South Pacific...

Indonesia. This was an amazing experience. We docked in Padang Bai, Bali in Indonesia a few days ago. I had in port manning duty, but because we have a new lead singer and he was rehearsing all day, he shared his day off with the three of us on duty. We each had about 2 hours to experience the day. I got lucky and had a fabulous portion of the day. I had the second shift off and that was just as those who were off before me discovered what to do in port. We took the tender to shore where we were immediately approached by Indonesians and their wares. Floods of them. Each one pestering and following you hoping you will buy the goods they're showing. Some of them practically putting necklaces or handing hand carved goods to you without you even grabbing them. They just land in your hands. Some even proclaim they have "gifts" for you and then tell you their family woes after accepting such a "gift." We got past all these pushy sales people and made our way to a quaint little hut just down the road on the beach. There we met some locals who ran a snorkeling operation off their personal fishing boat. For just $10.00 per person, we donned our fins and goggles and went out to the reefs in this narrow fishing canoe. It was quite the experience. It was a beautiful sunny day in Bali and I made sure to put my sunscreen on. It was gorgeous. I snorkeled before and I still don't like always breathing through the mouth instead of the nose. However the sights were breathtaking. Beautiful coral; tropical fish swimming in schools; anemone on the floor just living. There were fish of all different bright colors and it was so peaceful just floating above it all. We were out there for a good hour before we had to scurry back in so I could get back on board once my two hours were up. Today we docked in Semerang, Java in Indonesia. We got off bright and early at 9:30am so we could take a ride out to see the Borobudur temple. It's one of the forgotten wonders of the world built in the 8th century. It was about a 2-hour crazy ride in a local taxi. These drivers are chaotic. Whoa!! I felt like I was on one of Disney's adventure rides coasting through the local jungle. We headed deep into the country past many a rice field. Rice fields boggle my mind because they are so neatly tiered and the plant is sitting in a pool of water. The fields look like perfectly placed leveled pools sprawling across the countryside. The ride was a little stifling since the car didn't have air conditioning. I took this long journey as a time to relax and nap in my usual traveling fashion. I couldn't see out of the windows where my seat was since they were tinted. It was fine. I would just sit near an open window on my way back and I certainly didn't want a view out the front window with the heinous driving going on. We finally arrived and I was excited to see. The desperate vendors immediately approached us. It was insane. We got to the sight and it was breath taking. It was huge and rising over the countryside. There were Buddhas all over the structure. The views were astonishing. It was perfect and serene. I couldn't believe the detail in the art that was engraved in this monument. It was also fascinating to know this massive structure was built so long ago without the technology we have today. We had limited time since the travel time takes so long so we took in all we could before leaving. The ride home was once again a roller coaster ride. There were many frightening instances where I thought we were going to collide with another oncoming car. We were cracking up and scared all at the same time. Mopeds were dodging in and out of traffic. There were loads of mopeds. Flocks of them. They just dodge in and out of car traffic. It's insane. Thankfully we made it back safe, but we had a hell of a time. We're on our way to China. The world is my oyster.

Seen the World...

It's official; I have now been to all 7 continents of the world. This has been an amazing past 3 years so far with all my travels. Australia has been wonderful. I arrived in Sydney, Australia on the night of Valentine's Day and literally dropped my bags, rinsed, and went out for a night on the town. There were only 2 of us, but we were determined to have a good time. According to my schedule, I was supposed to be on the ship all day the next day so I wanted to see the nightlife since I thought it would be my only night out. The next day we boarded our new home on board the ms Amsterdam that was strategically docked in an area called 'The Rocks" harbor right between the Sydney harbor bridge and the Sydney Opera House. I was overwhelmed. I was here. Even as I woke up that morning in my hotel room, I had an amazing view of the skyline with the bridge and the opera house outside my window. We scrambled to get our rooms on board and get a little situated. We managed to get through the red tape and get our I.D.s so we could go out in port for the day. Well those who at least weren't scheduled to man the ship. The 3 of us stuck on board unpacked and got settled and then had a notion to try and get out on land. It worked. I guess we weren't in the system just yet. I went out that evening for a good meal and some social time in the city and then went out later again for a night on the town and had an absolute blast. The next morning I was up bright and early to experience the city. I walked around and the vibe was just amazing. I went to the opera house to see it up close and personal. I didn't get a chance to go inside, but just to be there was amazing. We strolled through the city, which had the bustling energy of NYC, but a coolness of Paris or Vancouver about it. I DEFINITELY have to visit this place again and investigate it more. We went to a place called Pitt Street where there was a busy outdoor shopping area. Much like the Third Street Promenade in L.A. I wish we 'd had more time. I would definitely like to have seen and experienced more of this great city. I did make it over to the bridge. We had a bridge climb scheduled for when we were supposed to be here, but it had to be cancelled because we wouldn't be here on the day it was happening due to our schedule change. There was a pillar you could freely walk up into for about $8.00 and that was just fine. The views of the harbor and the actual bridge were amazing. I'm sure the experience of climbing the bridge would be fantastic, but there was no way we could arrange something in the time we had. We left the city in the afternoon and sailed for Cairns. It would take 2 sea days to get there. Cairns was a lovely resort town. Not much to do there. There were lots of tourist and beach shops. It really reminded me of Hilo, Hawaii. A resort town definitely and supposedly a great place to snorkel. I, however, was battling a cold and didn't want to aggravate it by going under water. I heard from other sources though that because of the rain, the snorkeling wasn't good that day since the water became so murky. We just hung out at an Irish pub where I got a lovely dish of Guinness Stew. It was pretty much like Irish stew, but the sauce was prepared with the famous Irish brew called Guinness. We left that night and sailed for our next Australian port of Darwin. It would take 3 days to get there. Today I sit on board in Darwin because of our in port manning duties. Oh well. The sun is hot though, so I went out for a bit, but only a bit. Whoa! For now I say goodbye to Aussieland, but I hope to be back here really soon.

Valentine's Travel..

An interesting journey begins. We packed up all our things and moved out bright and early. Our new home became the golf pro shop on board. That's at least where our luggage was being stored. We ventured out into Buenos Aires to see some of the sights. We made it over to the area where Eva Peron's grave was located. Once we got there, some of us were pretty parched (both food and water) so we settled down at a cute little café next to this huge tree. It looked like one of those tree of life trees. The scenery was gorgeous, the people were gorgeous and we had a wonderful lunch. We didn't have much time so we finished up and went over to the grave sight. The church was really beautiful as any church would be in a religious country. The grave sight was a new experience however. It was as if these were homes to the dead. Literally. They were small flats that housed the coffins of the elite. It was overwhelming. The monuments these people afforded to raise to honor their dead. You could even see the coffins through the windows in some of them. Some of them even had stained glass. We got to the Duarte tomb and there were all kinds of plaques on her grave acknowledging her work. Her life. I've performed in the musical Evita and now here she was staring me in the face in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Afterwards we strolled through town. It reminded me of wither walking through the streets of Lisbon or the streets of Paris. It had quite the energy and I'd definitely like to come back to this area again. I wish we could've stayed to see a Tango dance. We had to scurry back to the ship so we could catch the shuttle to get us to the airport. The shuttle was late of course in a bustling city. We made it to the airport to see it was as busy as ever. I guess there must have been at least 4 ships in port today and this is a HUGE turn around port. We waited for a while, we got through with little fees on overages, but we had to pay an airport tax. Airport tax? What? Well I paid it on the company and then we were escorted through security. Security wasn't as tight as it is in the U.S. It was as if we were getting on the cruise ship again. Then we went through immigration. I got a stamp in my passport now, but was a little frazzled at the time because we were pushing the time limit. The plane was boarding as we were passing through immigration. Yikes. Two of us didn't have assigned seats yet. I was hoping they'd get one. Sure enough they did. It's our first leg of 3. We go from a 2 1/2 hour flight up to a 9 1/2 hour one and then to the big 14 hours in which we lose a day. Oy! Australia here we come. I hope we all make it luggage and all.

We made it!! Oh my God! Two long flights and boy was that ever painful. Customs, immigration, and luggage went smoothly. We got everything we needed to get done in L.A. and arrived in Sydney on time. Qantas has amazing service on their flights. You get a little baggie full of goodies, entertainment out the wazoo on your own personal screen, and 2 good meals and 3 good snacks. The staff was lovely and accommodating. The only thing I didn't like was the bumpy air. It was a bumpy ride and mostly at meal times. What is it with rough weather and meal times? First my trip across the floor in the Lido during the big wave, and now bumpy air while I have drinks on my tray. Ah well. We're here safe and sound in Australia and I'm sad we won't get more time in Sydney. It's a gorgeous city. Two of us went out last night and painted the town red until 3am so this morning was a little rough. Now we're off to our new home on board the Amsterdam. What a ride so far.

English Isle...

We're on our way to Sydney, Australia. FINALLY!! Antarctica was amazing though and I'm glad we got to go. We also got to visit the British Island of Stanley in the Falkland Islands. It was so cute. It looked like a British military camp. Almost everyone there drove a land rover and on the wrong side of the road (although our little Brit girl claims it was the right side of the road). We went to a little British pub and had some delightful fish and chips. Home-style. English style. On the ship before we even got off there was English breakfast available. Bangers (sausages), mushrooms, eggs, English bacon, muffins, and tomatoes. Delish. I had a Magners at lunch, which is the best cider beer ever. I also had some great English coffee. Mmmmm. We also played a delightful game of pool in the pub. We went to the grocery store after walking around the cute town all day. The English have some of the best snack. I got these crisps flavored like chicken and thyme and the other girl got the Thai red pepper ones. YUMM!!! I also got the REAL Cadbury chocolate as well as my favorite Galaxy Minstrels. These little chocolates are oversized M&Ms that are WAY better. I also bought 2 bottles of Magners. Oh it was good to see land after being at sea for so long. Now we will be flying. Next stop, Aussieland.

ANTARCTICA!!

The day before we're supposed to be leaving for Sydney, Australia and we're just leaving the Antarctic area. Our schedule is now 3 days off and we won't be arriving into Buenos Aires, Argentina until the 12th putting us in Sydney late on the 14th (the day before we embark the Amsterdam). Yes, my Valentine's Day will be spent on a plane instead of exploring a fascinating and new city. All for the price of Antarctica. It was an amazing journey though. After we finally left Ushuaia and headed south on super bowl Sunday, we entered the Drake Passage. This passage is well known for it's strong currents and sketchy weather conditions. It wasn't as rough as our first attempt, but we did have some weather as we tried to get through the passage that tossed our ship a bit. The next day we arrived at the Palmer Station in Antarctica. This facility is one of the facilities on the continent used for research studies and is located on Anvers Island. Permanent ice keeps it connected to the mainland. As we pulled in, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was just mountains of snow and ice. The air was freezing cold of course and the added wind made it bone chilling as we were pulling in. It wasn't so bad once we slowed down to a crawl when we got nearer. The research team came on board and held a chat with our passengers about life on Antarctica and their missions. There are several nations that own pieces of the continent and come to these research facilities to work. There are 3 that I remember. There's Palmer station, which only holds say 44 during the summer season (now), the South Pole (also very small), and a larger colony more inland that can house about 200 or so. They study anything from biological systems to space research. Even NASA comes here to study the ozone and run experiments on the continent since it has similar qualities to other planets or moons. They mostly work the summer season since their winter season gets to be too cold and icy for anyone to get in or out. After the researchers got off we headed to the Lemaire Channel, which is the southernmost part of Antarctica that we'd get to see. I couldn't believe the beauty of this place. All day long I was all over the place snapping pictures of icebergs, mountaintops, sheets of blue ice coming down the side of mountains. It was truly amazing. I must have over 100 pictures from the 3 days because the landscape always presented a new way to look at it with the sun and clouds. It was very cold and I got my 3 days of winter out of it for me. That's just like the winter I'd like to have. Brief. You come see all the beautiful ice and snow in pristine condition (no slush) and say goodbye to it. We attempted to enter the Neumayer Channel, but the weather was too foggy and the ice in the water was too dense. We set sail for open water and circled throughout the night. You can't drop anchor here because of the delicate ecosystem, so we just sailed around outside the continent.

The next day was an amazing experience. I got up a little later, but I caught a whole lot throughout the day. Wow. I got up just in time to catch the end of passing through the Neumayer Channel and into Paradise Harbor. Once again so much beautiful scenery and very large icebergs passing by. Icebergs are so amazing because only a small portion of them sticks out above the water. The rest of it is floating underneath the water. These icebergs, I'm told, are very strong and if we did encounter a navigational error and hit one of the large pieces, it would rip through our ship like a knife through soft butter. We got pretty close to some of those big ones too and believe me; I don't want to sink in these icy waters. Whoa. Throughout the day once again I was in and out. I kept my coat and camera handy since I didn't want to miss anything. I happened to be in the hallway when all of a sudden one of our girls comes down and says there are penguin sightings. I ran upstairs to the bow and got there just in time to see some. Next there were penguins swimming alongside the ship.

Just breaching like dolphins do. We came upon an iceberg and there were penguins sliding down the face of it and into the water. I stayed out there long enough that my hands were absolutely freezing. We came upon another research station and in the distance you could see there were hundreds of penguins lined up on a dry hilltop. I stayed out there still and we approached another iceberg. This time I got my digital zoom ready on my camera. As we came to the island there were at least 50 penguins just hanging out on the iceberg? I wasn't sure how close we were going to get, so my digital zoom was ready. As we approached, I got some great video. They must've been spooked, as we got closer because they all started shuffling their feet and moving to the edge of the ice and diving in. One by one and I caught it all on tape. A-MAZING!!! It was a great day for seeing penguins and boy did they STINK. Whew. As we passed that little iceberg there was a stench in the air of rotting fish. Yuck!! If you've ever been to the penguin encounter at Sea World, you know of this stink. It was potent. For the next hour or so, they were just swimming along with us and poking their heads up to see what was happening. I went back inside to warm up a bit. That night we were rounding Deception Island. This island probably so-called because all the ice on the island was encased in ash. I guess it's a very volcanic island and the glaciers looked more like mud than the pristine blue ice I was so familiar with.

Our last day in Antarctica wasn't too exciting. It was a stormy one with snow throughout most of the day and a lot of it was getting from one island to the next. We were out of the icy channels and in the open waters. I guess we couldn't get to Hope Bay because the ice was too thick in those areas so we set a northerly course for Elephant Island. We got there later in the day and after our lovely dinner in the Pinnacle Grill; we went upstairs into the Crow's Nest to check it out. Just beautiful and serene. Although I'm pretty upset for missing a 3-day vacation in the beginning part of our contract and a day in L.A. to catch up and get things done, I'm very pleased to have seen the wonder of Antarctica. It's something that I probably won't see again or I'll come back in my distant future. I wish we didn't have to experience the extremely rough waters to get here, but I guess it was very much worth the attempt. When in my life would I have actually seen penguins wild in their own environment? I'll have memories to last for ages.

60-Foot Monster..

Strap yourself in and hold on for dear life. Whoa!! I was kind of awake this morning around 7:00am. I was dreaming about being around the ship in rough weather and jumping up and down catching some float time when the ship would drop while I was still in the air. We were in elevators, outside, and just all over enjoying the large waves. The announcement finally woke me up saying we were now turning to port and moving south of Cape Horn and that this turn might involve some listing. Basically warning us to hold on. At that moment I decided to put some clothes on and go up to a window area upstairs to see if I could see this ever so famous Cape Horn. At that point I ran into a fellow crewmember that was saying that a few other crewmembers and one of our singers were out on deck taking pictures when the wind caught them. Our singer was down and injured. I went to the front of the ship to discover that our leading man had fallen due to the strong winds and slick deck and bashed his kneecap into the stair railing. He couldn't move his leg. We took him to the infirmary to get checked and the others were okay. Why they were OUTSIDE in such high winds who knows? We were lucky to have them still on board. That was the morning ordeal and when I went to get some breakfast in the Lido it was closed because dishes, cups, and food had spilled everywhere. It was even difficult to stand up at times due to the swells in the ocean. So we head downstairs and discover the carnage of tipped over displays, potted plants, shop shelves, and anything not bolted down. These waves were serious. Well, I decided to go back to sleep for a while during this rough time. I woke up and decided to have a little lunch. Now everything was being served on paper plates. They could really only scrounge up a few lunch selections since it was so rocky. I finished my lunch and the battle of keeping things from sliding off the table. My fellow crewmember and social hostess even had trouble staying planted in her seat. She went gliding across the floor. Then out of nowhere a huge wave hit our ship. I'm told it was a 60 footer. A 60-FOOT SWELL!! It tipped our ship at 45-degree angles each side. Before I knew a wave even came I was on the receiving end of the food slide so I tried to catch all the plates and cups. Next thing I knew my chair went gliding and I had my Poltergeist moment. The next uncontrollable slide happened shortly after when the ship went the other way. I was headed right back toward the table. I caught myself at the table but was sent right backward at the next tip this time toppling over into the carpeted hallway. We all grabbed hold of railings as the ship tried to level off in these huge swells. Several guests had fallen on each other. Plates, cups, food, chairs, and tables were overturned. The piano in the Ocean Bar did a summersault. A GRAND piano. Huge pottery displays toppled over. Tables and chairs and dishes doing flips all over assaulted the crew mess room. I was told that in 15 more degrees of tilt, we would have flipped the ship. On the other ships only 5 more degrees would've done the job. The ship is in tact structurally and she's taken quite the beating, but the stores, bars, restaurants, and our stage have all suffered. Sets turned over, instruments strewn over the stage, china and glass of all kinds broken, products in the stores in one huge pile of T-shirts, liquor, cards, and broken glass. We've helped out a little to help pick up the pieces. Passengers are injured to broken bones to minor injuries. We've even helped out the infirmary since they got bombarded with all these people in need. Some I've talked to LOVE it. They live for the Cape Horn journey. I never thought it'd be this rough. I was truly scared. We may not go to Antarctica now for excessive interior damage, injuries, and product loss. It all depends on the weather. We're sailing at the whim of ole Mother Nature. She's giving us gale force winds right now and a hurricane between Cape Horn and us. We were told we'd go back to Ushuaia, but with the weather between us that will be difficult. We'll see.