Singapore at night is even more spectacular than by day! The city sparkles! I had set up another tour for us to take in some of the iconic light and water shows, this island is known for also on our first day. Decided we should go big and get a great first taste of things! We joined this tour at 6pm, right before dusk, so we had prime viewing!

The tour I set up was Architecture and Food, for our day one in Singapore . After looking at the Architecture our guide brought us to the iconic hawker center Lau Pa Sat in the heart of the Central Business District . We got there around 1:30 pm on Friday afternoon and much of the business crowd had cleared. The atmosphere is vibrant and you can feast relatively inexpensively. The locals asked us all weekend, if we had been there yet, as it is well used by all, with lots of favorite stalls!

SINGAPORE has been high on my list of must see destinations for a long while and WOW it didn't disappoint! Singapore is a highly developed sovereign island city - state as of 1965. It is famous for its safety, efficiency and lush Garden City nickname . With a population at 6.11M, it is a major hub for finance, trade and tourism. They say every 80 seconds a plane leaves and every 4 minutes a boat comes in or out!

Some days I just don't want to sight see! My birthday was one of them. I just wanted to indulge in a good movie in a comfy, cool theater, eat some popcorn and follow with a yummy lunch! That's exactly what I did, despite some of my friends trying to convince me go on a 5 hour van to see 2 gigantic temples.

The ancient temple of Soo Poo Kong was our next stop. We were all wilting in the heat by then, but they promised an air conditioned room for a 20 minute movie on the history - so we rallied! Basically, the Temple was erected as a thank you to the Chinese Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho who let the fleet stop here on their way somewhere else in Asia back in 1416 because his helmsman, Wang Jing Hong, was sick. Wang recovered from his illness in a cave on this site and built first the statue and then the temple to thank Ho for his life.

SEMERANG is the capital of Central Java , the world's 13th largest island and the 5th largest in Indonesia. Despite it's size, it is the world's most populous island, holding over 150 Million people (over 55% of Indonsesia's population). Today, I did a 50 person bus tour of some of the Semerang's history , so I could cover a lot in one day.

Today we are in the second largest city in all of Indonesia, Surabaya. The Port is huge and busy, as there are tons of freightors and ferries here. We had a warm welcome when we pulled in yesterday evening.

More FUN with the Elephants ! Washing this gentle creature was so special. The handlers at the Sanctuary are so informative and caring and took sooo many pictures for us!

MASON'S ELEPHANT SANTUARY was a little slice of Heaven! in crazy, congested Bali ! I really wanted to treat the Spa Manager Stacy and our Entertainment Manager Kelly, to a fun, non-stressful event that they could truly enjoy! Stacy had never seen elephants before and her squeal of delight, when we first laid eyes on them was pure joy!

BALI, INDONESIA has so much to see - it's hard to pick where to start. All I had seen to date, was the Airport. So I figured one of the many Temples was a good start. Our fellow shipmates, had just been here 2 weeks ago for 4 days, when we were off in Raja Ampat and had lots of insight and advise. I found a driver's What's app contact info, through another resident and arranged a 10 am pick up. Delia, joined me and we decided the Hindu Temple, Tanah Lot on the west coast looked picturesque, set out on a rock from the coast.

PADAR ISLAND , one of the other 3 major islands in Komodo National Park is stunning and unihabited with a walking trail of over 800 steps to the summit, for these amazing views.

KOMODO VILLAGE is a small, mainly fishing family population of just 300 to 350 households. It sits on the east end of Komodo Island within the National Park and is a unique community where locals coexist alongside the native Komodo Dragons.

KOMODO ISLAND NATIONAL PARK in Indonesia was an unexpected rare twist on this voyage. We had no idea that we would be able to anchor right in the heart of this National Park for 3 days. The National Park is comprised of 3 major islands & 26 smaller ones and is home to the legendary Komodo Dragons! We were suppose to anchor at the coastal town of Labuan Bajo and shuttle into the Park. But hours before docking, the Port Agents directed us to anchor right in the heart of the Park. Captain Val made it possible for our tour vendors, to pull right up to the Odyssey , so we had super easy access to our tours saving us lots of logistics and time.

We met up with the Ship in Timor Leste or East Timor, one of the youngest countries in the World . This sovereign state just gained their independence on May 20, 2002 from prior Portuguese rule (1515 until 1975) and Indonesian occupation (1975 until 1999). The Ship was anchored off the coastal town of Dili, the capital city with a population of roughly 1.4 million.

I know people laugh when I say we took a vacation from the Ship , they view this whole amazing voyage as a vacation! But the reality is the Ship is my home now, and almost everybody loves a vacation away from home, to unwind and recharge! So my life on the Odyssey, is not that different. I really appreciated my two weeks away at Eco Cove Resort , on Yeben Island in Raja Ampat, Indonesia !

I got to do 14 dives and 5 snorkel trips over our two weeks at Eco Cove Resort. I feel much more confident and comfortable diving, practice does truly help! Eco has these t-shirts that list all their Resort excursions - we made a nice dent in all of them and it's hard to pick a favorite!

Friday nights at Eco Cove Resort are sunset excursion time. All the guest are taken over to tiny Yeben Rock Island. This time the tde ws coming in quickly and alot of the island was already covered by water but that didn't dampen our party! We had a cooler of beer this time too! We also have become feriendly with the 2 families that were there sharing with us.

Eco Cove Resort in Raja Ampat - Oh what a wonderful place! I have truly loved my time here! Sharing it all with wonderful friends, made it even better. Here's some highlights above and below the water.

If you have been following along, you know I really hoped to see an active Octopus here, swimming through the water. What I didn't specify is what size the Octopus would be in that wish! Here in Raja Ampat we have noticed that our dive masters and guides are really focused on the tinest creatures, in these huge oceans. They carrying writing boards to tell us what we are looking at, because we are talking things the size of a finger tip! So I did technically get my dream of seeing an Octopus in flight! Meet the rare and deadly (their sting can kill you in 3 minutes) Blue Ringed Octopus ! He is the small purple and yellow dotted piece cling to the corals below (on the bottom right). You would think just another coral - until you see him move in videos below. Enjoy!