Monday 27 July 2015

Several boats stopped at a night accessible anchorage 5 miles south of Debut wee hours yesterday. Coming in slightly later wee we stopped a mile south of that due unruly control situation. After subduing spinnaker and not wanting to intrude on subsequent parade to final destination, mellowed out with breakfast then sailed in late morning behind the pack. Rest of day was spent getting boat sorted while awaiting quarantine and immigration. Customs, due sometime today, will precede a ride into Tual, the big town about 15 Km north, (Debut is only a fishing village, but with better anchorage) for ATM, fresh market, cafe and sundry mischief.

All boats were given an Indonesian phone number with sim. If the area weren't oversubscribed we could possibly use it, but instructions to activate and add time are printed in Indonesian. No worries as we can easily translate with internet.. oh, right. Upshot is that the grid remains a distant memory. HF still available through Brunei and Jakarta, but service is spotty even post gloaming.

With apologies to Ben Franklin (being dead, he probably won't mind), early to bed and late to rise didn't affect our wealth or wisdom, but we certainly feel better. Not good enough to do any work around the boat, mind you, but feeling good is its own reward. Banana pancakes, postponed from Sunday, also helped and being in physical contact with first solid ground since 9th might not suck either.

Jack