Geeks on Tour Blog

Western Australia, Sailing races, Quokkas, and beer

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:20:00 +0000

Our last port in Australia was Fremantle. It is the port city just outside of Perth. We arrived mid afternoon on Saturday and had that afternoon and all day Sunday to explore, and it was beautiful weather.

After 6 days at sea, we were ready! I worked hard to finish our monthly newsletter for geeks on tour and got it published before we docked. So I was ready for a celebratory beer as soon as we got off, but first we needed to visit the local office supply to pick up a USB hub that Jim needed. Success!

Click here to read our April Newsletter

Heading into the city center, it was clear that we weren't the only ones celebrating, lots of people, music, and other acts were out and about and streets were block off for pedestrians only. It was delightful. And look! There's a 'BeerPourium" - doesn't that sound good. It was on the 3d floor and had balcony seating that gave us a great view of the festivities below.

Jim noticed a restaurant called Aussie Ribs. We enjoyed a delicious meat eaters meal.

On Sunday we played tourist, maritime museum, brewery, ferry to Rottnest Island to see the scenery and the Quokkas. Back home well after dark. Fantastic day. There were moments I thought I would just burst from happiness and gratitude for the life I get to lead.

Jim's Dad was captain on a charter boat taking tourists to watch the sailboats in the America's Cup race in Newport Road Island. This newpaper is from the day when Australia won it in 1983.

Rottnest Island - Party Island is more like it! What a beautiful, fun place.

This is a Quokka - a mini-me kangaroo. They're protected, and they're everywhere.

Marsupials

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:24:00 +0000

We visited 2 wildlife sanctuaries, one in Tasmania and one in Melbourne. We learned a lot about marsupials. Those are mammals who raise their young in a pouch on the outside of their bodies. I always thought that meant after the babies were born they suckled and kept comfy in this pouch, but no, they come out of the birth canal as a fertilized egg no bigger than a grain of rice, or maybe a kidney bean. The pouch is basically an external womb where they develop into a kangaroo or koala or wombat or echidna. The babies of all of these marsupials are called Joey's.

A kangaroo with a Joey in its pouch. It never showed its head, but I did see it wiggle.

All of these animals we saw in these sanctuaries. The one in Tasmania was called Bonorong and a fellow Odyssey resident arranged for a group of us (nearly 100) to get a special after-hours tour. That meant we had the place to ourselves after it closed to the public. First stop was visiting their "mob" of kangaroos. We were each given a bag of kangaroo food and told to go interact with them. They like to be scratched under the chin, but don't touch them anywhere else. What a great experience!

One of my favorite memories of our visit to Australia in 2017 was visiting a similar place in Brisbane and getting to pet kangaroos. I was so glad that Jo was able to have that experience while she was visiting us.

After the kangaroos, we split up into smaller groups and a guide introduced us to other animals around the grounds.

Tasmanian devil

Echidna

Emu

The wombat was shy and would not come out of it's burrow, but we did get to see it's poop in the shape of a cube😱 All of these animals are Marsupials.

There are no koalas in Tasmania so we had to go to another preserve when we got mainland Australia in Melbourne. It was much further than we thought from the ship and our schedule was a little tight. But we had a delightful driver, Karla, who is a good friend of Fran. Fran is another odysseans who is from Melbourne. We got to enjoy Karlas company for the 1.5 hour drive each way to Healsville sanctuary. It was another beautiful location with lots going on but we had no guide to show us around, so I'm sure we missed a lot. We did find the Koalas though!

And there were more kangaroos, but you couldn't get close to them here. We did see one with a Joey in it's pouch though. Her belly was quite distended, and at one point I saw it wiggle.

New Zealand, abbreviated

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 11:29:00 +0000

We were supposed to have 6 Ports in new Zealand, plus cruising the fjords in the South but as it turned out we only made it to 4 ports and skipped the fjords.

At least, we had a couple of memorable excursions. In our first stop of Tauranga, we did the railcarts.

Golf carts adapted to run on an abandoned railroad make for a fun excursion. Here, we stop to feed the ducks and geese.

Never seen geese like this! They have curly feathers and can't fly - Sebastopol geese.

Then we got the news about the ships bottom needing extra cleaning before we would be allowed in any more ports. Even after 3 days of divers scraping our hull, it still wasn't good enough. Although we were allowed in ports, we could only stay for 24 hours and we weren't allowed in the fjords at all.

Friends and Family

Villa Vie has a great program for those of us who own our cabins on board. It's called 'friends and family' where we can invite someone to join us for up to 2 weeks in board at very little cost. We were scheduled to pick up our first visitor in Wellington. Luckily we were able to collect her even with our port troubles and her missed flights. And we even had a few hours to spare where we got to see a little of the renowned museum Te Papa.

An impressive exhibit about the battle at Gallipoli during WW1

We did get Jo on board, but her luggage didn't make it. Somehow it ended up in Christchurch. That was the ships next stop, so Jim and Jo took a bus from the port to the airport to get it and that pretty much consumed that port since we only had 24 hours.

During the sea days, we had a wedding on board - the second one since we've been on the ship. This time it was Ric and Ellie who - just like the first wedding - met each other on board. So sweet!

Dunedin Train Ride

Next stop, Dunedin where we had previously booked a train ride. A lot of people had booked this same trying ride, so the ship kicked a few things to make sure that our 24 hours accommodate us. It was a great ride.

The Dunedin Train Station is one of the most photographed buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, so we had to do our part to keep that up!

A really cool part is that they had us get off the train and walk across a bridge. Then we could look back and photograph the train coming across the same bridge.

After Dunedin, we were off for 5 sea days back to Australia. People who really wanted to see new Zealand got off the ship and rented cars, then flew to Melbourne to meet back up with us.

Hang on, rough seas

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 22:35:00 +0000

Wow. This is an experience. Not necessarily a good one😜. We just spent an extra 3 days at sea off the coast of Tauranga in order to get our hull scraped. New Zealand has very strict biosecurity laws. Even though the odyssey had its hull cleaned in the Philippines, that wasn't good enough for them. I get it. As an island where any infestation could be catastrophic, they need to be extremely careful.

What a process. The ship has to go out beyond the 12 mile limit and a boat with divers followed us. They worked all the first day, then got delayed on the second day due to bumpy seas. They were able to work a third day and get it done. The ship then went back to dock around midnight where there were residents waiting to be picked up. Then we got underway to Wellington, skipping the Napier stop. We were supposed to be in Wellington Mar 2,3,4. Now we're scheduled to get there on the 4th.

The problem now is really rough seas. To give you an idea of the intensity, the local ferries between the North and South Islands have been canceled for several days. The roughest seas before this were when we came in to San Francisco. This is rougher. And longer. In San Francisco rough waters were over as soon as we turned in to the bay, just a few hours of a bumpy ride. Here it started yesterday afternoon, went all night and is only worse now. Forecasts don't have it lightening up until we reach Wellington tomorrow.

The boats stabilizers do a good job of keeping it level side to side but we are sure going up and down front to back and the boom when the ship crashes into the sea is deafening. We're sure getting bounced around. I joked to Jim that it's a good thing we just got a mattress topper or we may have gotten bruised during the night.

Our TV turned to the Bridge Camera channel

I asked Gemini if this happens often and it said the Cook Straits is known worldwide as a very treacherous waterway.

I might need a sleeping pill by tonight.

Multiple days at sea - time to study

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 22:21:00 +0000

Aaaahhhhh. I am so enjoying just hanging out in my room and working on my computer. I still go to meals, and I went to a couple of line dance classes. Someone said "where have you been?" It appears I'm being anti-social. Well, I kinda need that 😀. I do love all the opportunities we have here to be social, but I still have that need to be alone. Jim is pretty busy operating the tech for various theatrical endeavors on board, so I have the room all to myself.

I'm scheduled to give a speakers corner talk on Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Web 3 tomorrow night. I've been diving deep into all the material and learning so much. Not much I love to do more that learn and figure out how best to teach. The difficult but oh-so-important part is making it simple and short. I think that's what I'm good at so I want to prove it - if only to myself. I've been working on this talk for a couple of months now.

Gemini has been a fantastic helper. And I'm using Google drive tools: slides and docs for organizing and delivering my thoughts. I put all my resources in to NotebookLM and asked it to prepare slides, videos, info graphics etc. WOW but my finished product needs to be mine. I am using pieces from several AIs. The best was asking copilot to give me some humorous ways of saying things😀. It came up with this Pirate Glossary of Crypto Terms that I love. It also gave me some analogies that help me explain this complex topic:

“Bitcoin is the shiny sports car everyone points at.

Blockchain is the engine under the hood doing all the real work — and Web3 is the highway it’s about to drive on.”

and

A blockchain is basically a group project where everyone checks everyone else’s work. Painful, but no one can cheat.

As I tackled each part of explaning this technology I had many questions myself. In times past it would take me hours to research each question and find the appropriate resource that addressed my issue. Now, I just asked Gemini. It gives me explanations exactly on point to my questions and I can ask follow up questions. It does this in just seconds. I love having my own personal teacher. One example: years ago when I was first looking into Bitcoin and Ethereum, I registered the ethereum domain name chrisguld.eth. With Gemini's help I was able to find that and renew it, but boy did I have lots of questions. Here is a bit of our conversation:

Me:

So I've registered chrisguld.eth on the ethereum name service but what exactly is that? Is it a wallet? Do I have keys to it somewhere? Or is it something, a token, in my metamask wallet? Is it my ID on web 3? Or just a shorthand to my metamask wallet address? If it is my Identity on web3 is it subject to being hacked or spoofed? On web 2 my Identity is chrisguld@gmail.com and a big fear is that it can be hacked or spoofed.

Gemini:

It is completely understandable to feel a bit of "tech vertigo" when moving from the familiar world of Gmail to the decentralized world of Web3. Since you're already used to teaching others how to navigate new tools, think of chrisguld.eth as the Web3 version of a domain name (like GeeksOnTour.com) mixed with the convenience of a nickname.

Here is the breakdown of what exactly you own:

1. Is it a wallet?

No. It is not a wallet itself, and it doesn't "hold" your money. It is an address book entry on the blockchain.

The Shorthand: Its primary job is to point to your long, clunky MetaMask address (the one starting with 0x...).
The Analogy: If your MetaMask address is the GPS coordinates to your house, chrisguld.eth is your street address. It’s much easier to tell someone "Send it to chrisguld.eth" than to read off 42 random characters.

2. Is it a token in my MetaMask?

Yes. Technically, an ENS name is an NFT (Non-Fungible Token). If you look in your MetaMask under the "NFTs" or "Assets" tab, you should see it there. Because it's an NFT, you truly own it; it’s sitting in your wallet just like a digital collectible would.

3. Do I have keys to it?

You have the master key: your MetaMask Recovery Phrase. There isn't a separate password for chrisguld.eth. Whoever controls the wallet that owns the NFT controls the name. As long as your MetaMask is secure, your ENS name is secure.

4. Is it my Web3 Identity?

Yes, and this is the coolest part. In Web2, you use chrisguld@gmail.com to log in to sites. In Web3, you "Connect Wallet." Once connected, apps can see you own chrisguld.eth and will display that name and your chosen avatar instead of a random string of numbers. It becomes your "username" across the decentralized web.

Security: Hacking vs. Spoofing

You mentioned the fear of being hacked or spoofed, which is a very valid concern for anyone teaching tech.

Hacking: Unlike a Gmail account, there is no "Forgot Password" link or central server for a hacker to breach. To "hack" your ENS name, someone would need your MetaMask Secret Recovery Phrase. As long as you keep that phrase offline (not in an email or a photo!), your identity is mathematically much more secure than a standard email.
Spoofing: People can try to mimic you by registering chris-guld.eth or chrisguld.com.eth, but they can never take chrisguld.eth from you as long as you keep the registration current. It is unique and verifiable.
The Risk: The biggest threat isn't a "hack," but a scam. If you accidentally connect your wallet to a malicious site and "sign" a transaction you don't understand, you could inadvertently give a scammer permission to transfer the NFT out of your wallet.

With all that, I'm starting to understand, but I still have questions. so I asked

Me:

If I do lose my keys, is there no one at metamask that can help me?

Gemini:

The short answer is: No, MetaMask cannot help you recover your keys. Because MetaMask is "self-custodial," they never have access to your Secret Recovery Phrase. They don't have a database of users and passwords like Google does. If they could reset your password, it would mean they have a "backdoor" to your wallet, which would make it less secure for everyone.

The "Safety Net" Rules

There are only a few specific scenarios where you can still save your "boat":

Scenario A: You know your password and still have the app. If you can still log into your MetaMask on your phone or computer, you can go into Settings > Security & Privacy and reveal your Secret Recovery Phrase there. You can then write it down (properly this time!).
Scenario B: You have the device, but forgot the password. There are some advanced "Vault Decryptor" tools provided by MetaMask that can sometimes extract the phrase from your browser's local files, but this only works if you haven't deleted the app or cleared your cache.
Scenario C: You lost the device and the phrase. In this case, the "boat" is unfortunately lost at sea. There is no one to call, no ID you can show, and no way to prove you are the owner of chrisguld.eth.

A Warning for the "Teacher" in You

Because scammers know that losing keys is a big fear, they often pretend to be "MetaMask Support" on Facebook, X, or Farcaster.

Golden Rule: If anyone—even someone claiming to be "MetaMask Lead Engineer"—asks for your 12-word recovery phrase to "synchronize" or "verify" your wallet, they are a pirate trying to steal your boat. Real support will never ask for it.

Valentine's day

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 21:37:00 +0000

Who better to spend valentine's dinner with than Ric and Ellie. They met on the ship, feel in love, and they're getting married in the ship in a few weeks! We've been diving together, shared many meals and are planning some future excursions together. If you want to be around happy people, you can't do any better than them!

I only think of these things at the last minute. It was as we're starting to get ready for dinner that it occurred to me that it would be nice for valentine's to make dinner special by sharing it with another couple. I thought of Ric and Ellie and sent him a Whatsapp message less than an hour before dinner time. I wasn't sure he would even see the message in time, let alone be available and respond, but he did.

They talked about how they were attracted to each other. It was inevitable, like 2 objects in space that are drawn together by a magnetic force, they just found themselves bumping in together. Ric says "Ellie was smart, beautiful inside and out, active, funny ... And tall!

We sat and talked for the full 2 hours of dinner time in the thistle dining room so we didn't have to get up to go to the buffet. It was a delight.

Back to Australia, Prescriptions and Line Dancing!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 22:50:00 +0000

Vanuatu was the last of the South Pacific Islands that we visited, then we stopped in Cairns and Townsville before heading to Sydney for a 3-day stop.

Cities in Australia feel like home. They speak English, the streets and shops and city infrastructure are well maintained. It all feels very safe. Each city we visit I say, "I could live here in a heartbeat." The only drawback is that it's expensive. Prices are right up there with the US.

Our main task in Cairns was to refill a prescription for Jim. We went to a pharmacy and were told that he needed a prescription from an Australian doctor and there is a walk-in clinic just down the street. Great. He met with the doctor and got a prescription for a year's supply! We went back to the pharmacy and this time they said, Oh, we don't make that particular drug in Australia. There is a similar one but we're out of stock on that and won't get any more until April. 😒 We went back to the doctor and he changed the prescription to the Australia drug and we set off to try the other pharmacies in town. Nope, Sorry, Don't have it. Same experience in Townsville. We finally got it filled in Sydney at the Balmain Community Pharmacy. It was walking distance from the ship and we were glad to have the excuse to explore - what a nice community Balmain is. Here's another place I said, "I could live here in a heartbeat."

In Townsville, we got off the ship and took an uber to a pharmacy (where we struck out again), then just walked around a bit. What a nice place.

The ship docked in Townsville, Australia

We did not go swimming!

The highlight of Townsville, at least for me was line dancing. Kathie, our line dancing instructor on board had arranged a meetup with the local line dancing group. Loved it! So cool to have a reason to get together with locals.

Tonga and Vanuatu

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 06:52:00 +0000

Tonga and Vanuatu were our last 2 stops in the South Pacific before getting back to Australia. We'd had enough of diving and wanted some land-based experiences. In Tonga we signed up for "Ancient Tonga." It was a demonstration and experience of native practices in Tonga. Like banging a big stick on a hollowed out log to call everyone in the village for a meeting:

We had a traditional Kava ceremony and they taught us that there were some differences between the Tongan traditions and the Fiji. The Kava itself tasted a bit more peppery, I didn't notice any effects. 😒

They also taught us a bit about the traditional making of tapa cloth. What a labor intensive process. They take this thin layer of tree wood and keep hammering on it to make it more paper thin. She says that the time flies by because the work is being done by several women and they use the time to chat. BUT, that hammering is LOUD. How do you talk over that?

We learned lots. My favorite thing is that Tonga is a Kingdom. Meaning they have a King! As a country they skipped the whole colonization thing that most all other islands went thru!

Next - Vanuatu

Anchored off of Port Vila this time. Last time we were docked at Luganville

We already visited Vanuatu on our way east in the islands. We did a couple of dives when we were there before, so this time we booked an inland tour. A turtle sanctuary, the Blue Lagoon, and the cascades of Eden. Here's Jim's video of this gorgeous day:

Excellent Online Event: DIY Trip Summit

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sun, 25 Jan 2026 03:43:00 +0000

We are not alone

Several months ago we received an email asking us to participate in an online "DIY Trip Summit." We get a lot of similar emails asking us to collaborate and I just ignore them, but this one was different. It was clear they had done their homework, they knew our content and our business. Here is that initial conversation. In fact, it was so apparent that Michelle knew what she was doing that I figured I would learn a thing or two by collaborating with her and her company Intentional Travelers.

We Teach, We Learn

For years it's been on my list to come up with a "Lead Magnet." This is a digital product, report, guide, checklist, or tutorial that is offered for free in exchange for people signing up for your newsletter. First you need to have something valuable enough for people to want it. Then you need to set up the processes for them to click a link, get the product, and give their email to get signed up for the newsletter. I've never been focused enough to get it done before, but this is one of the things that Michelle was asking us to do for her "DIY Trip Summit."

So, we did it. I created a "Google Photos Guide to Sharing your Travels" and set up the procedures for people to sign up and for the guide to be delivered to them. I was pleased with the results.

Cover of the Guide that I created for the DIY Trip Summit

Member Note: If you’re a Geeks on Tour member, you don’t have to join a summit to see it! This guide is now live on our Learning Guides page.

For the summit itself, she asked that we create a 15-25 minute video about Smartphone Photography Tips for Travelers. Another project that I enjoyed creating and would not have done but for the motivation provided by the summit. It is also on our website for members only.

A Master Class in Organization

So, what was so great about the DIY Summit? The main thing was just how organized it was. Every detail had been thoroughly thought out. There were 30 different speakers, and we got to meet many of them thru a couple of private zoom calls. We also had a private WhatsApp group, and the organizers prepared tutorial videos and guides to help us all with our presentations and sales. We were impressed.

We were all asked to prepare a video for the summit. Yet, the summit itself was a live 3-day event. It was all organized by topic over 3 days. Such an interesting, and workable combination People could register for free and see all the presentations they were interested in - they had 48 hours to catch any given presentation. If they needed more time, they could pay for a "First Class Pass" which gave them a year to watch. The cost of the first class pass started pretty low if they purchased before the event began, then it went up during the event, and it went up again for a few days after the event when access was cut off completely. For 3 days there were the pre-prepared presentations plus one Zoom call where a panel would answer questions from the attendees. I watched a couple of other presentations and thought they were valuable and well done.

The organizers created graphics for us to use to promote the event.

The success of the event was obvious in that 6,000 people registered for it! It was also a success from our point of view, we normally get 5-10 new newsletter subscribers in a month. The month of the DIY Summit we've garnered 219 new subscribers! And, since we helped sell the "First Class Pass" as an affiliate, we'll be getting a few hundred dollars from that.

Win-Win-Win

The organizers won: They produced a first class event attended by thousands of people.
The participants won They walked away with a suitcase full of travel tips.
The presenters won We found a new audience, made some extra income, and built lasting professional bridges.

I am so glad I didn't hit delete on that first email. It’s a great reminder that sometimes, the best way to grow your own business is to help someone else grow theirs. I hope they do it again next year!

A work of art? No, a doorway in Rangiroa

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 06:40:00 +0000

Wayne summed up my feelings exactly when he said "We live in a postcard."

What do you think? It looks like a beautiful painting hung on the wall, but in reality it is just an open doorway in the dive shop. The dive shop is right on the beach in Rangiroa, facing the lagoon. I've seen a lot of beautiful ocean colors around the world but I dare any of them to be prettier than here. If you like closely, you can see our ship, our home, anchored in the lagoon. Here's another view:

Wayne and Donna are our main dive buddies. From Georgia and Florida, they both retired young and bought a cabin on the Villa Vie Odyssey just like we did.

On Jan 12, we all signed up to go diving in Rangiroa. This is an atoll in French Polynesia, the remnants of a giant volcano. Here's how Gemini describes it:

Imagine standing on a thin strip of land where, on one side, the wild, deep-blue waves of the Pacific Ocean crash against a rugged coral wall, and on the other, a calm, turquoise lagoon stretches so far that it actually has its own horizon.

That is Rangiroa. Located in the Tuamotu Archipelago of French Polynesia, it is one of the largest atolls in the world—so vast that the entire island of Tahiti could fit inside its central lagoon.

The Anatomy of an Atoll

To understand Rangiroa, you have to look at its history as a "ghost" of a volcano. Millions of years ago, a volcanic island rose from the seafloor. As the volcano slowly went extinct and began to sink back into the ocean (a process called subsidence), a ring of coral continued to grow upward toward the sunlight, maintaining its position at the surface.

We signed up for 2 dives. One in the morning drifting/flying on the incoming tide thru the Tiputa pass and one in the afternoon with the outgoing tide hanging out on the coral reef at the corner of the pass and the ocean.
The first dive started out very relaxed. We were in wide open spaces with a gently sloping coral wall that went down to infinity. At one point we looked below us and saw nothing but sharks, at least one hundred of them!
Then we entered the pass and the current started ripping. Wheee! It was fun at first, then I saw our dive guide head toward the right edge out of the main stream. I kicked as hard as I could to follow her, but it didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I kicked harder, I breathed harder, I just couldn't do either heard enough. Images of being swept to oblivion goes thru my head - and that panic sure didn't help my breathing! I kept looking at my air gauge thinking I must be sucking this tank dry.
I'm case you're wondering I did make it. 🤔
The afternoon dive was much calmer. But the boat ride out there was quite a roller coaster! I swear I saw 12 foot swells. Our little zodiac went up up up, then dooowwn these mini mountains of water. The surf hitting the shore could rival any championship surfing sites in Hawaii. But once we were in the water, it was back to the meditative experience I so enjoy about diving. We were disappointed that we did not see any of the famous bottle-nose dolphin that often play with divers here. Other boats had better luck.

Here's the video:

Papeete Tahiti

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 03:35:00 +0000

Due to weather and other considerations our itinerary changed to give us 3 more days in Papeete, Tahiti. The speakers corner I was supposed to give tonight had accordingly been postponed for a few days. So I am footloose and fancy free in Papeete. We didn't feel energetic enough to find an excursion, but we did get off the ship and just walk around.

Jim found a dive shop where we were able to get a replacement pressure gauge to replace the one on my scuba regulator that broke. The gauge has a scale for both PSI (used in N America) and BAR used everwhere else, like metric. I love it! Since I dive all over the world, I'll be conversant in both measurements.

I'm starting to use a travel app called PolarSteps and it always indicates what country we're in. Currently it tells us we are in France. This is French Polynesia, I expect it to be more Polynesian than French, and as a remote tourist destination I expect an abundance of English. Nope, not here. We are in France! They speak French here pretty exclusively. There are baskets of baguettes in every little store.

Our Google Fi cellular data service is hit or miss. That is very odd. Usually it works or it doesn't. Here it works on one block and not the next. Jim's is better than mine even though we're on the same plan with the same service. He has a Pixel 9 pro, mine is a Samsung S25 Ultra. 🤔

We sauntered over to the marketplace. I would like a little dress but they all seem to be big and long. Sure are pretty though. Jim saw a sign for beer upstairs, off we go. We're hot and thirsty. Then I'll look for a dress.

Oops it seems to be closing time. Dress shops pulling everything in and closing the doors. It's 3:30? 🤔

This place reminds me of an upstairs food court, I think in new York City.

We may not be taking many cultural tours or go to museums but I still feel like we learn a lot just by being here. I love travel.

Fakarava Diving

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 03:18:00 +0000

First dive was a reef. It had the best visibility of any dive site in recent memory. You could see so much. Like the beautiful giant mantas rays headed straight for you! And the sharks in the distance. The coral was not very colorful, it looked mostly dead. But then there were some healthy looking coral heads as well.

Manta on the First Dive

Second dive was in the pass. It was a drift dive with a strong current. We were told not to dallie on the surface but to head straight down as soon as we hit the water. Get to the bottom and stay together because the current was going to sweep us away. We all prepared to do a back roll into the water at the same time. So, I'm sitting on the gunnell and adjusting my BC, making sure everything is nice and snug, mask on my face, regulator in my mouth. 1-2-3, go! I hit the water on my back, turn over and start to kick ... WTF! I have NO fins on my feet 😱 I can't go anywhere. I yell up to someone on the boat - I forgot my fins! They quickly find them and hold them up. I am now a ways away from the boat, there's a current, remember. I am panicking. Kicking gets me nowhere. I use a breast stroke as strong as I can muster and get a little closer. It looks like he may throw me my fins, then thinks better of it and motions for me to come closer. I stroke with everything I've got and kick too. I'm sucking air and water. I get close enough to grab the fins being held out to me and I quickly put them on and turn around. I reach for my release valve to make sure that all the air is out of my BC and I can sink down to meet my buddies, but that's going to be way too slow. I turn head down and start kicking but my fins are just grabbling air at this point. Finally I'm under water, kicking and moving down. I see the dive master and my buddies waiting for me. Thank God the current was not so strong here to have taken them away. I'm gulping air as fast as I can. The dive master is motioning for me to come down. Well, yeah, that's what I'm doing! As fast as I can. Oops, don't forget to clear your ears Chris! Luckily I had no problem with that.

So, all is well and we all take off with the current. At some points, the dive master stops and grabs onto some dead coral to stop his progress. He indicates we should do the same. OK, I grab one likely looking branch and it comes away with my hand. After a couple tries I find a secure handhold. Then we're off again. I see him veer off to the right up ahead, but the current is taking me straight. I make it, but it's a struggle. Wheee, I am flying.

Thank goodness for the video. Looking at that reminds me what a beautiful exciting dive it was. So, I can remember that and not the panic.

2025 Full Year Capsule

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 05:16:00 +0000

Click to see the Archives of all our Geek Newsletters

Every month for our Geeks on Tour newsletter, I pick a photo from the prior month's shots. I think they tell the story of our year in a nutshell.

January: making the decision to buy a cabin on the Villa Vie Odyssey
February: dreaming about the travel we'll be doing
March: taking care of final preparations, selling house, establishing new domicile.
April: local newspaper highlights us on the front page! See article here.
May: We start our new life, boarding the ship on April 20 in Cartagena, Colombia
June: First month on board
July: Traveling up west coast of the U.S.
August: Alaska!
September: Japan!
October: Taiwan
November: Philippines
December: South Pacific

Click to see the interactive map

What a year! And we are loving it more every day and every port.

Exploring Bora Bora Above and Below

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 20:22:00 +0000

French Polynesia. If you're like me, those words evoke images of paradise, white sand beaches with gracefully curved palm trees, the proverbial deserted islands. Lush green jungle mountains Lazy days on the beach drinking from a coconut shell with a little umbrella. And, the epicenter of French Polynesia is Bora Bora. We signed up for a 4 wheel drive tour to drive around the island and up into the mountains. Stunning views!

The next day we relaxed on board, resting up to go diving! We went out on a boat operated by Bora Divers

Check out our South Pacific Photo album for more images.

American Samoa - Pago Pago, and Tisa's Barefoot Bar

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 21:14:00 +0000

My Dad had fond memories of Pago Pago during his time in the Navy and he pronounce it Paygo Paygo. I learned now that it is properly pronounced Pahngo Pahngo. It sounds weird, but I am determined to adjust. We had to cross the International Date Line to get here. Instead of a missing day like we had when crossing east to west, this time we had 2 Mondays because we crossed west to east. When putting something on our calendar for Monday Dec 15, we had to put in the title whether it was the first Monday or the second Monday! Our shipmate friend, Randy Cassingham said, if we're going to get 2 of one day, why does it have to be a Monday! 🤣

We were greeted at the dock by enthusiastic dancers and even Miss American Samoa!

There is no doubt that this is a South Pacific tropical paradise of an island, but it also is the United States. I could live here! (But, I'd rather live where I do 😊) I spoke with one shipmate that got some testing done at the local hospital and the cost was covered by Medicare.

Since we had just produced our recent YouTube show, we felt we deserved some tourist time and were ready to play in this port. We previously signed up for a group event at a place called Tisa's Barefoot Bar. According to the website, Tisa's is World Famous!! Well, it has certainly earned a famous spot in my world memories. We spent the afternoon snorkeling on their beach, and the evening eating the most delicious food prepared in a traditional method.

What a gorgeous place! It was equally pretty underwater. We didn't need to go far at all to see a drop off and canyon with large schools of tropical fish.

The food was cooked in a traditional method. They build a fire, then pile it with rocks, add the food wrapped in aluminum foil and covered with banana leaves, then Taro leaves. It cooked all afternoon then, as soon as it came out of the fire/oven we ate. The tenderest ribs ever. And, you haven't lived till you've eaten a papaya that has been cooked this way! It's called an Umu feast.

Here's our shipmate, Viv, helping to build the oven.

A view during our bus ride to Tisa's

After a full day of snorkeling, sightseeing, food, friends, and pina coladas - we caught a taxi back home.

Samoa and Geeks on Tour

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 20:32:00 +0000

We were docked in Apia, Samoa for 3 days but we didn't even get off the ship 😜 Port days where we have no tourist stuff planned are the only time we get to catch up on our work! Sea days have so many shipboard activities planned that it's hard to get anything else done. This is our life, and we are learning to adjust to the fact that we won't see everything, we have other stuff we want to do besides being tourists. We call it 'work' but we actually enjoy doing our Geeks on Tour stuff, so we make time for it.

To create a YouTube 'Studio" Jim uses magnets to hang a green screen from the ceiling. Then he sets up an extension to his desk so I can sit beside him and do my part. Other than the work to set it up and tear it down, this works great.

While we were in Apia, we did our Geeks on Tour YouTube show, Episode 313 of What Does this Button Do? Our topic was Google Photos 2025 Updates. We even did it live! As we've been sailing east, our time zone is not that much different from the US. I really like doing our show at 2pm - I've gotten hardwired to be ready at that hour - but if I upped it just a few hours to 11am, that made it 5pm on the east coast. Very doable. It was a great show, if I do say so myself. Not even one hiccup with our Internet connections. There are some jaw-dropping new features in Google Photos - my favorite is "Help me Edit" and I came up with some practical examples that do a great job of showing off the feature. If you don't want to watch the whole show, just click this link to take you straight to what I think is the very best part.

Clicking 'Play" on this video will take you straight to my favorite part. You can always scroll back to the beginning and watch the whole thing.

Diving in Fiji

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sat, 06 Dec 2025 22:53:00 +0000

We're in the south Pacific. Some of the best diving in the world. We've done a lot of diving around the world and when people ask me "Where was your favorite?" I respond - Fiji. We were there in 2006. Me, Jim and Mom spent 10 days there on the Nai'a liveaboard dive boat and it was spectacular and fun!

See our blog posts from 2006. I saved them in .pdf format to preserve the photos.
(Here are the original blog posts: We have to go back to Fiji and Part 1-Diving in Fiji and Part 2 - Diving in Fiji)

This time we joined a group for diving in the Namena Marine Reserve while the ship was anchored in Savusavu. It was a long boat ride to 2 very nice dives. One was called 'chimneys' because of the unusual formation of 2 coral heads sticking straight up and the other was Grand Central Station. I'll remember it more clearly as Grand Canyon for the dramatic walls. It was great, but it didn't live up to my memory. The comparison really isn't fair since, in 2006 we were on a liveaboard for 10 days, making at least 30 dives all over the Fiji area. Still, I figure I'm sure a spoiled diver when I go to a protected dive site in Fiji and come up saying ... "That was nice." 😜

Here's Jim's video:

Ziplining?! Really? At your age?

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Fri, 05 Dec 2025 01:54:00 +0000

Believe it or not, that's what we did one day in Fiji. We went Ziplining. And, not just one zipline. This operation had set up 16 lines. You hike up to the first platform, get hooked up to the line and goooooooo. Then you walk up some stairs, climb another path to another platform, get hooked up to the line and goooo. It was a gorgeous day, and the views were magnificent. We kept hiking up to the next platform for 6 lines I think it was, then the trail headed down with 10 platform stops and ziplines in between. See Zip-Fiji.com for more details.

There were some techniques to learn. For the first few lines, I would spin around till I was headed backwards to the landing platform. I finally asked why that was and they told me that my gloved hand need to hang on to the line behind my head rather than in front. Notice Jim in the photo above vs my photo. That would keep me flying straight. There was also a technique of just kind of falling off the platform or pushing off, and of course, there is the obligatory shouting of "Bula!" as you fly away! By the time we were on line 13 or 14, we pretty much got it down! It was SOO fun.

Bula! Jim is a happy boy!

It was extra fun because we were there with a group of friends from the ship.

Somewhere in the middle of the day of ziplining, we took a detour and visited a cave. It was magical. A tour of that cave alone would have been a memorable day.

Fiji Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 02 Dec 2025 05:41:00 +0000

We've been in Fiji once before - 2006 on a liveaboard dive boat. More on diving later. This time we're here on the Villa Vie Odyssey, our floating home, and we bounced around the islands for 2 weeks, making 6 stops.

Suva

In Suva, we joined some Odyssean friends, Eve, Carolyn and Andrew, for happy hour at the Grand Pacific Hotel. It was a short taxi ride away from the ship. It was a beautiful evening.

We also visited the American Embassy to get a document notarized and found a lot of our fellow Odysseans already there trying to get new passports with more Visa pages. Yes, it's a thing! In this lifestyle we visit so many countries - 20 so far this year - that the pages in your passport get filled up! If you have no blank pages, your Passport is no good. Our passports were only a year old, but it could get full before another year passes, so we need to pay attention. The big problem is, in order to get a new passport you normally have to surrender your current one. We can't do that. So we are blazing new trails with the procedures of our Dept. of State. Based on what these trailblazers are learning, we will attempt to get new passports when we are in Sydney next February, and we will get the new 52 page booklets rather than our current 25 or so.

A Tropical Embassy!

Lautoka

We didn't make any particular plans in Lautoka. We stayed on the ship and did computer work. But we did take a walk from the ship along the waterfront and found a delightful hotel bar for a drink under the palm trees.

It's always such a delight to come back home.

Meanwhile, back at the ship, we had a "Speaker's Corner" about staying safe. Some information was about keeping your phone safe and who to contact if you get in trouble. Other information was about self-defense. Our friend, Donna, is trained in the street fighting martial art called Krav Maga, and Silja is a black-belt in Karate. You can see the video recording here: Speakers Corner: Self Awareness - a panel discussion. Regardless of the topic, you can always count on Donna's husband, Wayne, to inject some humor 🤣

Wayne is ready for his wife, Donna, to demonstrate self-defense techniques!

We also had dinner with new friends, Elma and Robert. When we learned that they lived in an RV for 14 years ... in Europe! ... We just had to talk more. So we planned to have dinner in the "Thistle" which is the sit down restaurant on board. We learned that those years were spent working, going from hospital to hospital teaching staff how to operate new radiology equipment. Robert is a radiology imaging specialist and Elma was certified in NeoNatal Intensive care. 14 years! Living in hospital parking lots. But that's not all. They are both of Dutch heritage, but lived in Venezuela, South Africa, and call Paris 'home.' I lost count of the number of languages they speak.

Oh! The People we Meet!

Diving World War II Wrecks

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 23:12:00 +0000

There was a lot of activity in these here parts during WWII. We dove some wrecks near Honiara in the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal) and in Vanuatu - the largest US base outside of Pearl Harbor. I asked Gemini to tell me all about the major battles of the war and the significance of the particular dive sites we saw. Here's the results - it's well worth the read: Diving into History

Here's a map of where we dove:

Solomon Islands

Guadalcanal is the name of the island that saw heavy fighting during WWII. Our ship docked in Honiara, the capital city of the Solomon islands and we booked 1 day of diving, 2 dives, with Emperor Divers. It was a long, bumpy drive to the first dive, then even more to the second. We generally prefer reefs to wrecks, but with so much history here, it's cool to dive the wrecks.

The town of Honiara had lots of markets

Roadside stands further out in the country

the final stretch of the drive to the beach where we dove the Hirokawa Maru wreck.

Vanuatu

Vanuatu was not directly involved in any battles but it supplied much of the personnel and equipment to the rest of the South Pacific. The US military base in Vanuatu was second only to Pearl Harbor in size! The wreck we dove, the SS Coolidge, was an American ship with a very sad story. The sinking of the SS President Coolidge is one of the most dramatic "friendly fire" incidents of the war.
The captain had been told to wait outside the harbor for an escort but, due to security, he could not be told why - the the US Navy had heavily mined the channel to stop Japanese submarines from entering. The captain waited a while, but Fear of attack by the Japanese made him press forward before the escort arrived. The ship was blown up by 2 of the mines, but the captain boldly sailed the ship closer to shore and all the soldier/passengers and all the crew were able to reach safety on shore. There were just 2 deaths amongst the over 5,000 souls on board - the man in the engine room who took a direct hit and one soldier who went back to rescue others, then was caught himself.

It's an impressive dive because it is such a large ship.

Diving the SS Coolidge with Allan Power Dive Tours. They own this property right at the beach dive for the wreck. Nice operation.

If you think the Coolidge story is interesting, wait till you hear about our second dive on Vanuatu! It's called Million Dollar Point. At the end of WWII, the US Military had accumulated tons of of surplus equipment : jeeps, trucks, bulldozers, cranes, and supplies. They offered to sell it all to the French and British colonial authorities for pennies on the dollar.

The local powers, however, were stubborn. They figured they could wait for the Americans to leave and take everything for free. The US military—rather than leave the equipment behind or deal with the logistical nightmare of shipping it back—decided to simply dump it all into the sea over several days in 1945. They used bulldozers to shove it all down a pier and into the ocean, they drove the bulldozers off the pier by putting a brick on the gas pedal, then they blew up the pier! 80 years lalter, it makes for a fascinating dive site.

Papua New Guinea and shool kids

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 23:12:00 +0000

Where in the world is Papua New Guinea - aka PNG?

From Wikipedia:

Papua New Guinea is an island country that lies in the south-western Pacific. It includes the eastern half of New Guinea and many small offshore islands. Its neighbours include Indonesia to the west, Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the south-east.

The territory of Papua New Guinea was split in the 1880s between German New Guinea in the north and the British Territory of Papua in the south, the latter of which was ceded to Australia in 1902. All of present-day Papua New Guinea came under Australian control following World War I, although it remained two distinct territories. The nation was the site of fierce fighting during the New Guinea campaign of World War II, following which the two territories were united in 1949. Papua New Guinea became an independent Commonwealth realm in 1975. Representing the King is a Governor-General. Politics takes place within a Westminster system, with the government led by a Prime Minister. Members of the national parliament also serve as provincial leaders.

Papua New Guinea is a developing economy where nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers living relatively independently of the cash economy.

We took a bus tour from our dockage in Alotau, along a very bumpy road to East Cape Wharf.

The tour startted just up the hill from the ship - with a tourist photo opp.

We happened to be visiting during their 50 year anniversary of Independence.

We saw no evidence of infrastructure in the countryside where people lived. No electricity, no water, or sewer. Yet people all seemed genuinely happy. The highlight of our day was a visit to a school. They prepared for our visit with a spread of local foods. For music, they played american tunes, including the country/western hit "Achy Breaky Heart." I just had to start dancing the Electric Slide and, to my delight, several of our Odysseans joined in as well as many of the kids!

Australia Dancing and Diving

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 09:03:00 +0000

One day that we were in Cairns, Australia happened to be my birthday. What a treat!

Cruise Port at Cairns, Australia

On board the ship we have a line-dancing group. They meet and dance every day when we are at sea. They learn new dances, and practice old ones. The teacher is Kathie and she contacted a line-dancing group in Cairns to see if we could have a joint session.

Here's what happened

Kathie learned when the Cairns line-dancing group meets and where - turns out they dance at Hemmingway's Brewery which just so happens to be right at the cruise ship port!

Kathie and the Australian dance group leader scheduled that location for a day that the Odyssey would be in port. For more than 2 hours, both Kathie and the Cairns group leader had us all doing line-dances to all sorts of songs. One of them is "Nutbush City Limits" by Tina Turner. I don't quite understand how, but that song is the backdrop for a simple exercise/dance that most everyone in Australia knows how to do. They learn it in grade school - The Nutbush!

The line-dancing group on the Odyssey learned the Nutbush and was prepared to dance it with the Australian dancers while in Cairns. It was GREAT! Then we also learned a couple new (to us) dances and performed them all together. What Fun! I just can't imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than dancing ... in Australia ... doing an Australian dance ... with a group of Australians. I'm on the other side of the planet from my normal home and I'm having a fantastic time!

Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

The next day we had booked a full day of diving on the Great Barrier Reef. We dove on the GBR once before in 2019 and, due to bad weather, it wasn't great. We had low expectations therefore and they were definitely exceeded. Our dive buddy friends from the ship, Wayne and Donna, were also on board for the day and we had a great time.

Wayne and Donna leading the way with their creative way of transporting their dive gear.

Lots of life this time

Happy Divers

Going home after a great day of diving!

He stole the show

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Sun, 09 Nov 2025 08:52:00 +0000

More than 40 of our Villa Vie Odyssey residents worked over the last 3 months to produce a play on board.

The cast poses for a group photo (many more participated in support roles)

It all came together on November 7 and it was fantastic. A 2+ hour, nearly professional quality, production with 16 scenes. The female lead, Maggie, played by Sherrine, was in every scene and she did a wonderful job. Her expressions of emotion were easily seen and heard even in the back row. And, speaking of the back row ... it sure looked like the entire ship turned out to watch. The 'Neptune' theatre was packed for the one night performance on Nov 7. Sherrine, her co-star JJ played by Eric, and many other cast members acted, sang, and danced!! We were all exquisitely entertained!
It was Cherie Ohlsson's (an Odyssey resident) dream to produce a play about Maggie and JJ who are legends in the area of Colorado where Cherie grew up. She was determined, and she infected everyone with her enthusiasm. She needed stage sets but there was no way to construct actual sets. Jim, John, Paul and others put their heads, dollars, and technology together to create a rear projection system with digital backdrops, music, and lighting to support the production. Jim saw this as an opportunity to learn and use a new software system (to him) called QLabs.

Jim working his tech magic for the play - kind of like the Wizard of Oz!

This is where he sets up cues that will play music and change backdrops just by clicking a button. He spent hours and hours in our cabin watching YouTube videos to learn the system. He was hooked. Others took on the task of lighting. I heard there were over 100 'cues' for lighting alone. Cherie exclaimed that all she had to do was describe her vision and, like magic, people made it happen.
But, Jim also had an acting part! I think he was chosen because of his mustache! It fit the part of the saloon owner so well. This was a speaking part AND singing AND dancing!

Jim getting into his role while waiting for the play to begin

Jim poses with his dance partner, Lori Rae

Unfortunately, because of licensing for the screenplay, we were unable to record any of the play itself. You'll have to take my word for it that the entire production was simply wonderful, and Jim was a real hit!

Cast, and some of the supporting crew. Cherie (the director) in the blue dress kneeling in front.

Sick, again 🤧The Great October Rest & Reboot

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 06:36:00 +0000

Well, October certainly had a different plan for me than I had for it! You know how sometimes life throws you a curveball, and it turns out to be exactly what you needed? That’s my story this month. Instead of an idyllic month of sailing and diving, I was sick in bed with colds much of the month.

Cold #1

I had a cold the second week of October. I blamed the stress of planning (and then un-planning) the trip to Dublin. Also, living on a cruise ship is like living in a giant petri dish—it only takes a few people to get a cold for it to run through everyone. It was mild, lasting 3 or 4 days and I felt fine to go diving in Palau. (it was great, see previous post)

After Palau our destination was Bitung, Indonesia. We were there 2 years ago and it's where my mom would go diving with Thalassa. At that time we weren't able to dive with them, but we did spend one night. So this time we planned to stay and dive there.

Cold #2

We packed our gear and headed off the ship, but I had sniffles. By the time we got to the resort I was feeling really bad. Dinner? Nope. Diving? Definitely not. I essentially became a professional sleeper for a full day while Jim went off and had three incredible dives with our new friends Julie and Stephanie. Twice in one month! What gives, immune system?!

A Promise Kept

The good news is that Jim stayed healthy thru it all and the best news for me was we got to visit Mom's tree. Jim had 3 great dives with our 2 new friends Julie and Stephanie. When they got back I had Jim take a little pilgrimage with me. Despite feeling rotten, I managed to get up and walk with Jim to the resort, now called Grand Luley (formerly Santika/Thalassa). And there it was: Mom’s best-tree-in-the-world! Five years after getting her ashes, I finally got to leave some at the base of that majestic tree—a vow fulfilled. It had been hit by lightning (I’m choosing to believe that happened the moment Mom passed), but it’s still standing tall. As Jim wisely pointed out, Mom’s ashes will just help it grow back stronger and more beautiful! 🥰

Mom's Video of "Her Favorite Tree of the World" taken in 2005 At Thalasa, Santika, Manado

Forced Relaxation: The Silver Lining

When we got back to the ship I felt a little better but still not good. I stayed in bed all day again and found some movies on the TV to watch. They were actually very good - what a treat! A documentary about the music group The Zombies (Time of the Season.) Amazing how they filled venues all over the world but didn't make enough money to feed their families. They worked menial jobs when they got back home. Thru it all they kept positive attitudes and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 50 years after their hit song "Time of the Season" was #1. The next movie "The Penguin Lessons" was based on a true story of an English teacher in Argentina and a penguin. Heartwarming, inspirational, funny, enraging - all at once. I still stayed in bed the next day as well and found one more movie to watch - not quite as good but still interesting about 3 kids who are on a mission to take a cancer patient to her mountain in New Zealand - Mt. Taranaki.

Hard Reset

It sucked to be sick so much this month ... BUT ... when I finally 'came to' it was like I had a whole new outlook. My perspective went thru a reboot. All the mental clutter—the email juggling, the tutorial video planning, the endless to-do list—had been wiped away. I was starting with a clean slate and a sudden burst of clarity. I decided to do some serious updating to the website and the blog. I finally ditched that old RV-at-the-Tetons banner for something cruise-related—it's about time!

Banner for our personal travel blog: GeeksOnTour.Blogspot.com

I spent many guilt-free hours on our photo album site. Check it out here. I made it using Google Sites - completely free - and it is really SO easy. This is something I need to teach! Here's the one video I already made (and I watched it myself before tackling the updates!)
An email came in just before I got sick, asking if we would be a speaker for their online event called "DIY Trip Summit." We get lots of emails asking us for collaborations and I just ignore them, but this one seemed different. I still mostly ignored it, but I didn't delete it. After my mental reboot, I decided I wanted to follow thru on this one. They want us to submit a 20 minute video on Smartphone Photography Basics ... and maybe to offer a freebie digital product as a lead for people to sign up for our e-newsletter. It could be a good source of new email subscribers for us. Or it could be nothing - but still it makes me motivated to create. I like that, and I'm going for it. Actually, it was their request for a 'headshot' that inspired me to change the banner on our blog. I decided to use one of those photos where someone posed us at the Keyhole in Boracay ...

I'm having fun!

Now we're in Sorong, Indonesia which is known as the gateway to Rajah Ampat, generally regarded as the best diving in the world ... and we're not going 😮. But, I'm getting healthy (I saw the doctor when we got back to the ship and got some drugs (prednisone) - determined to get back to 100% - we are embracing a new mindset: committed to overcoming our FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) in order to truly relax and live this life. It’s a work in progress!

I’m feeling better, lighter, and ready to go. I even woke up feeling so good this morning that I made it to the 8 AM stretch class!

Did I tell you? I’m having fun!

Yap and Palau - Diving!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Guld) — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 07:07:00 +0000

Those are island names right out of in-your-dreams dive destinations! We've known of these places, and known fellow divers who have visited (my mom for one!) for many years.

Yap

Yap is known as the place to go if you want to see manta rays. It is also famous for it's stone money - wheel-shaped rocks that can be 2 to 12 feet across, that are actually used to store a family's wealth.

Jim was able to get a last minute dive trip in while we were in Yap and he made this video

Palau

Palau is known for it's Rock Islands. They are mushroom shaped bumps above the water, sprinkling the area. Great for kayaking. Also some famous dive sites like Blue Corner, known for it's ripping current where lots of sharks and other critters fly by. The best way to see them is by using a reef hook. You find a solid place in the reef to hook into and attach the other end of the line to your gear. Then you put a little air in your BC so you raise up off the reef and let the current take you. Of course, it will only take you as far as your hook line allows, you feel like you're flying. At this point you can relax and watch the show go by. So cool.

Palau was a 'tender' port, meaning our ship was anchored and we took shuttle boats (tenders) to and from

What a gorgeous day and gorgeous scenery

Me and Donna, leading our group 😊

Geeks on Tour Blog

Western Australia, Sailing races, Quokkas, and beer

Marsupials

New Zealand, abbreviated

Friends and Family

Dunedin Train Ride

Hang on, rough seas

Multiple days at sea - time to study

Me:

Gemini:

1. Is it a wallet?

2. Is it a token in my MetaMask?

3. Do I have keys to it?

4. Is it my Web3 Identity?

Security: Hacking vs. Spoofing

Me:

Gemini:

The "Safety Net" Rules

A Warning for the "Teacher" in You

Valentine's day

Back to Australia, Prescriptions and Line Dancing!

Tonga and Vanuatu

Next - Vanuatu

Excellent Online Event: DIY Trip Summit

We are not alone

We Teach, We Learn

A Master Class in Organization

Win-Win-Win

A work of art? No, a doorway in Rangiroa

​The Anatomy of an Atoll

Papeete Tahiti

Fakarava Diving

2025 Full Year Capsule

Exploring Bora Bora Above and Below

American Samoa - Pago Pago, and Tisa's Barefoot Bar

Samoa and Geeks on Tour

Diving in Fiji

Ziplining?! Really? At your age?

Fiji Fun

Suva

Lautoka

Diving World War II Wrecks

Solomon Islands

Vanuatu

Papua New Guinea and shool kids

From Wikipedia:

Australia Dancing and Diving

Here's what happened

Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef

He stole the show

Sick, again 🤧The Great October Rest & Reboot

Cold #1

Cold #2

A Promise Kept

Forced Relaxation: The Silver Lining

Hard Reset

I'm having fun!

Yap and Palau - Diving!

Yap

Palau

The Anatomy of an Atoll