May 26, 2024
Catching up with the Nestor's!
Got to spend a nice afternoon and evening catching up with fellow Yank, Elizabeth Nestor and her husband Kevin who moved back to his hometown of Mayo Abbey, after 20+ years in the states. I worked with Elizabeth on and off, over the last 30 years, in Philadelphia. We stay in touch thru a group text, Heard Immunity
with about 10 others, all with the common denominator of Turner Construction. Elizabeth and Kevin have been married 20 years, and I found out that Kevin knew my relations the Keane's, back when we first met. In fact, his cousins live right next door to them and his brother does business with them regularly! Such a small world! Kevin & Elizabeth moved to Mayo Abbey right before Covid and have been busy renovating their home and settling in. It was great to catch up, share the gossip on all those we know in common and give them the details of my ship and the upcoming adventure. I hope they can truly join me for some segment in the future!
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.