Days 43-45, Hong Kong, China Well, the QM2's arrival into Hong Kong (HKG) was not as spectacular as we had hoped…but BEING in Hong Kong was EVERYTHING we had hoped for and MORE!!!! The QM2 is just too big to fit into the passenger terminals in most cities around the world and Hong Kong is no exception, so we arrived with a lone fireboat leading us to our berth in a container port. The QM2’s arrival in Sydney was such a spectacular event, as was her departure. I guess we were trying to compare the two which isn’t really reasonable. The [View Full Entry]

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Days 35-43, February 21-28, 2007, At Sea on the QM2 Enroute to Hong Kong Well, we are settling into life on the largest ocean liner afloat nicely! I am writing this the day before we arrive in Hong Kong and have yet to see about half of the ship. I have only seen two of her five swimming pools, and haven’t yet seen several of her decks. We have been very busy since joining the QM2, not only with school, but with the wonderful lectures, the planetarium, and shows that are offered. More to come on the QM2! Everyone needs to [View Full Entry]

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Days 32 - 35, February 16-20, 2007, Sydney, Australia Wow! Sydney is incredible!!!! We want to go back already!!!! The harbor is incredibly beautiful and so picturesque from every vantage point. We took a tour of the city on the first day to help us get the lay of the land and see the most famous sights first. This, of course, included the famous Sydney Opera House. Our tour took us through the opera house which is by no means just for operas. There are several venues housed in the building. One of course for the various operas performed but also [View Full Entry]

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Days 31 and 32 - February 15-16, 2007, Sydney Australia Arrival in Sydney and Our Departure from the Holland America, Amsterdam It is rather bittersweet to leave the Amsterdam, our home for the last 31 days! We have become settled in our routines and enjoy the friends we have made aboard the ship. We have met some wonderful people! Many of the crew have become our friends. There are a couple of young fellows in the crew from Bali, who are lots of fun and are somewhat like big brothers to the boys. We will miss them! We are looking forward [View Full Entry]

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Day 29 - February 13, 2007, Tuesday, At Sea Bound for Sydney Time: 1:50 pm, Tuesday (8:50 pm, Monday CST) Latitude: 26 degrees 10.40 minutes S Longitude: 161 degrees 33.73 minutes E Speed: 19.1 knots Seas: 4-7.5’ Wind: 30 knots (the ship is really rocking again with these winds!) Distance traveled from FLL: 10,442 nautical miles Distance to Sydney: 721 nm Weather: 74 degrees / 82% humidity, partly cloudy with showers Day 30 - February 14, 2007, Wednesday, At Sea Still Bound for Sydney Time: 6:55 am, Wednesday (1:55 pm, Tuesday CST) Latitude: 29 degrees [View Full Entry]

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Day 28 - February 12, 2007, Monday, Noumea, New Caledonia Time: 6:58 am, Monday (1:58 pm, Sunday CST) Latitude: 22 degrees 16.51 minutes S Longitude: 166 degrees 25.86 minutes E Speed: 0 - At Anchor Seas: Smooth Wind: Calm Distance traveled from FLL: 10,084 nautical miles Weather: 80 degrees / 75% humidity, Sunny Noumea is the beautiful capital city of the French territory of New Caledonia. As we arrived the sun was shining! We were happy to see that! The French established a settlement here in 1854. The area first served as a prison colony from 1864 to 1904, and [View Full Entry]

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Day 27 - February 11, 2007, Sunday, At Sea Bound for Noumea, New Caledonia Time: 9:30 am Sunday Latitude: 21 degrees 14.45 minutes S Longitude: 172 degrees 36.49 minutes W Speed: 21.9 knots Seas: 4-7.5 feet (Our seas are the highest we have seen so far on this trip!) Wind: 26 knots (Around noon today the ship really began to rock!) Distance traveled from FLL: 9625 nautical miles Weather: 83 degrees / 87% humidity, Rainy and windy A port lecture on Sydney and an Explorations lecture on types of whales that we might see as we sail to Australia filled our [View Full Entry]

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Day 26 - February 10, 2007, Saturday, Suva, Fiji (We skipped a day—jumping 23 hours ahead last night!) Time: 7:30 am Saturday (1:30 pm Friday CST) Latitude: 18 degrees 08.12 minutes S Longitude: 178 degrees 25.37 minutes W Speed: 0 knots - At Anchor Distance traveled from FLL: 9325 nautical miles Weather: 85 degrees / 75% humidity, Partly cloudy/sunny Bula! Bula! (Hello! Hello!) We were greeted with this throughout our day in friendly Suva, Fiji today! Fiji’s 322 islands are spread across the Koro Sea in a giant U shape. We visited Suva the capital and [View Full Entry]

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Day 25 - February 8, 2007, Thursday, Crossing the International Dateline Time: 8:00 am (1:00 pm CST) Latitude: 15 degrees 50.74 minutes S Longitude: 175 degrees 21.19 minutes W Speed: 21.6 knots Distance traveled from FLL: 8989 nautical miles Weather: 84 degrees / 83% humidity, Partly cloudy This might be the only year of our lives that we don’t have a February 9th! Yesterday was February 8th and today is February 10th! The International Dateline is an imaginary line extending between the North Pole and the South Pole that arbitrarily demarcates each calendar d [View Full Entry]

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Day 24- February 7, 2007, Wednesday, Pago Pago, American Samoa Time: 5:30 pm (10:15 pm CST) Latitude: 14 degrees 30.29 minutes S Longitude: 171 degrees 00.74 minutes W Speed: At Anchor Winds: Slight breeze Distance traveled from FLL: 8639 nautical miles Weather: 86 degrees / 85% humidity, Sunny with periods of rain showers Today we enjoyed being back in America for a day! We toured Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila, which is also known as American Samoa, a territory of the USA. It was a beautiful sunny day but hot, hot, HOT with intermittent rain showers to steam [View Full Entry]

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