Greetings from Pulau Flores, in the Nusa Tenggara island chain of Indonesia. Flores is quite a change both physically and culturally from tropical and lush Bali. Formed from volcanic activity, Flores is pretty arid and mountainous, kind of looking like Colorado, although the mountains aren't nearly as tall here. It's about the size of Florida if you were to chop off the panhandle and turn the remainder on its side. The fact that it's pretty mountainous - and since even the best roads resemble well beaten logging roads - means that many of Flores' towns and villages remain pretty iso [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello again, folks, and thanks again for checking in on me. I just wanted to add one more note from Bali before I move on (tomorrow) to the island of Flores (about 350 miles east of here). I took a bunch of photos and have posted them here, to give the casual observer a better idea of what the other 95% of Bali looks like when you get away from the tourist traps of Kuta Beach and Denpassar. I finally got away from the frenetic Kuta-Legian region and explore a little bit of the much more rural Balinese countryside. Today I [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well, after 24+ hours of travelling to Bali (which lies just south of the Equator and which also, curiously, included a flight through the Arctic Circle to get here - ?) I finally arrived. The island of Bali is about in the middle of the Indonesian chain, and is about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined (or, like Puerto Rico if someone were to pull downward from Ponce and make it resemble a triangle pointing downward). I've been staying in the Kuta-Legian Beach area in the south, which is pretty much a tourist haven for Aussies, Brits, and Japanese. First [View Full Entry]

---

---

Hello there, and thanks for checking in on me. I'll consider this the starting point for my round-the-world trip. First stop was Tortola, the main island of the British Virgin Islands, and pretty much the hub from which getting to the other islands, as well as the U.S. islands, is made possible. Tortola is a pretty good place to really develop some hiking stamina as taxi cabs are really expensive (over $20 for a 4-mile transit) and I don't think there's more than 100 meters of flat surface on that entire island, except for the main road along the south shore. [View Full Entry]

---

---

It was my friend Cesar V. who most recently advised me that I'm an idiot. I'm a little bit concerned only because he's usually right about these sorts of things. Regardless, tomorrow will be my final day of duty after 14+ years in the U. S. Coast Guard, as I've decided to take a 2-yr leave of absence to to some travelling. I'm certainly going to miss many of the outstanding people that I was fortunate enough to serve with and work alongside, both in the CG and in the maritime industry; but I'm also very excited about getting started on [View Full Entry]

---

---