August 9, 2025
80th Anniversary of Nuclear Bombing of Hiroshima, Japan
On August 6th, 1945 the nuclear bomb was dropped at approximately 8:15 am on Hiroshima, Japan. Eighty years later, at the same time, I gathered with several other ship residents and officers, on our bow, for a moment of silence to commemorate, as we so poignantly sail into Japan.
They rang the bell 3 times and we all reflected/ prayed / took it in....I thought of my parents who would have been young children at the time. I am so excited to be going to Japan, have wanted to see it all for sooo long.
Ternate, Indonesia, which is both the name of the city and island, and is part of the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It is a port that sees maybe 3 Cruise ships a year. However, they really made an effort to show us the best of what they can offer. It's mainly a Muslim country, and we knew we had to dress discretely, but we knew little else. We didn't have our typical port talk prior, due to a technical issue with the AV equipment. Ben a fellow resident, organized an island tour, with about 8 stops, for 90 of us residents.
Cebu greeted our Ship with a big warm welcome, despite having just been rocked by a major Earthquake, days before our arrival. The Minister of Tourism arrived with a motorcade and she proceeded to chat with the residents and thank us, for all our support.
Today we were Cave explorers! We went to the one of UNESCO newly classified 7 NEW WONDERS OF NATURE - The Puerto Princesa Underground River.