We had the biggest adventure on Monday! The day started at 6:00am as we boarded a bus to head to a marina off the coast of Northwest Indonesia, to a small town called Labuhan. The forecast called for 80% chance of showers, but that didn't stop this crew of crazy adventurers! The ride took about 3 hours by bus and we ventured into the land unknown. As you can see from the photos below, we definitely weren't in Kansas anymore! We arrived to a local restaurant that was planned to cater breakfast to us and get to use the restrooms before our boat adventure. One suggestion we didn't get was to bring toilet paper to use the restrooms. Thankfully we had a couple of packs of tissues on hand! After our delicious breakfast of warm crepes with assorted jellies, we set off on our boat ride to Krakatau. As we approached the marina, we saw two large boats, and instantly felt more at ease as we knew this 1.5 hour ride would be a little rough with the weather forecasted and large swells. But the bus didn't stop there and before we knew it, we saw OUR boats ... the pictures are priceless. So 12 of us (parents, kids and one trusty butler) take off on that one (it was faster than the others so we were good with that), and then 3 other boats that accommodated 6 each. There were 28 of us in total, all Annie cast and crew members. Our boat ride over consisted of shrieks and squeals as our kiddos had never experienced anything like it. I had grown up on boats, so I was aware of what it was going to be like, and thankfully had well prepared Bridget with Bonine (MIRACLE drug), and had also given a couple to a few other orphans that were scared of getting motion sick. Our girls faired very well on the ride over, but one of our Annie mommas did not! It was a bumpy ride! Poor thing, I know she felt much better after getting on dry land! I managed to have signal almost all the way to the island, so that i could track where we were and how much further we had to go. T-Mobile really was horrible in terms of cell service while we toured the US, but apparently it works perfectly in Southeast Asia! Who knew!? Thanks T-Mobile! An hour in, our trusty butler broke out singing Row, Row, Row Your Boat and the girls chimed in, then more nursey rhymes to follow. Hey, whatever we can do to combat the bumpy boat ride over, we did it!
As we arrived on land again, everyone was pretty happy, especially those who suffered from seasickness, and we were greeted by the most beautiful views, the sand was soft, but black as night, from the volcanic island and the eruptions over the years. From what we were told, it was one of the biggest! I took a video of our tour guide which can explain more. You can smell the smoke in the air as it is an active volcano.
Once everyone arrived, we took off for the first ridge of the volcano, we made it towards the top of the first section, but the smoke in the air was too much for me, and I could feel it in my lungs. I guess my lifelong bouts of bronchitis didn't help either. Bridget's back was hurting for some reason, so we let everyone go on ahead and we climbed back down to hang out at the beach for a little while exploring and taking in the sights. She even built a sandcastle and we found interesting pieces of lava rock, bamboo and driftwood. Once everyone arrived back, they served us a wonderfully delicious typical indonesian lunch of Nasi Goreng, which is a type of chicken and rice and then fresh watermelon for dessert . . . DELISH!
Once we had our fill, we boarded the boats again and took off around the back side of the volcano. The water there was even more blue than the other side, and we went to one of the four islands, and they dropped anchor and we snorkeled there. It took a little while for Bridget to get the hang of it with the mask and snorkel combo, but she finally did it and got to enjoy the surroundings. It's bascially like swimming in the largest tropical fish tank and there were corals, urchins, the entire cast of Nemo, as well as eels and some sort of neon rainbow fish. Absolutely breathtaking!
The weather was absolutely perfect, not a single drop of rain, and the boat ride back didn't seem as long, but all the girls conked out, even some of the mamas. It was a thrillling, but tiring day, then of course we had the long bus ride back which took almost 4 hours this time because of traffic. We got in around 9:00pm, but it was so worth it!! So thrilled and grateful to be going on this adventure with Bridget. It has truly been the experience of a lifetime that we will never forget! Thank you Lynn Marvin, one of our tour mamas, for making all the arrangements and our hosts were wonderful, it was everything and more than what we could have hoped for!
As we arrived on land again, everyone was pretty happy, especially those who suffered from seasickness, and we were greeted by the most beautiful views, the sand was soft, but black as night, from the volcanic island and the eruptions over the years. From what we were told, it was one of the biggest! I took a video of our tour guide which can explain more. You can smell the smoke in the air as it is an active volcano.
Once everyone arrived, we took off for the first ridge of the volcano, we made it towards the top of the first section, but the smoke in the air was too much for me, and I could feel it in my lungs. I guess my lifelong bouts of bronchitis didn't help either. Bridget's back was hurting for some reason, so we let everyone go on ahead and we climbed back down to hang out at the beach for a little while exploring and taking in the sights. She even built a sandcastle and we found interesting pieces of lava rock, bamboo and driftwood. Once everyone arrived back, they served us a wonderfully delicious typical indonesian lunch of Nasi Goreng, which is a type of chicken and rice and then fresh watermelon for dessert . . . DELISH!
Once we had our fill, we boarded the boats again and took off around the back side of the volcano. The water there was even more blue than the other side, and we went to one of the four islands, and they dropped anchor and we snorkeled there. It took a little while for Bridget to get the hang of it with the mask and snorkel combo, but she finally did it and got to enjoy the surroundings. It's bascially like swimming in the largest tropical fish tank and there were corals, urchins, the entire cast of Nemo, as well as eels and some sort of neon rainbow fish. Absolutely breathtaking!
The weather was absolutely perfect, not a single drop of rain, and the boat ride back didn't seem as long, but all the girls conked out, even some of the mamas. It was a thrillling, but tiring day, then of course we had the long bus ride back which took almost 4 hours this time because of traffic. We got in around 9:00pm, but it was so worth it!! So thrilled and grateful to be going on this adventure with Bridget. It has truly been the experience of a lifetime that we will never forget! Thank you Lynn Marvin, one of our tour mamas, for making all the arrangements and our hosts were wonderful, it was everything and more than what we could have hoped for!
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