A Bucket List Adventure We Wanted to Tick Off Before Turning 75

By Jonelle Goss

How It All Began

In July 2025, my sister Cherry called me from New Zealand to wish me a happy birthday and tell me about their amazing family boat trip in Indonesia. Cherry’s mother-in-law, Faith Taylor, had booked Katharina for her family’s annual holiday, which included her children, their partners, and grandchildren.

Faith was a member of several conservation groups in New Zealand and had previously travelled on Katharina after meeting Michael Travers, a SeaTrek Sales and Marketing representative, at a luncheon in Wellington, New Zealand.

Knowing that we loved boating, snorkelling, and the outdoors, Cherry emphasised that the two bucket-list adventures we simply had to do were to sail on Katharina in Indonesia with SeaTrek and travel to Antarctica.

We had recently semi-retired and wanted to tick off our bucket-list adventures before turning 75.

Into Tropical Indonesia

For the past 20 years, Cherry and her husband, Brent, had enjoyed amazing and unique holidays to destinations all over the world. I could understand her wanting to escape New Zealand’s cold July winter and head to a warm tropical country. But for us, having spent the past 30 years living in Airlie Beach, North Queensland, the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef and surrounded by 74 tropical islands, all with fringing reefs, abundant sea life, and white sandy beaches, the lure of sailing in Indonesia was not so great.

For the past two years, the east coast of Australia had experienced extended periods of wind and rain. Combined with large tidal ranges and runoff from mainland rivers, this meant the water clarity was often not great.

After what seemed like a never-ending wet season, and with strong winds and rain preventing us from getting out to the Great Barrier Reef, the thought of warm, clear water became increasingly enticing.

In November 2025, we started liaising with Michael. We were impressed by his quick responses and his understanding that, yes, this was an expensive tour, particularly as it was priced in US dollars. Michael lives in New Zealand, where the exchange rate makes the trip considerably more expensive for New Zealanders than for Australians.

As with anything you do in life, you tend to get what you pay for. Having recently completed a tour of China, the last thing we wanted was to be surrounded by crowds and ushered from one attraction to another on an assembly line.

Securing Katharina and the Beginning of Our Dream Trip

Michael let me know the dates Katharina was available with no bookings, but unfortunately, the cost of holding the whole boat was well beyond our budget. Michael suggested that we book one cabin and put a call out to our friends.

He agreed to hold the boat for us while we saw how many cabins we could fill. By December 2025, we had filled four of the six cabins, with deposits paid by friends from Airlie Beach and Cairns whom we had previously travelled with to both Japan and Africa.

In March 2026, we put out a call to friends of friends, and Brett and Jo from Melbourne and Vicki from Sydney joined our group of Queensland travellers. This meant we could secure Katharina for ourselves, which was a dream outcome for us.

Several weeks before departure, Tinae from SeaTrek contacted us all to introduce herself as our tour leader and share important information about our upcoming adventure.

Some of us met at Denpasar Airport for the first time, and new friendships began. For those who do not want to spend any time in Bali, you can easily fly to Denpasar the day before, stay overnight at the Novotel Airport Hotel, which is only a four-minute walk from the terminal, and fly to Labuan Bajo the next morning.

The SeaTrek crew was waiting for us when we collected our baggage at 1:30 pm. We were then transported in four vehicles to Labuan Bajo Port, where we boarded Katharina.

Coral Restoration and Snorkelling at Pulau Hatamin

We were on the boat and underway by 2:30 pm, and we began our first activity, coral restoration and snorkelling, at Pulau Hatamin in Komodo National Park with the Coral Guardian conservation team. The tender took us to the beach on Pulau Hatamin, where we started tying small pieces of fast-growing staghorn coral onto pre-prepared metal frames before jumping into the water to position them.

Being a bit of a cynic, I wasn’t expecting to see much, as I had seen plenty of struggling coral growth tanks in the past. But WOW! After only five years of coral restoration, a vibrant living reef full of marine life had developed. If only we could do something similar in the Whitsundays in Australia, especially after Cyclone Debbie destroyed so much of our reef in 2017.

Once Tinae was confident that we weren’t going to panic, damage any coral, or have trouble getting back to the tender if needed, she started to relax and could spend time doing what she was brilliant at: finding marine life that we would never have seen ourselves.

We quickly learnt to stay within earshot. Tinae would call out, “Turtle! Cuttlefish! Shark! Crocodile flatfish! Moray eel! Nudibranch!” Yes, nudibranchs, those tiny, colourful sea slugs. Who would have known these creatures even existed? Even when pointed out to us, their beauty was often almost invisible to our eyes. Some were no bigger than a small finger and sat on the ocean floor or among the coral.

Tinae would dive down 2 to 5 metres, set up her camera and GoPro, and take brilliant images of these tiny creatures, which she shared with us every evening during her briefings. Tinae, our guide, opened up a whole new underwater world to us, for which we are all grateful.

Amazing Adventure Above and Below the Water

Tinae curated an amazing adventure where her passion for anything underwater was infectious. Her photos and videos were exceptional, and for those of us who spent most of our time on the surface, they allowed us to see the coral and marine life up close. Note to self: I need to learn how to snorkel deeper!

Every day we had at least two activities, including walks to lakes followed by paddleboarding and kayaking, visits to local villages, and watching the boatbuilding of traditional pinisi wooden boats seen throughout the islands. This was certainly a highlight for the boys, some of whom were engineers and others sailors.

We all enjoyed the drift snorkelling, returning several times to one particular reef. We would cruise over the coral with the current running at 2 to 3 knots, be picked up at the end by the tender, then head back upstream to do it all again. We even had a competition to see who could spot the most turtles on a single run.

Obviously, the whale sharks and Komodo dragons were always among the main highlights. But for me, simply seeing marine life in its natural environment, both in and out of the national parks, without the crowds or restrictions normally imposed by many tour operators, was the real highlight.

Travelling with friends and meeting new friends kept the conversations flowing, and each day brought another opportunity to share experiences, stories, and plenty of laughs.

Life Aboard Katharina

Getting back on the boat after each activity to see what amazing fresh juice Frans, our barman, had conjured up was also a daily delight.

Being able to learn about Indonesian culture by visiting and meeting local people away from the usual tourist routes was greatly appreciated. We were often the only group on an island beach or at a lake in a volcanic crater, and every day brought a new snorkelling destination.

What amazed us all was the variety of marine life within a relatively small area of reef, far exceeding anything we had seen on the Great Barrier Reef. There were lobsters, lionfish, trumpetfish, schools of trevally, turtles, sharks, moray eels, and such a wide variety of brightly coloured clownfish and anemones, all living in pristine, crystal-clear, warm 26-degree water. Some days, the water was so clear that you felt as though you were swimming in a fishbowl.

All the crew on Katharina were relaxed, competent, helpful, and entertaining, providing us with many nights of sing-along and dancing.

A Journey Worth Repeating

Yes, Indonesia is populated, the oceans around any community can be full of plastic, and the streets can be crazy. But here is a trip that takes you off the beaten track and a tour company that is genuinely trying to help change the culture of the next generation. They visit schools, educate local communities about the importance of protecting whale sharks and reefs, and provide reef-safe products such as sunscreen, shampoo, and conditioner.

Here is a tour company that looks after local people, is committed to employing Indonesians, and continued to pay and retain its staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They support coral restoration projects and invite ‘Bule’, foreign visitors, to experience and learn about this amazing country.

If you haven’t started your bucket list, start it now. Life is short.

This is a trip we would certainly repeat and one that deserves to be added to everyone’s bucket list.