Luggage Lost in London

I’m writing this from an open air lobby hotel right next to the airport.  It’s called the Harris Tuban.  We’re just overnighting here before catching our puddle jumper tomorrow to Labuan Bajo.  Tonight I share a room with Martha, another nudibrancher.  Actually, there are two Martha’s on this trip.  Go figure.

Soooo… I think I have the toothpaste thing solved with the toothpaste from the hotel.  But I have bigger problems on my hands.  When I went to claim my luggage, I got my diving gear but not my camera setup.  Oh no!  I marched over to the “Lost and Found” and filled out the paperwork.  They think the dry box is stuck in Heathrow and will come tomorrow on the same flight.  But I am really concerned since we leave in the morning.  I called Graham and found out that he was planning on having the Cheng Ho leave the Labuan Bajo area tomorrow evening, so if the dry box doesn’t make it to the boat by tomorrow night, I won’t have it for the whole cruise.  That would be a total bummer.  The saving grace is that we called information and it does sound like there are a couple of flights to Labuan Bajo after the camera is supposed to arrive, so we may still be able to pull this off.

I do have my really old Sony Cybershot camera and housing so I can at least try to take some images to remember what I saw, but they won’t be very good.  L

On the bright side, I love love love the others on this trip.  Bob and Jane are here (who I met at Maluku Divers in Ambon in 2011).  Then there is another couple Martha and Anthony who are totally into it.  Anthony even has his own website (http://aholley.co.uk/) where he posts all the unique species he’s photographed.  Then there’s my roommate (just for tonite, I get my own cabin on the boat) Martha from Florida and Christianne (who owns Villa Markisa) and Graham.  I bet there are a few more too.  We may need to play Nudibranch Jeopardy.  I can hear it now:  “I’ll take Chromodoris for 200, Alex” Or maybe “Name that Nudibranch!” is better since it will mostly be pictures and then identifying them. 

OK, I gotta get some sleep.  My body has no clue what time it is.