December 30, 2024
JAMBELI, ECUADOR - CHRISTMAS EVE 2024
How lucky am I to spend the afternoon with these 2 gorgeous men?!?! We just wanted a relaxing day in the sun. Jambeli is a little island off the Port through mangrove forest, only accessible via water taxis. We got a private ride, which took around 25 minutes, each way. We practically had the island to ourselves. Besides the locals we seemed to be the only ones strolling around. We walked the beach and promenade and just moseyed around chatting. Gary took a nap in a hammock in the shade, while Scott and I went for a dip in the ocean. We bought out the entire stock ( all 3 ) of the local Hammock Maker, on our way back to the dock. Made him very happy!
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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.