April 11, 2026

Day 1 @ Eco Cove Resort we met this lovely young couple, Camille and Timothe from France. At the 6:30 pm nightly briefing, we found out we were randomly paired with them for the next day's excursion to the famed Melissa's Garden in the Fam Islands, which is about a 35 minutes boat ride from resort. We sat with them at dinner and instantly connected.

Melissa's Garden (named for the daughter of the Discoverer) is such a world-renowned dive site, it is even pictured with the FAM ISLANDS on Indonesia most used IDR currency! As soon as we hit the water snorkeling this bio- diverse pardise we had WOW moments,  one after another! Here are some of the highlights Day 2 ( video credits to Timothe, who is part fish himself!)

After the morning exploring this Wonderland, we went to a nearby spot know as Piaynemo where we had a rest room break, before climbing 300 stairs to get to the amazing view at the top of the Fam Islands (drone footage again compliments of Timothe)!

We came down and had started to eat lunch when this total shocker happened, TIMOTHE PROPOSED MARRIAGE TO CAMILLE!

She was so speechless, she said nothing! They actually came all the way down, told us, we congratulated them, took some pictures  and then they went back all the way back up the stairs, to document again! He was so nervous and she was so shocked !!

SO HAPPY FOR THEM AND HONORED TO BE THERE TO SHARE THE SPECIAL MOMENT.

They have been together for 10 years and just bought their first home together right before they came on this 4 week vacation to Indonesia. Camille has a Doctorate of Pharmacy and works in a local village store and Timothe works in Systems Technology for large refrigeration plants. They also have a golden labrador Mia and cat Ava.

KOTA KINABALU, SABAH, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • May 25, 2026
We only had about 8 hours of port time in KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia today, due to Port operations. I went out with Delia to see one of the most notable buildings in town, the floating mosque or Masjid Bandaraya. Our GRAB driver actually took our picture when we asked him to wait for us, and then take us to the mall afterwards.

SANTUBONG RIVER, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

By Pat Patrick • May 23, 2026
MALAYSIA , on BORNEO ISLAND made palm seed oil their biggest export back in 1966 and was the top global exporter until 2008, when Indonesia surpassed them. Sadly, the resulting tropical deforestation has created major habitat losses and population declines for the Borneon Orangutans, Pygmy Elephants and Proboscis Monkeys . Many of us on the ship took tours to see these amazing creatures and I wanted to share some of their amazing photos too.

KUCHING, MALAYSIA - BORNEO ISLAND

By Pat Patrick • May 22, 2026
BORNEO ISLAND is a fascinating place, that I had honestly only heard of from the reality tv show Survivor. I'm still learning so much, but I had no idea it is the largest island in Asia and 3rd largest island in the World! It is a mini continent, with 3 different Countries sharing the island's land mass ( Indonesia 73%, Malaysia 26% and Brunei 1% ). We are only going to 2 ports in Malaysia now, one in each of the states of Sarawak and Sabah . Below is a video that highlights and explains thing well.