Mount Bromo

On our first day at sea, we stopped at Probolinggo on the southern tip of Java, and took a long excursion to Bromo Tengger Semeru  National Park.  The Park contains a huge caldera from a volcano 150,000 years ago.  Within the caldera are several smaller and newer volcanoes including Mount Bromo which is still active.

First we took tenders to the port, and then a one hour bus ride up the ridge of the caldera.  After a lunch accompanied by native dancing, a caravan of forty five jeeps took us up the even steeper road to the top of the ridge and then down into the caldera.  From there we walked about a mile across the black sand to the base of Mount Bromo.  Then we climbed.  Gently at first, increasingly steeper, and finally, up a few hundred stairs.  We had seen the smoke from the volcano from far away.  On the top, the smoke was intense and the smell of sulfur was almost overpowering.  Lava was bubbling in the volcano which we could clearly hear - it sounded like the roar of the ocean.  And occasionally, and a bubble of bright orange lava would burst through the smoke.

Starting the climb (stairs in the background)

Approaching the stairs

A toast at the top

After hiking back down, we drove an hour in the jeeps and another hour on the bus to arrive back to our ship, the Jacques Cartier.  This section of Java could not have looked more different from Bali.  There was no traffic (except for our caravan of jeeps), and no overcrowding.  We were back in Moslem Indonesia, so there were no more Hindu temples at each house, but there were several beautiful mosques.  And we could really see the countryside: dense forests interspersed with farmland on the steep sides of the mountain - sometimes in terraces and sometimes in rows that climbed the mountain.  The road was so steep that the houses were built like those in San Francisco.  I enjoyed the scenic drive.

Clarification:  I am not on a large cruise ship with excursions.  This is an expedition cruise with about 150 passengers and an staff of fifteen naturalists.  Some of the naturalists are generalists in ecology, but most have a specialty such as fish or insects or geology or culture.  Their combined knowledge is impressive.  Each day, the team leads everyone (unless you choose to remain onboard pretty much alone) on a single expedition, often to a place that is not accessible to most tour groups.  The expedition to Mount Bromo was a twelve hour day.  We had a restful day at sea today, and have another twelve hour expedition planned for tomorrow.   Most of the rest of the stops will not be at ports, so we will use the zodiac boats to go ashore.  We were also issued snorkeling equipment today so I guess that is on the schedule, too.  As an expedition cruise, the itinerary can be altered as conditions change.