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Back to Bali

Posted by Jim St. George on July 17, 2026

Posted in: Asia, Indonesia. Leave a Comment

Donning pink shirt and pink-striped socks, and I’m ready to settle into the beach cabana that was to be our home most days at Amankila

We first came to Bali in 1996, 30 years ago. We loved it then and it’s a place we love coming back to. A Buddhist island in the world’s largest Moslem country – and the fourth largest country in the world after India, China, and the U.S. – it’s an island of incredible beauty, happy people, great tourist infrastructure, and often amazing food. We’re spending four-plus weeks on the island with six stops, all in beautiful resorts. It should be an extremely relaxing journey.

First, though, we had to get out of New York City. We’d waited until after the Fourth of July semiquincentennial celebrations, forgetting back when we were planning the trip that Trump would of course totally screw up what should have been a unifying national celebration. And on top of that on July 1, the day we normally leave for our summer vacation, the weather turned brutally hot in the city – a couple days with temperatures over 100 degrees. Definitely could have missed that.

Finally on the evening of of July 5th we set out on an 18-and-a-half hour flight to Singapore, the longest flight in the world, before connecting to Bali. Not so fast, though: a big thunderstorm stranded us on the tarmac for something like two-and-a-half hours, not exactly what you’re looking forward to when waiting to set off on the longest flight in the world. The delay, of course, meant that we would miss our connecting flight, further delaying our arrival in Bali. And as though that weren’t enough when we finally got to Bali my suitcase didn’t. Ugh. Not a great start.

View of the beach area from half-way down the hill. There were three pools above us and the one down there, plus of course the beach. Altogether 292 steps from our room to the beach, but they had buggies if you were lazy.

From there though things got way better. First stop for six nights was Amankila, part of the Aman chain on the east coast of the island. It is perhaps the premier hotel/resort chain in the world and we were pretty excited to stay there. And once my bag arrived the next morning we were set.

The resort was every bit as beautiful as we could have hoped, with service that was nearly perfect. It was all set on a steep hill above the Lombok Strait (Lombok being a neighboring island that we visited in 2014) with a variety of pools and a very private beach. Our days consisted of an early breakfast, then down to the beach where individual cabanas provided all the privacy and comfort you could dream of. A couple hours of lounging and reading, then off to the gym for some exercise before lunch. Afternoon was more reading and napping, then dinner. Not a tough regimen to fall into.

Our beach faced the Lombok Strait. At one point during our stay I was confused whether Bali was in the Pacific or Indian Ocean. Turns out the north coast faces the Pacific while the southern part of the island faces the Indian Ocean. And the Lombok Strait is one of the main passageways to exchange water between the two oceans. On top of that, the Strait is remarkably deep, making it a great resting place for these container ships waiting for their next assignment.

There was one off-resort excursion, dinner in a nearby town at Vincent’s, a jazz club that got pretty good reviews. It was definitely cheaper than eating at the resort but the food wasn’t that good while the music and ambience weren’t any better. So we stayed on the resort for the rest of the visit. Fortunately there were three restaurants available so we didn’t really get too bored with our options.

One thing that I found remarkable was that, oddly, we had almost no jet lag. I mean, Bali is 12 hours ahead of New York so you just can’t get further away. Yet by the second day I was sleeping until 5:30 or even 6:00 AM which is just about ideal. So we’ve settled in pretty well here. (Note about that 12-hour time difference. I’m writing this the night after Trump’s stupid, lying speech about election security. I wanted to know when it started so I asked ChatGPT. It said that the speech was set to start at 9:00 PM EDT, so in Bali that would be 9:00 AM Saturday. Umm, no, 9:00 PM on Thursday in DC is 9:00 AM on FRIDAY in Bali, not Saturday. Important lesson about trusting AI!)

The view from our typical lunch restaurant on the beach. I’m not sure I’d ever obsessed about the evolutionary genius of these palm trees, unbelievably tall yet remarkably stable even in heavy winds. How can something that long and thin hold up?

From here we had towards Ubud, the heart and cultural center of the island. Very different from the beach vibe here but, based on our earlier visits, someplace we’re pretty excited about.

Mark with a bowl of gazpacho and glass of rosé for lunch

The view from our private pool across the Strait

More resort beauty

One afternoon on the beach I watched these guys hauling a big old stump through the water heading … somewhere

But then they had to bring it ashore. Turns out floating it was a LOT easier than dragging it across the beach. I mean, that’s how they moved heavy things in medieval Europe!

Reading at low-ish tide

And settling in for for my morning read

Mark liked these piggies decorating the lunch restaurant

And finally, when we think of Bali the most remarkable thing is that the Balinese take beauty very seriously. Here you will see they even decorate the urinals with frangipani flowers. That is taking beauty seriously.

Antarctica and Back to Ushuaia

Posted by Jim St. George on February 11, 2026

Posted in: Antarctica. Leave a Comment

Here we are at Damoy Point on Weincke Island. The hut in back of us was once the southernmost air terminal waiting room, used by researchers coming and going though it is no longer in use. And note the snow falling. Here we are in the middle of the southern summer and we were regularly getting these beautiful light snowfalls.

We had two more days along the Antarctic peninsula and then two days across the infamous Drake Passage to finish this 17-day loop in the deep south. The scenery has been simply spectacular, unlike anything we’ve ever experienced before. We would just be in awe over and over again as one iceberg or glacier-clad mountain would pass by. The beauty of this region has been everything we could have hoped for.

The weather has been pretty great too. The expedition crew tell us that it’s really unusual to not have a single excursion canceled because of bad weather but we’ve been able to make every landing that was planned. Over these last two days there were two real highlights. First was something over an hour of sea kayaking. You dress in a pretty intensive wet suit – flipping in a kayak is always a possibility – and then off you go, maybe 14 of us with a couple guides. Just being that close to the water and ice was very cool. And no, neither we nor any of our ship mates flipped though I was a little intimidated by just how unstable we were out there.

Here we are trying desperately not to capsize

The other highlight was a zodiac tour we did in some strait between Antarctic islands. There were a bunch of interesting icebergs, a bunch of penguins, and even a few seals. The area was just teaming with whales though. For most of the hour-plus we were out you’d see a whale here and there, sometimes swimming with maybe their back showing, occasionally going into a deep dive and showing its fluke.

As we were heading back to the ship, though, seemingly done with the adventure, the back of a whale suddenly appeared just a little in front of us, closer than we’d ever been to a whale; the driver immediately cut the engine. The whale disappeared for a couple of seconds but then leaped out of the water – breaching, it’s called. And then he (she?) repeated it two or three more times though the later ones were somewhat further from our zodiac. Truly awe inspiring. Even our zodiac driver, who spends most of his life in polar regions, said he’s never been so close to a breaching whale.

This was simply amazing, awe inspiring in the best way. It’s worth noting that while I caught the breaching whale on my camera this shot was taken by Lloyd, our Australian friend. He just captured it perfectly.

The final challenge for the cruise was the Drake Passage, the 500-mile waterway that separates Antarctica from South America. It is often considered the most treacherous passage on earth, with waves sometimes reaching 40 feet; when it’s rough it’s known as the Drake Shake. But it can be calm and then is known as the Drake Lake. Well, our crossing wasn’t exactly a lake but it was way closer to that than the monster seas that are possible here. On balance I suppose that’s a good thing, though I have to admit I was looking forward to a little excitement.

What Antarctic blog would be complete without pictures of penguins? Our whale-watching zodiac cruise included a little intermission entertainment, watching this cute penguin leaping out of the water trying to get up on the iceberg with his friends. This leap failed but he did eventually make it.

And thus ends our Antarctica cruise. Good food, lots of time to read, some great expeditions, stunning scenery, more whales than I’d dreamed of seeing, and a LOT of penguins. I’m ready to be back on dry land again though and particularly eager to not listen to the captain’s announcements any more – Mark & I just find him super annoying. To say the least, he’s not nearly as amusing as he thinks he is.

From here now it’s off to Explora El Chaltén for six nights of hiking and whatever else you do in Patagonia.

Water, ice, rocks. A lot of that down here.

Gorgeous shapes and colors

I thought this looked like a dog’s head but the Australians said it was a kangaroo

Mile after mile looking like this

And this

The blue ice was pretty impressive too

In case you don’t recognize him, that’s Mark in the front of the kayak with water and ice all around us

More kayaking

Our kayaks being readied for us

A very hazy sun peaking through. This is what qualifies as really good weather down here.

Fiona and Lloyd. He’s taken several of the best pictures of us (and the whale…).

Me and Fiona

Lloyd, Mark, Fiona, & Jim

Me and Mark on the zodiac

Looks like he’s skiing but those are just hiking poles. Decidedly useful when going down steep, icy hills.

A penguin! And snow!

More penguins, more iceberg. Note the bird standing watch at the top of that column.

And another penguin trying – and failing – to leap onto the iceberg

Two whales there, one diving and showing its fluke

This was mostly what we saw of the whales

This was my somewhat inferior shot

Le Lyrial at rest while we’re out watching whales

And finally, Lloyd’s portrait of me!

South Georgia, Part II

Posted by Jim St. George on February 4, 2026

Posted in: South Georgia, United Kingdom. Leave a Comment

Mark at Saint Andrew’s Bay

We spent two more days on South Georgia Island, making two landings each day along the northern coast of the island to see more penguins and more seals. We have now seen a lot of king penguins and learned how to scare away fur seals that want to get a little too close.

First stop was Grytviken, once the foremost whaling station on South Georgia. During the whaling season, typically October to March, up to 400 men along with the families of senior executives lived in the village, while the population shrunk to just a maintenance crew of under 100 in the long, dark winters. Untold thousands of whales were processed here before overfishing made continued operations uneconomical; the station was closed in 1962.

A highlight of our stop in Grytviken was a 4 kilometer hike up to the top of a ridge

In recent years a significant environmental cleanup was undertaken so that it is now safe for tourists like us to disembark and walk around what is essentially a ghost town with some of the old buildings and equipment, along with an abandoned whaling ship, still standing. There is even a little museum and gift store, along with a cemetery to visit. The cemetery is significant as the final resting place of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose attempt to cross Antarctica on foot led to disaster when his ship Endurance was trapped in pack ice.

Some of the old equipment and storage tanks rusting away in Grytviken along with a renovated Lutheran church in the background

Next up after a couple hours at sea was Ocean Harbor, another landing with more seals and penguins. The highlight here was the opportunity to go on a small group hike up to a ridge overlooking the harbor. Not that there was anything great to see or anything particularly interesting about the hike but it was more about a chance to stretch your legs a little more than we have typically been doing.

Here I am high above Ocean Harbor enjoying the view and the fabulous weather

The next day two more days of mostly the same – two stops, more penguins and seals. To be honest I probably would have preferred a trip that was one day shorter and just dropped these last two excursions. It’s great to see these massive groups of penguins and fun to watch the fur seals cavorting around (and the elephant seals just lying around) but after a while the shore excursions just started to all look alike. The good news though is that we’ve had really great weather, or at least great compared to what the weather is more typically like down here. Our shore excursions have been almost completely rain-free and the temperatures have been in the mid-40s. Not bad, so far at least.

Meanwhile life on board is relaxing. Lots of time to read (Mark read Alfred Lansing’s classic story about the Shackleton voyage Endurance at the start of this trip and I’m reading it now…), some time at the gym, lots of good meals. The evening entertainment has been fun if not the quality we get in New York but who can complain if it invites a bunch of mostly old people to get out on the dance floor for a while?

Now it’s on to two days at sea before we make landing on the Antarctic Peninsula.

A massive penguin colony at Saint Andrew’s Bay

Another even larger colony at Gold Harbor, this time with a hanging glacier looming above. We were hoping it would calve while we were there but it didn’t cooperate.

Another view of Gold Harbor

A cute little fur seal. The adult seals were sometimes a little aggressive and we had to learn to intimidate them to scare them back.

Elephant seals cuddling at Grytviken

Some penguins on a spit of land separating the ocean from a pool at the bottom of a glacier

A snowy sheathbill hanging out on deck. I was in a lounge reading and the petrels would come up to the floor-to-ceiling windows and just peck, peck, peck at them. Really annoying!