Under the Sea in the Maldives

It's not very often that Jeff and I go on vacations where we completely unwind and don't give a second thought to sightseeing or our next restaurant adventure.  On the contrary we usually schedule a few too many places and activities, never wanting to miss anything.  For this trip, we stayed on a small island that you could walk around in 30 minutes so missing anything was nearly impossible.  We spent 5 full days snorkeling, reading, napping, pondering our future, sipping wine, and overdoing the bacon a few times at the buffet breakfast.

When Jeff announced that he wanted to go to the Maldives for his birthday, I first laughed it off then discreetly looked it up online to figure out where it is.  I'd heard of it before, but always assumed it would be too difficult / expensive to get to.   Luckily a budget airline, Tiger Air, flies direct from Singapore so we booked our flights impulsively and soon started daydreaming about the pristine white sand beaches, clear water, abundant sea life, and brightly colored corals.

Where are the Maldives?

Our whole trip can be nicely summed up in this video that Jeff created.  After he posted it I've been a bit unmotivated to update the blog because you can't beat Jeff's video skills.  If you're interested in the trip narrative then read on!

It took us a few days to get used to completely relaxing, but this view sure helped!

Our first time on a sea plane!

On the second day we went on a whale shark snorkeling excursion and spotted 5!  This was the highlight of the trip (possibly the year too).

We were lucky to be the only boat swimming with this guy

We saw 1 HUGE whale shark; unfortunately, it was along with 3 other boats full of people.  The middle of the pack was a free for all fight, and we weren't quite ruthless enough to go in for pictures.  Two members of our boat got out of the water yelling at each other because one lady kicked a guy several time in the face.

We weren't so lucky with the Manta Ray excursion and only ended up seeing a few from the boat.  The current was really speeding along and every time we jumped in the water, the Mantas were out of site.  We did see few turtles on the trip though!

One of the friendliest turtles we've seen.

Reef shark swimming around our island 

Our resort had an amazing infinity pool.  There were several many times at the pool when we pretending to read but were actually watching people take hilarious selfies.  One photo shoot lasted about 20 minutes and involved the wife directing high fashion poses and taking 100's of pictures of her husband.  Jeff had to get in on the action as well.

New Facebook photo?

Double thumbs up for diving

Final view before we hopped on our departing plane.  

We came back to Jakarta feeling rejuvenated for another few months in the Big Durian!  

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America 2014

The longer we live outside of America, the more we appreciate just how lucky we are.  Until we tried living without, we were guilty of taking for granted the clean air, blue skies, drinkable tap water, parks, sidewalks, safe food, fresh berries, great health care, functioning free-way systems, and the fantastic beer and wine. During a 3 week trip its easy to notice only the wonderful things, and to us it absolutely felt like we were honeymooning with America.  Arriving back in Jakarta left us both with a lump in our throat after facing the reality that our next trip home would be another 12 months away.  Before I send myself into tears, I'll move on to the fantastic trip summary!

Our adventure started with a week in Carson City to spend some quality time with the family and enjoy the fantastic summer weather.  As always, we were amazed by how much our niece and nephew have changed.  Morgan is such a grown up girl - learning how to swim, starting 2nd grade this year, and taking care of her little brother.  The highlight of the trip was spending 2 days camping at Fallen Leaf Lake where we used to camp with all the neighborhood families when I was a kid.  Tropical beaches are beautiful, but for me they can never beat a pristine mountain lake.

Gorgeous views, just before Jeff dunked his head in the chilly water

Best pals

Next up, we headed to Oregon for a short stay in Portland.  When we lived in Portland, we would count down the days until July rolled around every year.  What a special treat to be there during the summer without having to brave the rain for 9 months.  Our 4 days were filled with catching up with friends, seeing a concert with Jeff's family, an epic day of wine tasting, and generally eating and drinking to excess.

Best day of wine tasting EVER!

Concert on the lawn Mcmenamins with Dalena and Ivan

We were a bit nostalgic leaving Portland after such a short visit, but were soon in awe as we arrived in Yellowstone.  We spent 6 days campervanning around the park and soaking in as much fresh air and nature as possible.  We spotted amazing wildlife including a mama black bear and 2 cubs, 100's of buffalo, elk, and a big horn sheep.  There were a few times we felt like we were on another planet while viewing the bright, multicolored pools and geysers in the park.

Our first stop in Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces 

This buffalo walked right through our campsite.  They are HUGE up close.

First elk

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone 

Our awesome campervan and best picnic spot around 

Mystic Pool - truly felt like we were on Mars

Our favorite geyser, you can see the car to the right

Jeff's first try at grilling buffalo steaks

We continued our camping trip and headed south to the Grand Tetons for four more days.  The views we jaw dropping and the crowds were thankfully much smaller.   After pestering Jeff for most of the trip, he finally caved in and agreed to go horseback riding.  Once he got over his initial nervousness, he couldn't refrain from yelling giddyup every few minutes and bouncing along at a trot.  He claimed that his horse was slower and he needed to catch up, but I peaked back a few times and witnessed his victorious expression as he sped up.

Stress free and loving the scenery

Frame worthy shot!

Beaver spotting

Whoopie ti yi yo, git along little dogies!

We searched for a bull moose for days and finally spotted one our last night

Views from our dinner cruise

Although we love the opportunities living in Jakarta has given us, there truly is no place like America and we're counting down the months until our next visit!

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Banda Belters 2014

I've been struggling to write a post about our trip to Banda.  All the descriptions I've come up with don't really paint the full picture of the voyage.  The destination was everything that we hoped, and the journey to get there was a truly unforgettable experience.

Jeff spent numerous hours planning our epic snorkeling trip with 8 close friends to the Banda Islands (aka the spice islands) in eastern Indonesia, see below.  Getting there was a challenge, but we were rewarded with endless pristine coral reefs and beaches all to ourselves.

In preparation for the expedition, we started a book club and read Nathaniel's Nutmeg that narrates the competition between the European countries in the 1600s to stake their claim on the "Spiceries."  The book describes the obstacles, hardships, tropical diseases, and dangers that sailors faced in reaching these islands - on average only 20% survived!  Luckily we fared much better during our trip and all members survived the trek.

We started our journey off with a relaxing overnight stay in Ambon to fully prepare ourselves for the Pelni - a ferry run by the Indonesian government.  Getting on the ship was our first challenge and unfortunately I have no pictures as we were warned about the pick-pockets and told to hide all valuables as deep in our bags as possible.  Boarding was a sweaty free-for-all with thousands of people pushing to get on and off the boat, porters forcing their way through the crowd, groups of hawkers selling all kinds of "treasures", and of course a group of 10 tall Westerners trying to find our way through the maze.   We made it to our rooms and immediately headed to the deck and cracked a few bottles of wine to celebrate.

Bottoms up!

Banda Benders 2014

Although we'd read stories about the unsavory conditions on the boat, it was really jaw-dropping seeing how many people were packed on the boat.  People were camped out everywhere - in the hallways, stairways, emergency exits, even the lifeboats.   By the end of the 8 hour ferry trip, there was garbage all over the floor and the smell was close to unbearable.

Main stairway to get to the upper decks 

Economy class has beds and a shelf to store your stuff

So many families were traveling in this condition, very sad.

Adelle is really lovin' our second class cabin

This porter was using a suitcase as a battering ram to get through the crowd.  Shortly after this picture, he slammed me in the head one too many times and got a tongue lashing along with a stink eye.

After recovering from the ferry ride, we spent the rest of the week snorkeling, playing cards, relaxing on our deck, enjoying the fine wine and cocktails we lugged along on the trip, and generally unplugging from our busy lives in Jakarta.  The snorkeling was absolutely incredible - sharks, parrot fish, turtles, tuna, puffer fish, eel, nudibranch, a tiny blue shrimp and lots of beautiful coral.

So many schools of fish!

Spotted eel

Crystal clear water and lush green jungles made this some of the most beautiful scenery we've seen 

Little blue shrimp - good find Jeff!

Love these clown fish

Shy turtle

Lion fish 

Six person selfie outside the old Dutch fort

This shot took about a dozen tries

Sunset from the dock

Our last look at the Pelni after disembarking in Ambon.  Can you spot the two bules in the crowd?

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