Last two days

 March 22, 2026

We anchored off of Komodo Island, part of Indonesia, this morning. We had not signed up for an excursion at this port of call so Tim went down to the destination desk to see if there was a village at the end of the pier where our tenders dropped us off that we could visit. Turns out the entirety of Komodo Island is an Indonesian National Park, meaning at the end of the pier were only hiking trails. But there was an excursion that was a 2 hour hike through the park hoping to see Komodo Dragons. So while Lynda enjoyed "alone time" on the ship Tim went Dragon hunting. Komodo Dragons are the largest of the Molitor Lizard family.  They grow to be 10 to 12 feet long and are quite viscous.  After about 20 minutes of hiking we came to a water hole where we saw our first two Dragons. Our guide did not out and out admit it, but the National Park keeps this water hole filled with water so that chances are very good that there will Komodo's at the water hole waiting other animals to approached the water hole and become the Dragons dinner. One of my fellow passengers, observing that the Komodo's were not moving much, cynically suggested that the park was putting something in the water to sedate the animals.  The Dragon did basically just lay there. Tim did see the Komodo blink its eyes a couple of times. At one point it even raised up a few inches on its front legs and growl which caused all of us to quickly back up a few steps. While not able to categorically deny the presensence of a sedative in the water, Tim hopes that is not the case. We moved on about 20 yards to a large mound of dirt just off our path that was probably 4 or 5 feet tall. A bird or birds about the size of a turkey built this mound. The Komodo's then tunneled into the mound to lay their eggs. When the baby was ready to leave the mound it peered out the hole looking for mom and/or dad. If niether were present it scurred up a nearby palm tree where it would live for the next five years, surviving on any lizards, reptiles, or birds that unfortunately came its way. Komodo Dragons are known to eat their young. The rest of the hike was uneventful, meaning no more sightings of Komodo Dragons. As we came back to the clearing at the end of the pier, before dismissing us, our guide pointed out a large deer sitting in the grass nearby close to the harbors shore.  This buck had an impressive rack of antlers.  We were then directed down the path toward where a small number of tents were set up with locals selling t-shirts and various sizes of Komodo Dragon statues.  While walking along this path Tim pointed out two Komodo Dragons playing around a tree about 20 yards from where the deer was sitting. This resulted in another frenzy of picture taking.  Several of us did admit this sighting seemed more "real" then the previous sighting at the water hole.

Monday, March 23, 2026

Our ship entered the beautiful, bustling harbor of Benoa, Bali about 11:00 this morning, finally docking about noon. It was a sunny but hot, 87 degrees, muggy day.  We could see at least three large religious structures rising above the neighborhood we overlooked from the ship. Tim also saw the nearby Black Stone Yacht Club. A quick internet search showed that the Yacht Club had a restaurant. We decided to get off the ship and have lunch there for a change. The setting was ok but the food was a disappointment.  On the way back to the ship we went into a small Market where Lynda bought several articles of clothing for herself.  The afternoon was spent packing our luggage for tomorrows flight home and reflecting on the wonderful trip we had experienced.

Tuesday morning we had to be out of our suites by 8:00 so that ships staff could prepare them for the next passengers arriving today.  For those departing passengers like us who had flights later in the day, Regent Seven Seas arranged a four hour tour around Benoa before taking us to the airport. For many people, the mention of Bali brings to mind luxury resorts on beautiful beaches with gently swaying Palm Trees. There are probably a lot of those resorts and beaches in Bali, but we did not see them. The streets our bus took us on were lined with small store fronts broken up by the occasional house. Some of the stores were clean with nicely presented products. Most were dirty with poorly presented wares.  In the neighborhoods behind the main streets we traveled we did find some interesting galleries. The first stop was a large house that was a combination workshop and gallery for local artists. Some of the artists were producing traditional Balinese art that has been the style for several hundred years. Others were producing a more contemporary form of art.  All of these paintings were for sale. Lynda sat while Tim walked about the gallery. Interestingly,  a member of the gallery staff followed Tim all around the gallery.  If Tim stopped for a moment to look at a particular piece, the staff member was quick to point out that he could offer an excellent discount on the price of the piece and also pointed out other similar paintings.  This has happened on previous trips we have taken. At any store we visited, art, jewelry, gold and silver products, someone was with us to encourage us to buy.  Today, as many times previously, we were able to resist the salesmanship. In fact, our next stop was a gold and silver shop with many articles of jewelry as well as small art pieces that again had someone following Tim. Our last stop was a clothing store where the fabric was made on site.  It is a distictive tropical style called Batik. The design on the fabric is created by hand drawing a design using wax on the fabric or by using large stamps dipped in wax that is applied to the fabric creating the design. Different colors are applied to the fabric and where there is wax the color does not get to the fabric. Men's and women's clothing is made with the fabric. The more colorful and complex  the design the more expensive the final pieces are.  Even though we did not purchase any goods at these three shops we enjoyed visiting them and found them very enjoyable

We are now home. We flew home on Tuesday night, arriving Wednesday morning.  Our total flight time from Bali to Detroit by way of  Seoul, South Korea was 20 hours. We are composing this last blog post on the Sunday after our Wednesday arrival. It has taken us three days to even begin to recover from the flights home. But, as always, it was worth it. We again added to our store of wonderful memories traveling about the world together. We hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventures.