Surabaya, Indonesia - Feb 27, 2013

Surabaya is the main seaport and commercial center in the eastern region of Indonesia. East Indies Companies took the city over in November 1743. Surabaya became a major trading center under the Dutch colonial government and hosted a large naval base in the colony. Locally the name “Surabaya” is believed to be derived from the words “sura” or “suro” meaning shark and “baya” or “boyo” meaning crocodile. Two creatures which in a local myth, fought each other in order to gain the title of “the strongest and most powerful animal”. These two animals are now used as the city’s logo, depicted in a statue appropriately located near the entrance of the city zoo. So give our short day here in Surabaya (6:00am-12:30pm) Jan and I along with friends Jeff and Joy grabbed a taxi and headed for the zoo to spend a few hours with many of the incredible animals that they have in residence. We were back on the ship by all aboard time of 12:30 and enjoyed a nice scenic sail away up or down a river for three hours until we were in the open sea. Another great day... I still find the pricing here amazing, we jumped into the taxi around 8:30, had him wait for us while we visited the Zoo and then a stop for some retail therapy and then dropping us back at the ship by noon, total cost including a generous tip $20.00 or $200,000 Indonesian Rupeious (yes that is with the meter running while we were at our stops), just amazing. Our short day in pictures...

Probolinggo, Indonesia - Feb 26, 2013

Probilinggo is a city on the north coast of East Java. It has a large Madurese population in addition to the Javanese. This is an industrial port with a harbor that is heavily used by fishing vessels. The main attraction of this port is not the city itself but the mighty Mount Bromo some 32 kilometers southwest of the city. With its most recent volcanic activity in 2010 this is a main sight for many on the ship. At a height of about 3,000 meters above sea level the Mount Bromo Volcano sits inside a much larger crater giving the final ascent a eerie scene from a wild moon scape, with volcanic dust blowing the approach of the final 250 stairs after crossing the crater first in a four by four jeep and then on a Javanese donkey is a scene from taken out of a cross between the Arabian nights and star wars. This was just a wild and exciting day to begin with and then we had the monsoon rains that hit us as we were descending the mountain in our mini bus. These rains were so heavy the that had to temporarily stop the tender service to the ship due to no visibility. A great day... some pictures (Also a few pictures from last night’s formal night)