trivia contest, a special competition was arranged between a team composed of Event Staff personnel and the teams made up of guests. Our team, the “Orphans,” was one of the contestants. Bruce, the event Manager, asked some particularly tough questions this day. The Event Staff team BOMBED badly, earning only six points out of a possible twenty three. The Orphans managed to earn fifteen points this day, and the winning team got seventeen points. We have yet to win any of the trivia contests held on “at sea” days, but they certainly are FUN!

Shortly after mid-day a rugged coastline could be seen on our starboard (right) side. The land that came into view is a rather unappealing part of Western Australia which appears to be very desert-like. I got out my long telephoto lens and took some pictures of a rugged coast with cliffs, desert vegetation and high waves crashing on a harsh shore. The map says these are islands are named the Houtman Abrolhos Islands after Portuguese and Dutch explorers from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There are three groups of islands and rocks, surrounded by reefs, about 30 nautical miles off the shore of Western Australia. The channel between the islands and the mainland is called the Geelvink Channel. The large number of Portuguese and Dutch landmark names on Australia’s West Coast shows how it was used as a landmark by the sailors and navigators of those nations long before the British showed up. It also was a tough coast to sail along in the days of sailing ships, as is shown by the numerous shipwrecks which can be found here, including the famous Batavia from the Dutch East-India Company, some items from which are now displayed at the maritime museum in Adelaide.

At 2 o’clock Squeekie had to go to the Mirabella jewelry salon on Deck Five to choose some pearls to model during a show which will be held tomorrow. One of the gift shop ladies had recommended that Squeek be selected to be a model for this show; apparently they do this on the longer cruises, selecting some women from among the passengers. Australian pearls were what were being shown, and most of the pieces were very gaudy, but Squeekie found a simple piece, a necklace made from a single black pearl on a silver chain, accented with tiny diamonds. It looked LOVELY against her tanned skin.

Later in the afternoon I went up to the salon on Deck Eight for a discomfiting event. I had a lady, Colleen—she was from Port Elizabeth in South Africa—cut my hair. I felt very uncomfortable in this ladies’ salon, and spoke rather grumpily to an unseen person who made a comment I didn’t like, and Squeek got angry at me for speaking my mind and left without taking a picture of this historic event.

In the evening we attended our third themed dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. It featured Australian cuisine and was entitled the “Bush Tucker” Dinner, although I’m certain that Crocodile Dundee and his mates never ate such a fancy repast out in the bush! Squeekie and I wore our new Aussie “bush” hats to keep in the spirit of the event. We sat at our “usual” table, but tonight we were paired with another couple, Dorothy and Guy from San Diego. It was nice to become acquainted with them, and we had a very pleasant evening chatting. The dinner was creative and tasty. It started with small pieces of kangaroo meat, which looked like slices of beef tenderloin but tasted more like venison. It was GOOD! This was followed by two large prawns, which were delicious, accented with some mango fruit slices. Then came a clear crocodile soup; yes, soup made from slices of croc loin (Chef Sean later told us) which, as predicted, did taste like chicken, well, sort of. Then we were served two small-portioned entrees, a barramundi fillet and a rack of Australian lamb crusted with macadamia nuts. Squeekie, who doesn’t care for most fish dishes, ate the barramundi and liked it! It was light and moist and not at all fishy-tasting. The lamb, encased in a macadamia nut crust was outstanding! I don’t recall what the dessert was, except that it was good, too. Each guest at this dinner was given an Aboriginal-painted boomerang as a memento; Squeekie’s has a kangaroo on it and mine is a gecko.


Day Thirty-four (Sunday, February 22, 2009)-- Today was yet another day at sea, and the water was still calm. The main event of this day was the modeling show sponsored by Mirabella jewelry, which was held in the Explorers’ Lounge on Deck Five. Squeekie was VERY excited to have been asked to model in this event, and she readied for it with all of her usual thoughtfulness and intensity.

What were being modeled were Australian and Tahitian pearls designed by Tara & Sons, who sent their senior Vice President Jim Sheridan out from New York to market these items. Squeek had selected a simple pendant necklace, one black pearl, with some tiny diamonds tying it onto a fine silver chain. It was a very nice piece and looked OUTSTANDING on Squeek’s tanned skin. She had to report to the Mirabella jewelry room at 2 pm, where she and all the other ladies who were selected to model—all twenty of them—fastened on their pieces and drank champagne. I selected a seat at the very front of the runway so that I could get nice pictures of her as she walked forward. By ten of three the room was crowded—mainly with ladies, but there were some men too—and I was glad that I had come early to get a good seat. At three o’clock the event began with Sheridan bumbling his way through his spiel about his company and the pearls they marketed. Then the modeling began. I must say that all of the women asked to model this afternoon were, to put it nicely, middle aged women with little sense of couture. When, after about six of these fluffy, graying women had come up the runway, Squeekie appeared and began her walk, you could sense a real interest in the crowd. Men and women alike watched as she came forward. About half way up the runway she stopped and held out her hand to show the matching ring to a woman in the audience. As Squeek walked—and I could tell from the smile on her face that she was thrilled to be doing this—Sheridan told the audience that this necklace had a special history, having been designed as one of the gifts given to Oscar winners in 2007. When Squeekie arrived at the front of the audience, Sheridan joked with her; it was as though the entire room wanted her to stay up in front for a few minutes longer.

After Squeek was done and walked back out of the audience area, it was as though a curtain had closed. I lost interest in the rest of the show, but I could not leave because I was in front of most of the audience. I saw Squeek standing at the very back wall of the room, drinking a flute of champagne and talking to our new friend Don Davidson from Canada. Finally the program was over, but for the rest of the day and night people came up to Squeekie and commented on how good she had looked. Many also asked me if I intended to buy the necklace for her, but I must say the she specifically said that I should NOT do so. I won’t say how much it cost, but it was definitely out of my price range. . . .

After this wonderful event Squeekie, still in her lovely black gown, and I, in my tuxedo, went up to the Lido to have some ice cream. You can just imagine all the stares we got from the people (guests and employees alike) up there who are not accustomed to seeing such well dressed people in that location. It was fun. This evening we dined with our friends Jim and Jessica from Pennsylvania, and Don and Iris from British Columbia. We crashed after a very exciting day at sea.


Day Thirty-five (Monday, February 23, 2009)-- Today is our last “at sea” day before we arrive in Indonesia. The sea is very smooth and Rotterdam has been zooming along at very high speed. At his mid-day “Voice from the Bridge” announcement, Captain Olav came on and said that the high speed was due to a medical emergency, and he had to get Rotterdam to Bali, where there was a hospital that could take care of the patient. Although we were sorry for the guest who had gotten ill (it later turned out that it was two guests), we were glad to hear that we were going to Bali, which had not originally been on the agenda. Squeekie was ecstatic!

In the afternoon, the ocean was like glass as we crossed the northeastern arm of the Indian Ocean which separates Australia from the Indonesian islands. While we were sitting in the Lido at late lunch we saw unusual patterns on the smooth water. Someone nearby said that they were made by flying fish. I got out my camera and sure enough, there they were—flying fish. They were tiny, but we began taking pictures. The Lido windows were dirty, however, so we went back to our room and shot from the veranda. Both Squeekie and I got nice pictures of the flying fish, and also, once, of a larger predatory fish chasing after them. Later I downloaded the pix into our hard drive file, selected a few of them and blew them up with Photoshop and, well, you see the results at the top of this blog page.

Finally, late in the afternoon an island appeared on the horizon. It was Bali! We both were very excited and took some pictures. A panorama is on this page. Rotterdam sailed around an adjoining island into a bay where, apparently, there is a western resort community living and a hospital which could take care of the medical emergency. Rotterdam anchored just a few hundred yards from shore and a tender was lowered to take the patients ashore. All in all, it took nearly an hour from the lowering of the tender until its reshipping. During that time the sun set over the western edge of Bali, and Squeekie was able to take a wonderful picture of “sunset over Bali,” which was one of the things she had wanted to do on this world cruise, but had thought would not happen.