July 15, 2024
SO CLOSE !!!
We are so close to finally being able to embark the ship and sail away on our maiden voyage. The rudders should be fully replaced and functional by the end of this week, allowing them to flood the drydock in Belfast and float our lovely patiently waiting Ship. Then we just have to pass the various coast guard and agency drills and inspections and we are good to embark and sail away. Right now that date is targeted at July 27th to 30th (update*). Below is a video showing the intricacies of machining these rudder connections.
* Thanks so much to faithful readers - who caught my date mistake above June corrected now to July! (Thanks Joan - love how vested you are in my journey!!)
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.