Blue Planet Journey

Graffiti on rock, Dunningham reserve, Coogee, Australia.  It symbolizes my search for the ingredients in the refried beans served aboard the Celebrity Solstice . I've written about my difficulty in getting a response from the crew of the Celebrity Solstice about the ingredients in their refried beans.  It was a simple question.  Do the refried beans served in the Oceanside Cafe almost daily contain lard or other animal products?  This is a big deal to vegans and vegetarians, as well as for people with religious prohibitions against eating pork. Lard is made of pork fat. The answer is right on the ingredient label, or in the recipe if they make their refried beans from scratch.  Instead of looking, however, multiple chefs and shift supervisors would promise to "get back to me."  They never did. I don't want to leave the impression that my questions were never answered.  Here, Karol, the Food and Beverage Director, is gettin...

There was entertainment provided every night in the Solstice Theater.  Cruise Director Liam Ryan introduces each act. On a number of occasions over the past 5 months, I tried to document a full day of activities on the cruise ship, Celebrity Solstice .  I always found myself with a Homer Simpson  " D'oh! " moment as I realized that I got caught up in one activity or another, and forgot to record what I was doing.  Finally, on April 26, during a day at sea following a visit to Tahiti, I did it!   Although the Solstice is a "contained city" of 3000 or so guests (and 1000+ crew), everyone had their own preference for where to go and what to do.  You wouldn't see me spending any time in the smoking areas, and the casino and shopping areas were just spaces to walk through on my way to the theater.  In other words, my typical day does not have to correspond with the typical day of any other passenger (different strokes for different folks, right...

Caroline, Celebrity  Solstice  Hotel Manager Sue Richardson, and me on Deck 15.  Yes, that's actual lawn! If you haven't been on a cruise ship, your perception may be tainted by watching that hit television show from the 1970s and 80s, " The Love Boat ." That show taught us that you'll always be able to sit at the captain's table, there is no wind on the top deck in the evenings so your hair won't get mussed, and there is only 1 bartender. The reality is that I never ran into a person who ate at the captain's table (is there one?), any conversation on the top deck with the ship traveling at 20 knots will have your hair whipping over your face and you'll be yelling at your partner to be heard, and bartenders are a dime a dozen (but still appreciated). A cruise ship is a small city, and 3/4 of the people are all living in the same hotel (the other 1/4 are crew, and live on the lower decks).  Depending on what you've reserved (a room ve...

Caroline with a wallaby at the end of a 50 K bike ride in Port Douglas , Australia. We've returned to Logan , Utah, after 5 months on "the road" (mostly, the sea).  Let me apologize in advance if I pause before trying to answer the question, "How was your trip?"  It is a lot to process, and I am trying to articulate a coherent response.  It's funny how it is easier to comment on 1 specific event than on a trip in toto.  But as I sit in my usual seat in the North Logan Starbucks, I'm having fun reviewing some of the photos from this adventure.  Here are some that haven't found a home, from a mixture of locations. This is the last time we got to meet our dear friend Micki, who passed 2 weeks ago from pancreatic cancer. We were attending the annual meeting of Friends of Hanauma Bay. Caroline at Turtle Bay, North Shore, Oahu. What be this, you may ask?  It's a public urinal in Fremantle, Australia, and a common design down u...