Day 14: Raja Ampat Overview

Day 14:  Raja Ampat Overview

Not the Aqua Blu

Not our crew

THB’s big blog decision of the trip:

- skip the cruise dailies and pile everything Aqua Blu (albeit pretty mundane) into one large post and a ton of redundant pictures

- put out the individual days (since THB has been creating text and pics by day, just not capable of posting) and add observations at the end individual days

- put out an overview of the trip with some pics and the dailies, realizing that the dailies will be a bit to a large part redundant

Hmmmm…that’s like 17 options if you take in all the variables, factors, and THB’s sea-salt addled brain,

Aqua Blu, converted UK icebreaker/warship

Our cabin, without our sitting area

THB goes with the latter option (which one is that? There is a last option?), and will start with the overview and then post the dailies, thus the followers can skip the dailies and still get a feel for the cruise. In other words, THB opted for the option that published the largest number of words and pictures. Was that an option? Ed note: no, that was definitely not an option, and if it was an option it was not one of the top 10 options.

Adrian, chef supreme

On our way to or from an excursion, note amount of suntan lotion applied

First an interlude from the Department of Health: THB’s eyes have been goopy for months (a version of Pink Eye inherited from one of the grandchildren, no doubt), and a salt water bath 1-2 times per day for a week has cleared it up. THB’s cold that a few days before leaving 2 weeks ago (source unknown) has gradually cleared up with no more sinus congestion except for throat clearing once or twice a day (usually not at wake-up). THB’s debility in high heat and humidity during the trip (source: the tropics) may be some combination of necrotizing myositis auto-immune illness (source: statins) and methotrexate (cancer treatment drug now down to six small pills once per week) to treat auto-immune illness. THB’s exposure to coronavirus: nobody in Raja Ampat wears a mask, about 15-20% of those on flight to Bali  weree wearing masks. Sunburn on top of THB’s head (source: snorkeling in broad daylight) happened even with three tablespoons of reef-safe suntan lotion applied before every snorkel. THB is happy to report no real tummy problems though it did run (pun intentional) through a number of other cruisers (SAS had a severe 36 hour case, nursed to health by CYS).

Department of Health, Technology: THB’s computer is charging up like a charm, handled wifi aboard Aqua Blu well (not much of a signal strength). THB’s camera shutter has stopped working, the pics are coming out fine (followers: you be the judge) and downloading and editing also working well.  Kindle chugging along (if only THB’s tired eyes worked better). Adaptors for most part haven’t been necessary as most local plugs have been replaced by universal plugs (big improvement!)

Pufferfish, pic from book; we saw this fish being groomed

Overall:

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The snorkeling ranged from just so-so, murky, bleached coral, to extraordinary, off the charts great with giant fish, fish THB hadn’t seen before. Extraordinary won out.

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Engine room

Aqua Blu is a converted UK icebreaking ship of war, now repositioned as a luxury ship that carries up o 25-30 passengers. Our 13 we’re spread over 7 cabins, some extremely well appointed and some not particularly functional and some with slight functional deficiencies. All meals were taken at one large communal table though THB and DB ate a few times just inside the outdoors deck in a/c comfort. The large communal table occasionally became too loud as people shouted at each other to be heard and if someone got up it created a dead space with two people at “ends” of the table.

Glenn on far left, the other 9 are the snorkelers

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The staff of 27 was uniformly friendly and efficient with the exception of housekeeping (a known problem for Glenn, our director).  And Glenn was always friendly and dealt with every request of problem directly and efficiently.

Fried rice for breakfast

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The food was over the top good. The on-board executive chef, Adrian, was terrific. And we knew him!! He was the executive chef at our favorite spot in Bhutan, Gangtey Lodge. Many 5* meals, perfectly cooked fish, well-seasoned, and perfectly accompanied by either NZ Sauvignon Blanc or a very good red.

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The non-snorkeling excursions ranged from THB didn’t go (pearl factory) to  unbelievable (swimming down a fresh water jungle river). Unfortunately there wasn’t much bird watching, you’ll either have to take an explicit birder tour or watch the myriad youtube videos that are pretty spectacular.

Some of the crew, all of the cruisers, Glenn blotted out by water on the camera lens

-         The cruisers: CYS and SAS were terrific companions and made THB realize how much better the Bhutan trip would’ve been if they had been able to make it. There were another two long-time couples who were friends, also our contemporaries, and as we got to know their stories we found overlaps. One couple, doctors, live in Noe Valley and are foodies. They also were knowledgeable about necrotizing myositis and pointed out something that THB should share with his rheumatololigist. Their  East Coast friends also had interesting backstories and were easy to talk to, lots of energy. The Hawaiian couple was a bit too loud (especially after drinks were served) and had mastered only half the art of conversation; THB avoiding them as much as possible, not an easy task at meals, a lot easy during excursion as they were divers (2 of the 4) and the snorkelers usually went in different directions. The Romans were an unmarried couple of jet-setters in their 30s. She spoke little English, complete with 30 different bathing suits, never sat still for longer than 5 minutes; he  is urbane, very knowledgeable about many man-toys and exotic places around the globe, and a diver. Lastly, there was a single mom and office employee of Aqua Blu, aboard to make a report of the cruise. She was charming and very open about her life, and also was very needy when it came to excursions (and in a way that became annoying to the other cruisers if they noticed…THB just ignored it, clueless of the impact).

Swisshotel in Sorong

-         Lastly, there were a few things that annoyed THB: there were at least four days with early wake-up calls and THB felt more tired than most vacations because dinners were usually ending by around 9:30. Even day 1 we were highly encouraged to take the 12:30am flight from Jakarta to when turned out to be 1pm boarding. Not good. Housekeeping never seemed to understand when to clean the room or when to do the periodic refreshers The snorkelers needed a ½ hour snorkel next to the ship on day 1 to verify masks fit and didn’t leak (Glenn quickly solved THB’s problems on day 2 once THB said something). THB and DB spent some time asking for the piped-in music periodically to be turned off or down (always handled quickly with friendliness). The ship is really still in shake-down mode so things like the safes not working because of a broken master key, rattling venetian blinds, getting the a/c just right, etc., were more annoying than debilitating.