Wednesday, March 11, 2026        Townsville, Australia

My clients are safe and sound home in Napa.  They are pretty tired and it feels like the mother of all jet lags.  I think it’s the almost unbearable amount of stress they carried for the last ten days, the war news reports, the obscene escalation in price to re-route, the last minute flight delays…OMG.  We are all happy it’s over for them. We still have the whole world to worry about, though and we are in Townsville, Australia.

I made the decision to stay in and work again, and it turned out to be a bad one.  Everyone came back telling me what a charming little town it was.  Many of them found unique things to buy, etc., bummer.  But I did get my taxes paid, both 2025 tax owing estimates and 2026 installments.  I am now considerably poorer but still enjoying life on a pretty high level, so I am not complaining.

I spent the most of the day working on my Hong Kong talk, admired Dee’s purchase, that she wore at dinner, and went to the show.  I had to sit through John Milligan to get to Angie Narayan, and she was worth it.

Thursday, March 12, 2026      Cairns, Australia

It’s always a bad day when you lose a good friend.  Today I received the sad news that one of my boat crew, Theresa Benedek, was gone.  She was over 90 years old, and had had a good run, but still. You can find her obituary and some pictures and words that I added at Theresa-Gayle-Benedek Click on ‘see more’ and then scroll all the way down for my comments, because I was first in.  It’s a fun scroll, many happy memories.

Nick Nicolas was on stage with his magic show.

Friday, March 13, 2026   At Sea

It was a busy day of DV work and I just deleted most of my report, which was written for my head office, not you guys.  It was a night at the Kentucky Derby on board, so no show on the World Stage.

Saturday, March 14, 2026   Sea Day   Scenic Cruising the Torres Strait

It was yet another work day at sea.  There was client work to do and Newsletter 10 to write.  Robert Bannon was on stage with a show called “The Evolution of Rock”.  I thought that was the music of my age, but I only recognized two songs.

Sunday, March 15, 2026    At Sea

Joanne and I were assembling and signing Newsletter 10 at our desk, when Captain Rens stopped by to ask if my “people on the train” had got home.  He remembered our conversation from the speakers’ dinner, when I had been so worried.  I was happy to report they were safe and sound in Napa and I am sure they are delighted to read that the captain of the Volendam cared about them.

Robert Bannon was at our table tonight.  He’s Irish and was a lot of fun.  So was the show on the World Stage – “Celtic Spirit”  Full of Irish song and Dance.  Not sure what Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah was doing in there.  Last I knew, he was a Jewish boy from Montreal.  I love the song, though.

Monday, March 16, 2026    Darwin, Australia

Last year I had a fabulous lunch on a shore excursion, at a place called “Wharf One”, which I remembered as having been within walking distance of the ship.  I rounded up the Linda and Bob Eckert, who got Kathy and Don Sachs, and off we went like a burly herd of turtles.  It was the right restaurant, but the crocodile ceviche and fresh barramundi had been specials for our DV shore excursion last year.  No matter, we enjoyed an excellent array of bar snacks that included calamari, fried brie, hummus and dips, a couple of burgers and fish ‘n chips.  Sharing is good.  Drinking is better.  There was much lamenting about the fact that we couldn’t drink like we used to, but we tried. We did.  We did.

We needed a nap after that and I did enjoy it.  I woke up for sail away, which was a good thing or this blog wouldn’t even have one picture but Joanne wanted this one and I am grateful

I am grateful for a lot of things, among which this fabulous voyage, with its glorious sunsets, the health to enjoy it, and Joanne, herself, who makes it all so easy for me.

Since the sun was setting, I left sailaway for dinner and a show.  The show was Nyree Huyser, doing a tribute to Céline Dion.  It was good, but it wasn’t Céline.  I was happy to read this week that the real thing will be performing again this summer, starting in Paris.  I have to wonder why not Montréal?  I have some suspicions, mind you.

Tuesday, March 17, 2026    At Sea  –  Happy St. Patrick’s Day

Joanne took the desk, as I was rehearsing for my talk on Hong Kong in the afternoon.  It was a quiet day.  About 35 people came to my talk and 17 DV people came to dinner after.  Joanne led a few out on the St Patrick’s day Bar Crawl and Robert Bannon sang a bunch of Irish songs on the world stage.  I don’t know where the man gets his material.  I only recognized two of those, too.  

Wednesday, March 18, 2026    At Sea

Nyree Huyser was back onstage this time with Hollywood based songs.