The beginning of week nine and another glorious day, unexpectedly so, as I assumed the weather would start to cool down. I guess that may happen tomorrow, as Japan is only two days away. Speaking of Japan, the immigration documents arrived in the cabin this afternoon. Some of the details had been completed, but the rest were very simple. Just like the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, we have to have a face to face immigration check. This is getting to be a...

A beautiful day. The sun shone and there were very few clouds in the sky. I sunbathed for a short while after breakfast and my mile walk, then I went to the Individual Quiz. I won! I finally have my first gold sticker. After lunch I took part in the deck quoits. Guess what? I won!! That means another gold sticker, I ended my drought in spectacular fashion. I finished the daylight hours with a little more sunbathing and I did the silent challenge whils...

The first day of the second half of the cruise. We passed back over the equator at around 14.00, so we're back into the northern hemisphere again. The weather has been quite muggy and fairly sunny today, the temperature hit 34 degrees. The six of us on my dinner table decided to celebrate the beginning of the second half with dinner in Cafe Bordeaux. Despite it being formal night, we could eat in casual clothes, so we did! It was alright, but not as...

We had arrived in the caldera by the time I woke up. The weather was 24 degrees at 8.00. There was a view of the volcano from my cabin window. After breakfast Barbara, Linda, Rob, Yvonne, Phil and I strolled off the ship and into the small town. We negotiated with a taxi driver and for Aus$ 60 we had a short tour. We drove past the courthouse, up a hill past some Japanese tunnels dug during the Second World War, to a lookout. There was a stunning view of...

Very warm, humid and wet. We had showers on and off all morning. It dried up enough for me to lose in the deck quoits semi. Nicky, one of the girls on the P&O forum, scattered her husband's ashes. Some of us were invited. We went down to deck four and stood in a semi circle, while the Captain performed a short service. An officer then scattered the ashes in the sea, while Sid played the bagpipes. Nicky, Lin (her mum) and Michael (her 2 year old son...