Feb 24

We had the first long tender of the day into one of the northernmost ports of Australia and when we got to the pier there was no where to park. We floated around for a while while calls were made and eventually a boat was moved and we got to land. I suspect some yelling was involved.

We decided to walk around the small island and saw a few nice beaches and then in some mangroves we saw Flying Foxes, very exciting. There were tons of them and they are huge. Too bad they were sleeping and not moving around. We also saw some sulfur crested cockatoos, beautiful birds.

Then it started to rain so we picked up the pace and decided to cut over the middle of the island through a huge cemetery that is mostly unkempt and very wild.

We had wanted to go to the northern most pub in Australia but as we approached to pub a Viking crew member informed us that we had to evacuate the island right away, captains orders. We went down to the tender and got on for a very bumpy 50 minute rollercoaster ride. It was hot and steamy in the tender but we made it back, I will say the tender pilot did an excellent job considering the conditions.

A drink was welcome after that ride.

We heard later that the reason for the quick retrieval from the island was due to the ship having trouble keeping the anchor in place because of the high winds and sea.

Next is 3 sea days until we see Komodo national park and the dragons that abide there.