Until Next Time, Aqua Blu!

And, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  With the exception of this multi-stage journey back to Chicago from Indonesia, it seems – but more on that later.

Friday was our last day on the boat-  or as Dean Onthebridge informed me – due to its size (over 100ft) and general luxeiness, the lovely Aqua Blu is classified as a “superyacht”!  I feel even fancier now!!   And I finally got around to taking some videos onboard to give you a tour – a couple of the public areas of the ship, both interior and exterior, as well as a tour of our cabin (please pardon the unmade bed!)

The itinerary was a bit lighter as we only had one excursion scheduled – another signature snorkel, a big long drift along Rainbow Reef (cue Mario Karts Rainbow Road music).  This snorkel was exceptional due to the gorgeous corals (both hard and soft) and the sheer profusion of brightly colored fish.  So many shoals to swim with, so little time!  As the reef bordered a steep drop off, we got to see a few of the larger fish – including a little manta ray as well as (finally) the Giant Trevally that I’d failed to spot the day before.  After spending the last week snorkeling with our guide, I’ve decided that he must be mostly fish, rather than human!  He would swim down to the bottom to point out something of interest – and do it so effortlessly and gracefully, it was actually quite lovely to watch.  I SUCK at swimming and even just being in the water isn’t in my comfort zone because of it, so I’m always very impressed with people who are at ease in the water.  Courtney was another example of part fish, part human  – which was great as she swam down and around the corals, getting up close and personal with various fish and turtles!  Here they are – enjoy!  (courtesy of @contentcreationbycourtney)

After the snorkeling was done, it was time to head back to the boat and hang up our fins and masks for the last time.  I have to say, I am super impressed with the quality of the kit we’ve been using, particularly the masks.  It did take me a couple of times to get the right tightness of fit round my face – but even while I was figuring that out, it did not fog up at all.  Not once.  The clarity was so good it was easy to forget you were wearing a mask and effectively looking through a glass window – it just felt as if there was nothing between your eyeballs and the visual feast below.  (btw, if anyone knows, though, how to keep the nose bit from filling up, LMK as it felt as if my nostrils were always kinda submerged – which isn’t a huge deal, but a bit uncomfortable).

We had some downtime before lunch at 12.30pm, then at 2pm, Dean led us on a below decks tour, so we could get to see behind the scenes and check out the  kitchen, the engine room, the bridge, the laundry room and the crew quarters.  Its always fascinating to see the guts and gubbins behind what makes everything run smoothly – and I was particularly curious to see the kitchen and meet the whole team that had been responsible for some spectacular food.  I am not exaggerating to say that the flavors and thoughtfulness that came out of that tiny kitchen absolutely blew away the food we were served from the lauded Michelin-starred chefs on the Eastern and Oriental Express.  No black food anywhere in sight!!!  Just beautiful, fresh ingredients expertly prepared – and with a lot of thought about the progression of the food over the full week.   There were a lot of local regional flavors (love me some sambal!)  but also a recognition, I think, of the value of giving our palates a break from all the new tastes and occasionally serving us some more familiar foods – hello, pasta!!   Really smart because after having been away from home for a couple of weeks, sometimes all you want is a cheese sandwich.   Aqua Blu use a consultant chef, Benjamin Cross, to plan their menus and he is clearly doing an outstanding job!

We actually got the chance to meet all the crew later on that day as part of Dean’s farewell disembarkation briefing (cue sad faces all round).  We finally got to meet the Captain (we’d begun to think the ship was either being piloted by AI or a really cute puppy wearing a sailors hat) – most other ships I’ve been on, you are introduced to the Captain (and their ego) almost immediately and that this is their ship. Not so on Aqua Blu.  The Captain seemed to be very modest and did not hold himself as superior over his bridge colleagues (I mean, he IS superior in rank, but you know what I mean) but was one part of the whole team and that was a very refreshing change.

A couple of other things stood out, as we met and showed our appreciation for each of the 30 crew who have worked so hard to make our experience so enjoyable.  One, they all looked so young!!!  Only a couple of them appeared to be over 40!  Secondly, everyone was wreathed in smiles (some of them looked a bit more embarrassed at being the center of attention than others) and seemed to genuinely love their jobs.  Throughout the week, I observed the crew (particularly the hospitality team) handle all manner of requests with good humor and infinite patience.  Nothing seemed to much trouble – Febri and his team would take time to enquire about specific dietary preferences or needs (for example, there were a number of children onboard so they would check-in about whether they would need different kid-friendly options).   We met the housekeeping crew who serviced our cabin 3 times a day, making sure everything looked nice and we didn’t run out of toilet roll or coffee pods.  Just keeping the hair conditioner dispenser in our shower refilled was a full time job for sure (my hair has never been washed so often!).

Given it was our last night onboard, I’d ordered us a bottle of champagne to toast a successful trip – as well as a farewell to champagne (and booze in general) as when I get back home, I start some intense training for a new adventure next March – but more on that in a later post (I’m sure you can probably guess what I’m up to!).  We’d enjoyed final sundowner cocktails on the upper deck, all of us in collective denial that this would be our last spectacular sunset.  While we were up on the deck, a local fisherman buzzed the boat and held up the largest spiny lobster I’ve ever seen!  I’m not sure if he was just looking for a round of applause (which he actually got from us onlookers) or to sell the boat crew his catch, but eventually he motored off, I think lobster still in hand.

Dinner was, as usual, delicious (wagyu beef) and – as it was drawing to a close – there was one final surprise – an impromptu concert by the Aqua Men – the boat’s in house band!  We had spotted a couple of guitars during our BTS tour early in the day – and now Febri and a couple of other crew jammed out and led us all in song! It was a really fun way to finish out an incredible week.  THANK YOU to everyone on Aqua Blu – it’s been a perfect way to celebrate our special anniversary.

Special mentions to our fellow adventurers – oftentimes, trips are as memorable for the people you meet as much as the destination (my trip to ABC in March being a perfect example of this).  There are only 15 cabins onboard, with a maximum capacity of 30 people – we totaled 29 (I think) and everyone was super nice and friendly, so we had some great conversations over the last week.  Courtney, Janice and Joel Steve from California were really fun and chill to chat with – I think Courtney has the distinction of being the only “content creator” that I didn’t find instantly irritating and pretentious – but that’s to be expected from a girl that is known for boarding pirate ships via kitesurf for a free cocktail.  She specializes in helping folks like wedding planners capture behind-the-scenes images and videos from their wedding events to use in their social media platforms.  I already co-opted her for any future vow renewal shenanigans – but in the meantime, check her out: https://contentcreationbycourtney.com/

Then there was Kristen, her mom Elsa and her two boys, the fearless deck-leaping Liam and Mateo.  Kristen is the cool conceptual artist (and clinical psychologist too) I mentioned earlier – you can check out some of her work on Instagram @kirstenbrowngarcia.   There’s one particular image of a pair of ladies shoes (pink flats, that are scuffed and worn down) that she referred to  as “sacred mundane” that I keep thinking about.  I think its a beautiful concept – so simple, but with so many layers to it.   Anyway, I’m a fan – and am eagerly awaiting her future installation in Miami!  Her mom, Elsa, was an inspiration – despite obviously being older and having some mobility restrictions, she was totally fearless and was pretty much still up for anything!  And it was very heartwarming to see how sweet the two boys were with her – all in all, just a really lovely family.  Then there was Ray and Alesia – Ray was like a human Golden Retriever, all enthusiasm and energy!  You were never short of conversation when Ray was around.    Similar to our EOE trip, there was one super glamorous couple Steffan, Sanja and their two kids, Jack and James (adorably cute, very polite and quite posh) – in a movie, they would be played by Colin Firth and Naomi Watts!  Steffan was on a sabbatical from his job but Sanja was having to work while on the trip – I certainly do not miss those days at all!!  So those are some of the folk we got to know over the last week – a fun bunch of peeps to have spent time with.

And so now, to now.   We are currently 11hrs into a 16hr 15min flight from Singapore to San Francisco.  This flight was only supposed to have been 15hrs but that big earthquake that hit last week has apparently awakened a Russian volcano, so we are having to fly a lot further south to avoid volcanic ash.  Which is totally fine – do what you gotta do, please – unfortunately, though, it does mean our connection from SFO to ORD is in doubt as we’ll be at least an hour late.  I already pushed our flight out to the very last flight – but given we have to clear immigration, get our bags and recheck them (as this is our first entry point to the US) and then transfer terminals – all in the space of an hour – its not looking all that likely.  We’ll give it a good college try, though – so we’ll see what happens,  We already had to SPRINT LIKE CRAZY through Bali airport on an earlier leg of our trip (we have 4 flights to get home) as our flight was 40mins leaving Labuan Bajo airport – which was a significant chunk of our transfer time at Bali airport.  It always was going to be a bit tight as we had 2hrs from when our flight was scheduled to land at Bali to when our flight to Singapore was due to depart.  And because they were on different airlines (Batik Air, then Singapore Airlines), we had to go to arrivals, collect our bags then transfer from the domestic terminal to the International terminal, recheck our bags with Singapore Airlines and clear security.  Basically do All The Things,  The drop dead deadline that would determine our success or not was whether we’d be able to make it to the Singapore Airlines check-in desk ahead of the cut-off time for checking bags, 45 mins before the scheduled departure.  Given our flight was at 1.05pm, that meant we had to be at their desk by 12.15pm to have any chance.

It was sooooo tight.  At 12pm, we were still waiting at the baggage carousel in the domestic terminal and I was almost beside myself with anxiety (if we missed this flight to Singapore, the rest of our itinerary would be in jeopardy).  At just after 12pm our bags finally got delivered, so we grabbed them and sprinted for the exit.  Fortunately, there was a golf buggy outside that gave free rides to the International terminal, so we commandeered one of those and sped to the terminal.  We got there (12.07pm), had to wait a couple of minutes for the elevator to take us up to the departures level (12.10pm) and then quickly figure out where the Singapore Airlines desk was and RUN.  I made it at 12.16pm and threw myself on their mercy, panting “Please Help Us!” – and they did.  Maybe it helped that we were traveling Business Class, but the lady took our bags and printed out our boarding passes – and we were on our way.  We then had 20mins to get through security (again) and make our way to the gate – which we did with about 5 mins to spare (again, a fair chunk of running was involved!).  So we made it!!  A total sweaty mess, but amazingly, we made it.  The flight to Singapore was uneventful (on time -yey!) and we then had about a 4hr layover in the SilverKris Lounge (enough time for a well needed shower!).

And now we come to this flight.  No idea if we are going to make it in time for our final connection to Chicago or not – but somehow missing this flight doesn’t seem quite as big a deal as missing the monster 16hr one.  Unfortunately if we do miss our 11.55pm flight, then our options tomorrow are pretty limited – economy at 1.15pm or biz at 6.35pm.  All the morning flights are already fully booked.  So, not the smoothest end to our trip but c’est la vie.

So, that’s a wrap on our 10yr Anniversary SE Asian Extravaganza!  I hope you enjoyed joining me on our adventures – once Dean Onthebridge (“Hello, this is Dean Onthebridge“) posts some more videos and pictures up into the expedition dropbox, I will share those with you.  For now, I will leave the last word with Courtney, who spliced together a fun highlights reel of our time together – enjoy!!

And see you onboard again sometime in the future, Aqua Expeditions (looking at you, Seychelles and Zanzibar…).

UPDATE: WE MADE IT!!!  Made our ORD connection by the very skin of our teeth (cue yet MORE running, this time through SFO airport) and only because the SFO plane was delayed in leaving.  If it had left on time, we would have been screwed.  However, because of the volcanic ash and having to take a longer route than normal (an extra 1hr 15mins flight time), it meant that the plane was not able to carry the same payload (weight) as usual.  Meaning:  a bunch of luggage needed to get offloaded so that the plane would have enough fuel for the extra flight time and yes, you guessed it, one of those cases was mine.  So while ManpanionTM and I and his luggage made it to Chicago this morning, my case is –  sadly – still in Singapore.  Looking on the bright side, at least they know where it is (unlike when Turkish Airlines lost my bag en route to Poland) so I’m sure it will turn up in the next day or so.  Fingers crossed.

All that is left now is to try and stay awake for as long as possible today, so as to start to reintegrate into the CST time zone, a mere 15hrs difference from Indonesia.   My garden is looking amazing (I’ve already spent an hour pulling milkweeds, wrangling zinnias and trimming clematis) and the rose bushes I planted just before vacation are already thriving!  Thanks to Mumsie for all her hard work keeping everything alive and watered during the 90 degree heat.  I am looking forward to getting back into my health and fitness routine too – but I know the first couple of times at the gym are going to be brutal!  I shall have to hope that my trainer, Andy, takes pity on me and doesn’t totally kick my ass the first week back!!  So that’s it from me for the time being – but my next international trip is in about 6 weeks.  I’m heading to Norway, to the Lofoten Islands, for a night photography workshop, where I’m hoping to learn how to take great shots of the Milky Way and the Aurora Borealis – its going to be epic!!!