July 1, 2024
No Cruise for the Miller's
Sadly, Tuesday's delay news meant plan B had to be enacted for my buddies The Miller's ! I was so disappointed having to call them and relay the latest delays; they were supposed to meet me and the ship in Stockholm, Sweden based on our original itinerary for two weeks. We had even come up with an alternate plan, last week, to get them to Belfast to join the ship there, if we were going to sail on July first, as we were hoping. Again, DANG RUTTERS! The Miller's are resilient, they went to visit Lady Liberty and Ellis Island on Friday, in lieu of flying from Newark to Stockholm. Hopefully, we can rendezvous in a future port soon.
Today, I braved the heat ( it's a blazing 84) to walk around a little bit and get the feel for life on Tioman Island, Malaysia . The Village of Tekek is where we tender to and this is where the Ferry , the Island's National Secondary School, Health Clinic and Airport (really just a strip) are located. The most notable feature is the Rainbow Bridge over the inlet.
Fun day in the waters of Tioman Island, Malaysia snorkeling with friends. Life is good! It was nothing fancy, a boat & captain, who spoke minimal English and barely interacted with us, for roughly 7 hours. We started the outing spotting a group of dolphins and was quickly at anchor drop 1 of 6. The distances between the 6 snorkel spots was minimal, which gave us lots of time in the water (at least 45 minutes, at each spot) with an added stop for a lunch break at local restaurants. Even the restaurants were fast and efficient, definitely used to catering to the boat crowd.
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! Here on the Odyssey we celebrated in the SE Asia Sea on our way to Tioman Island, Malaysia . We have such a talented and dedicated group of residents here, they put together a fun hour of things to celebrate and embrace a lot of what we collectively love about the USA. Even our residents from other countries - Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany , etc. joined in the fun! ( I lent my flag below for decorations)