Another early start. We got picked up at our hotel at 7:15 to take us to the bay. The vehicle – a full on party bus with flashing LED lights – did not match the energy of the morning.

The drive was just over 3 hours. We all zoned out and it went quickly. The drivers have to take a “mandatory break” which Nick and I are convinced is just a ploy to get tourists through the rest stop that is selling all sorts of stuff. Today’s was all about pearl farming and they had multiple tables set up with women pulling pearls out of oysters. Millie somehow got it in her head that she needed a pearl, so we spent the second 10 minutes of the stop listening to her cry “I want a pearrrrllll”. We’ve added it to the very long birthday / Christmas list.

We arrived at the dock and took a little boat to our bigger boat.

As we boarded and were guided to the big buffet on the dining floor, Nick said exactly what I was thinking: “this is so Triangle of Sadness”. We ate our buffet brunch and then checked into our room.

The cruise had an hour by hour schedule of activities but we loved our room and balcony so much we decided to jout hang out and enjoy the scenery. We didn’t regret skipping the organized activities for one moment.

We cruised around for the afternoon. Little boats kept coming up to our big one trying to sell snacks and drinks. I love the hustle.

At 5pm we headed upstairs for happy hour. After being so sick for so long this was my first drink in a while and it tasted extra sweet. We watched the sun go down. Millie whined for dinner but held herself on the right side of the meltdown zone. note the mood in the below photo.

Dinner on the boat was okay. Millie ate bread only. After dinner we participated in “squid fishing” off the end of the boat. I was convinced it was a scam but then an Aussie boy next to us caught a squid, so joke’s on me. We tried for about 20 minutes with no luck.

We’re having a very late night for Millie, especially after two early mornings, so I predict we’ll be skipping the early morning scheduled activities as well. I’m happy to have a non-participatory family who values sleep above all else.