It’s been a long day; we got up early so we would be ready to leave the hotel at 8:30. We timed it so we’d be at the hotel restaurant just as they opened for breakfast – and so did the other 90 people in our group!

The flight to Broome was long but mostly boring. Our course took us over Alice Springs, which was receiving much-needed rain from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Ilsa. The captain told us to expect turbulence but there wasn’t any – I didn’t mind being disappointed on that front!

The Caledonian Sky greeted us with drinks and food; and then there were more drinks and more food later in the evening. This could be dangerous.

We’re on our way to the Burrup Peninsula, arriving Monday morning (Rowley Shoals, our first planned snorkeling spot, took a direct hit from Ilsa, so we’re skipping it).

Connectivity aboard ship is not very good, so I may not be able to post very often. I see another retro-blog in my future.

I’m writing this post from the Sydney Domestic Airport – “Domestic” is a key word because it meant we could bring an unlimited amount of liquids and gels through security; even water bottles were OK!

I give Qantas and Criterion Travel a lot of credit for making the checkin process easy and quick for a large group – it was much easier than I’d expected.

I’m also very happy that we’re taking the flight we’d originally expected to take – a few days ago, the tour managers were warning us that Tropical Cyclone Ilsa was likely to disrupt our trip; they spent a lot of time looking for alternatives, but I’m sure they’re happy that that effort wasn’t necessary.

We will board the Caledonian Sky in Broome and sail to Perth; our first snorkeling stop has been canceled because of the cyclone, but they expect everything else to go according to plan. We hope.

Totality is five days and two hours away.