Last week we celebrated Wyatt's 6th birthday in a big bay near the large town of Maumere. I took a trip over the mountains there to Sikka village where I observed the Ikat weaver women working their magic. We did enjoy our time ashore there at the Sea World Resort, with flat calm water excellent for "pulling" on the surfboards behind the dinghy. Last Wednesday we were getting ready to go to the next anchorage which was supposed to be a highlight, and I ended up taking a scooter taxi into town. That was a galvanizing thrill for me to have the wind in my hair, and an unforgettable experience of many sights and sounds. The market in downtown Maumere has lots of nice produce, including sweet corn on the cob which was a delightful treat, but the ground inside is super lumpy and wet, which was difficult to keep from twisting an ankle when carrying 6 Trader Joe's grocery bags! Then I had to ride the scooter back carrying all of that, including a flat of 30 eggs! Luckily the scooter has a hook on one side to hang a bag, so I stuffed my backpack, held a bag on each knee, and prayed the driver could keep his balance! We survived, thankfully!

As soon as I arrived back to the boat, we shoved off for Maurole, where the Sail Indo Rally was supposed to meet up. It was really an inadequate anchorage, but we crept behind the breaking reef and spent the night w/ Uliad just behind us. When Allen took the boys and dogs to shore at sunset, about 50 kids descended onto the beach! One girl spoke decent English and they invited us to celebrate their Independence Day that Friday. We woke up to a smoky haze that smelled like we had a fire on the boat, so we hauled anchor and left by 7am. We wanted to get to Riung, where there were several small islands to anchor at with lovely beaches and hills to climb. That was my first swim, after scrubbing the grass skirt off of Love Song's hull, and it was heavenly. We only spent 24 hours there unfortunately in order to get to Komodo and then to Bali before our company, Calder Stratford and family, come to visit!

Arriving to Komodo we chose not to go to the S. end because of wind and current, as we were barely making 3 knots when we turned into the pass, and it meant motoring 5 hours farther. We had 2 nights there in the anchorage behind the headland of Galilawa Luat on the NE corner of Komodo. There were 2 French boats on the moorings and they left the next am so we picked one up for the 2nd night. Each night half a dozen Indo charter boats came in to anchor, then left early. We did hike the gorgeous hills, scouting dozens of deer and wild pigs. That made my Birthday! We got skunked on the dragons, seeing two giant cave holes perhaps where they live, but nobody was home (we stayed on the n. side in a giant bay w/ 2 mooring balls). Morgan was a bit disappointed, but all the other wildlife made up for it.

Morgan is going to describe what we saw...The First day we were in Komodo we went dragon searching,we did it two hours before sun set. But we did not see any thing. When we were on our way home dad went on shore and explored when he said "Boys come here" We got brave and walked two the place he standing. Where he was standing was a really I mean really!Trampled game trail. As we walked further down we found a patch of dirt stampeded with cat like foot prints ,we all wondered what it could be ,a minute later I sudgested "A monkey!" . The next day we sat on the cabin top with the binoculars and spoting scope scaning the near by hill side for any moving object we did get lucky and spot a buck working his way across the mountain.To be continued.****