From the Philippines we headed to Singapore for a few days before boarding a cruise that took us to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia including the Great Barrier Reef before returning to Singapore.
Click here to see some of the best pictures from Singapore to Australia and back cruise.
Below is the map showing where we took photos during the cruise. Click the picture below to see an interactive map. Click any of the pins in the interactive map to see when and where the picture was taken and a link. Click that link to go to the picture in the blog post below.
Click one of the pictures below to see more pictures for that day.
Jan 1 to 2, 2025 - Singapore
We had a few days in Singapore before we boarded a cruise... to Singapore! Yes, our firstof two cruises was a Singapore to Singapore cruise.
This iconic structure, built since we were last in Singapore almost 25 years ago, consists of 3 55 story hotels topped with the 340 meter long Sky Sands Park. We never made it to the park but I bet there's a great view from there. Next time!
Jan 3, 2026 - Singapore Zoo
This was probably our most interesting day in Singapore when we visited the zoo, including a Panda!
Jan 7, 2025 - Puerto Princesa, Philippines
The highlight of our day in Puerto Princesa was the underground river, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cave was interesting but it doesn't photograph well. So don't expect too much from this day.
Jan 9, 2025 - Bitung, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Today we took an excursion that drove us to a volanic lake, Lake Linow. Along the way we stopped at a Buddhist temple (for a rest stop), a local produce market, a cemetary and a local village that builds houses without any nails. If that doesn't sound very exciting, it wasn't and I struggled to find any good pictures.
Jan 12, 2025 - Jayapura, Papua Indonesia
Today we were supposed to take a tender boat to shore. Due to weather we were unable to do that and the stop was canceled. But we did see a bit of Jayapura from the ship as we hung out offshore to see if we'd be able to use the tender boats or not.
Jan 14, 2025 - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
Today we had a tour which took us to the Vulcanological Observatory which monitors 14 active and 23 dormant volcanoes on Rabaul.
Mount Tavurvur is the most active volcano in Rabaul caldera, and erupted most recently on 29 August 2014.
Jan 15, 2025 - Kiriwina Island, Papua NewGuinea
Today we stopped at Kiriwina Island. There wasn't much there but we were able to walk to a snorkeling spot.
Jan 16, 2025 - Conflict Islands, Papua New Guinea
Today the snorkeling was much better than our previous stop. A small boat took us to a somewhat remote, but still very busy, sand beach from which you could snorkel. For shore snorkeling it was actually pretty good!
Jan 18, 2025 - Cairns, Australia
In what was probably the highlight of the trip, we stopped in Cairns where I was able to do some of the best snorkeling of the trip in the Great Barrier Reef! Note that getting to the Normal Reef took a long boat ride. We were also required to wear a full body suit to protect from potentially deadly jelly fish. During the snorkeling we had to keep an eye out for the tour guide calling us back to the boat if there was any danger.
That strange looking fish is the bumphead parrotfish. It's really quite large, up to four feet long, and startled me a few times when a group of them came up behind me. Did you know that parrotfish each coral and rocks and excrete it as white sand? Know that white sand beach you love to lounge on? In the Carribean and Hawaii it's estimated the 70% of it has gone through parrotfish intenstines.
Jan 22,2025 - Darwin
We had a walking tour followed by a beer tasting. Not a real exciting day.
Jan 24, 2025 - Scenic cruising Batu Tara Volcano
Jan 25, 2025 - Slawi Bay, Komodo Island, Indonesia
Jan 26, 2025 - Lembar, Lombok, Indonesia
Today we did a fairly strenuous hike to multiple sets of waterfalls.
Jan 27, 2025 - Benoa (Denpasar), Bali
Our full day private tour took us to see a Barong Dance a sacred Balinese traditional performance representing the eternal battle between good (Barong) and evil (Rangda), aimed at restoring balance in the world.
We also visited a batik store and a local producer of kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee. This is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. The coffee does taste smooth, but maybe a bit bland. It's also the most expensive coffee in the world with costs from $100 to over $1,000 per pound.
Jan 29, 2025 - Tanjung Priok, Jakarta
Today's stop in Jakarta was canceled due to weather.
This was our last stop before returning to Singapore.
Click one of the pictures above to see more pictures from that day.
