Travel Day

Today is a travel day.  Our flight isn’t until 1pm so there was time to sleep in, have breakfast and get packed and showered.  So spoiled we are!

I organized a group shot on the middle deck by using my Go Pro hanging down from one of the bars and my iPhone timer:

I want to work on my underwater photography now at Villa Markisa.  My camera LCD is hard to see the subject when underwater, so I’ve been turning down the aperture to get a lock on the subject and then turning the aperture back up.  I don’t think this is the best approach.

Also I’m thinking about adding an extra arm to my spotter light to see if I can light things up over my long lens.

We flew from Labuan Bajo to Bali and then had a two and a half hour car ride up to Villa Markisa.  It is interesting to see the roadside shops along the way. Some of it is quaint and very traditional Balinese, but more than not the shops are dirty and desolated.  There is so much trash scattered about.

They drive on the wrong side of the windy steep roads and there are motorbikes everywhere!  So driving a big bus through Bali is pretty challenging for the driver.

Martha and I are sharing a room on this portion of the trip.  The room is amazing!  We are in one of the rooms attached to the main house. 

Christianne does everything perfectly here at Villa Markisa.  The sheets are crisp, the mosquito netting is white.  The towels are fluffy.  There is not a cobweb in sight.  She leaves fruit in the room and we can make our own coffee.

And the grounds are perfectly groomed.  We had welcome drinks at the bar.  It is like having your own little bar in the backyard and just inviting your friends to come have a drink.  I put a flower from my drink behind my ear.  We had such a fun time. 

And then the dinner.  The dinner was to die for.  The table settings were beautiful and the food was delicious: fried cauliflower, shrimp, chicken, pork, and snow peas with sambal to spice it up and a passion fruit panne cotta for dessert.  Yum!!!

The waves are a little rough here tonight.  We are all hoping they subside for the morning.

David (the Australian) and Andrye (the Russian) are not on this portion of the trip.

Russell and Laisee (who I met on the last trip) are here.  It was fun to reconnect with them and hear their latest stories.