Had breakfast beside the rice paddy then jean and I headed out to see if we could find somewhere better to stay. I started getting hassled by a guy selling a newspaper so Jean ran up a driveway to get away. And amazingly behind the driveway were some wonderful bungalows with beautiful gardens and a pool. We managed to find a very nice room each and moved in. Went for a walk to Monkey Forest - hundreds of monkeys and temples and a beautiful river walk. A monkey tried to take Jean's drink bottle and she wouldn't let it so it jumped on her back - gave her an awful fright! In the evening we went to a show in a temple - 100 men chanting the background to a balinise story with balanise dancers. Then a man went into a trance and did some fire walking - very good night. Meridian, Wave Sweeper and Wind Chimes were also there and later at dinner we ran into Cilantro and Kristie!
DAY 165 - Sunday 4 October, Lovinga Beach, Bali
Tempted to stay another day as it is so peaceful in the bungalows - very busy street but peace and quiet behind it but we didn't want to get caught in the rain again so left after breakfast. Had a great run back - only had to ask directions once. Skirted around the volcano and down the mountain. A really great ride and back to Lovina Beach.
DAY 166 - Monday 5 October - Lovina Beach, Bali
A day of preparing for leaving - washing, fresh fruit & veg shopping at the local market and some meat shopping (not from the market!!!). Got the boat boy to bring us a couple of crates of beer and I found a dress and shirt to buy. Went to dinner with Jean and David and then ran into Kristie and Cilantro on the way back. They had just gotten back from Denpasar. Brian (Kristie) is waiting for a new autohelm from Raymarine and Cilantro will wait with them.
DAY 167 - Tuesday 6 October - Lovina Beach to at sea (night one)
Peter took the bike back and Cilantro bought over a little present for Jessie. We upanchored with Whistle at 2pm and headed for Rasse Island expecting to arrive early the next morning. As we left the wind got up and we had a great sail although the seas were really rough. We got up to 8.4 knots at one stage with two reefs in the main and the headsail half furled in! I went below to close the hatch and a wave hit us and I flew across the boat head first into the instrument panel - it hurt a lot but both the instrument panel and I survived!! During the night a big boat kept shining a spotlight on Whistle and us and we realised he was towing a great big barge - unlit. We prudently decided to let him pass so slowed down to let him go. As a result of our speedy passage we reached Rasse island at 2am instead of in daylight so we decided to keep going.
DAY 168 - Wednesday 7 October - at sea (night two)
We lost the wind about 2.30am and had to motor sail. The seas were flat and it was quite pleasant. There were lots of fish traps and boats around. I managed to read and make lunch - quite a pleasant day. The moon is full so visibility is quite good. Saw a big ship coming so changed course 30 degrees to starboard and passed him port to port. A big Indonesian fishing vessel also came along so I again changed course 30 degrees to do the same but when I looked through the binoculars I realised he had done the same so I quickly changed back 30 degrees to port and we passed starboard to starboard. It kept us quite busy through the night keeping an eye out for fishtraps and boats although it was probably more good luck than good management that we didn't hit any fishtraps!!!
DAY 169 - Thursday 8 October - at seat to Bowean Island
05°43.890S 112°40.139E
We arrived at Bowean Island at 9am. It is a beautiful island - really south sea stuff. We had lost Whistle through the night but they came in only half an hour behind us. Wavesweeper, Meridian, Wind Chimes and Brio all came in around 11.30. We anchored in 5m of water which is the shallowest we have been in for quite some time. We had a swim, read and slept for the rest of the day. Did some passage planning and sorted ourselves out with Whistle and then told the others what we were doing so they all thought it was a good plan.
Miles: 215 Total 4,101 nm
Day 170 - Friday 9 October - Bowean Island to at sea (night one)
Followed whistle out at 5.40am and the others followed us out. We must average 5 knots to get to the Kumai river by tomorrow afternoon. Seas were very sloppy. We motor sailed the first three hours or so while the others were happy to sail at less than 5 knots. Dave put his light jenniker like sail up and was doing well. We put our jenniker up and headed out on the best point of sail which took us 5 miles off course but we had a beautiful sail all day with the jenniker up and it was very comfortable. Pulled it down just before dark and motor sailed back towards our course which meant we had the seas at our backs which made the ride very comfortable. It was as bright as day out there as there were heaps of fishing boats all with huge rows of lights - we think they may be chasing squid. Peter saw another ship towing a huge unlit barge. Not a bad night.
This morning Sat 10th finds us heading towards Kumai in 11m of water which is very strange after all the deep water we have been in, We can see one sail behind us but cant see or hear any of the others. From here we head up the Kumai river which I suspect is going to get a whole lot shallower!!! Will let you know next time how that went.
Love to all.
Fair winds and calm seas
Dell and Peter
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