We arrived at Karimun Jawa in the early afternoon. We dropped anchor between the moorings of the fishing boats. The Harbour Master had already seen us coming in and called us on the radio. He wanted us to check in and bring Paperwork into his office. He was a very well-spoken man. He kind of sounded tiny. He explained where we can park our “rubber boats” to come and see him and explore the town. We parked where he said, and started wandering towards his building. A tall Indonesian guy came to help us finding the Harbour Master Office. He was the Harbour Master himself. He was very delighted that we found our way to his little Island. Suddenly, he looked upset. He explained that we missed the Sail to Karimun Jawa Rally and that the last two Boats had just left in the morning. He was sorry, that we missed out on the Dancing and Festivities. We told him that we are not part of the Rally and that we belong to a different one, which did not stop at his beautiful place. We stated that we were only here, because we heard that Karimun Jawa is a great place to be. And he smiled again. After we found out that we can’t get Diesel on this Island, and paperwork, we walked down the road of Karimun Jawa. This place was pure Muslim. We came past a Mosque in which you could see them pray in their traditional clothing. Opposite were the children, as well in their long white pants, white tunics and their little green muslim caps. It was lovely to watch. We arrived at a small restaurant, serving western food, like burgers, pasta, pizza and cordon bleu. The cordon bleu was great, but the portion was tiny. White people were the only patrons of this particular restaurant, while we were there. When we left, I still felt hungry. Since we are in Indonesia, I have learned, should I ever sail through Indo again, I will gut the inside of the boat and replace everything with food and boat parts. Don’t get me wrong, the food is great, but it does not stick to my body. I think, so far, I have lost half my weight! And I am permanently hungry…permanently…

Under Motor, we made our way out of the beautiful Bay of Bawean. We could not do much sailing. There was no Wind at all. The waves were about 0.5 to 0.8m high and felt like being cradled to sleep. During the day, you could see the fishermen in their little boats crossing your path. In front of you, behind you, port side and starboard side, where ever you looked you saw at least one Fishing Boat every five minutes. During the night, you could mainly see the Squid boats with their bright lights, raking the sea in a line, coming towards you. Occasionally you past a little Fishing Boat, just to keep the variety up. At some stages you could see up to 30 Boats coming in your direction. In the daylight these squid boats were anchored just where they were when the sun came up, and made it much easier for us to pick a course through. (Photo Cargoship at night in the far distance)

We arrived in Bawean Island in the afternoon. Althea and Jaga 2 were already anchored there as well. We asked Larry if there is the opportunity to restock with Diesel, but there wasn’t. However, every one of us was tired, so we stayed on the Boat and went to bed early. The next day we went ashore. We beached the Dinghy and went to the street to look around. There was a little Toko shop. Women were sitting with their children at the front and started giggling when they spotted us. Grant asked the shop lady if there is a taxi somewhere around. But there were no taxis on the Island. Suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere. He actually came out of the blue house opposite the shop. His English was decent and tried to help us out, by calling his friend with a car to take us around the Island. A young man in his twenties arrived on a Moped. We were chatting. From small-talk, the conversation suddenly changed to business. His name was Hassan, and he is the guy with the car. The question was: how much for how long. Grant negotiated him down to 10 AUD an hour for four hours. Hassan left on his Moped and came back with a red little car and a boombox as big as the booth. He gave Grant the car keys and jumped on the passenger seat next to him. Grant drove us around this stunning Island and stopped at a Beach Café after Hassan pointed it out. There was a kind of Adventure Park with a bicycle that you could ride over a wire from one tree to another, a Flying Fox and other things. At the moment, the Park attractions where closed for the Monsoon Storms. The Island had amazing beaches and bays. The villages were colourful and the people happy. The Island is 100% Muslim, but not the kind of Muslims we know from the middle eastern side of the World. We took Hassan for Lunch at a Restaurant, where you had to sit on the floor to eat. That was a novelty. We circumnavigated the Island in four hours. At the end, we gave Hassan 50 Bucks, 40 as said and 10 as a Tip. He was very pleasant to be with. We arrived at the Beach with our Dinghy and Larry and the lot just arrived. They were going for Dinner and asked us to join, but we had planned to leave anchorage to make our way to Karimun Jawa. At 3.30 p.m. we were heading out of the bay with an amazing Memory of Bawean in our Minds.

We, Miranda and us, left Lowina in the morning, leaving only a few Rally Boats behind. With no Wind, we motored the whole day through Submarine Exercise Grounds and Gas-Pipe-Stations until we came to Raas Island. We found our way through the Reef Maze and dropped Anchor in 7m. Curious Fisherman diverted their route to come past our Yachts in their tiny Canoes. During the night, the wind picked up and thunderstorms formed around us, making the Anchorage a bit dreadful. Still in the night, and no one could sleep, we decided to leave. I was glad we left, even so I would have loved to see the Island. This Island is known for its own cat breed the Raas Cat, a mix of Japanese Pixi Bob and cat, making the Raas Cat have a half sized Tail. We sailed day and night. Close to midnight, we slalomed through Gas Rigs, which made the Night exciting. Exciting enough to not made me fall asleep on the helm. I prefer my Nightshift to be occupied with dodging Things, otherwise I spent too much time playing Videogames. Having the cat on Board keeps me only busy at Sunrise and Sunset, the rest of the time he spends sleeping next to me. When the seas are flat, Chase is a bit more active, is the sea rough, he only gets up to eat or pee. zzzZZZzzz
Just before Bawean we got hit with bad Weather and a dumbass fishing boat (not the one on the photo). He thought it was funny to cut off our way. Eventually we made our way around him. By then it was drizzling. We saw the clouds built up and ten minutes later we hit rough seas, squalls and lots of rain. Chase was hiding under the Dodger in a dry place, while we were sitting in Wet-Weather-Gear in the Cockpit. After half an hour, we dared to look on the Radar, how long we still had to go through the storm. Luckily, it was only a small bad weather front and soon we peeled out of the wet gear to dry.

From the 18th to the 21st we haven’t done a lot since Grant and I got a very bad cold. We spent some time with Geoff and Lyn, had lunch or sundowners together, went out for dinner and tried to rest to get rid of the flue. Once, we came back from shore, we saw something floating not far of our boat. We speedup the Dinghy, noticing the water was full of Fuel and a hell of a lot of garbage was flating past us. The thing close to our Boat looked like a Mini FAD or a Net-Buoy. Grant and I got concerned. But when we came close, we found it was Offerings floating past. It was a little white Styrofoam box with Aromasticks and Flowers, a little bit of Rice and Coffee in a woven basket. On the Box was a white Flag showing a Balinese Demon on it. We let the Offerings float past. And went to see Roger and XO on Reboot. XO has the same attitude as Chase but is only half of Chases size. Making me realize how huge Chase actually is. Roger gave Grant a Keyboard. In the morning of the next day we saw a big cruiseship, called Star Clipper, come into the harbour. Grant and I, who wanted to go for a drive around Bali, decided to stay at home, since we heard that they closed the Roads, because the volcano started tremoring. An earthquake not far of Bali set the Volcano off. An evacuation zone got set up around the Volcano closing all the Roads. We did not mind, since we were still battling the flu. Behind Miranda, in the distance, we watched the Volcano smoking.

Today we signed up for a bus tour to visit “Omunity” a HomeStay Village at some Village in Balis Mountains. As usual it was a mix of festival for the Villagers and Welcome Ceremony for the Wonderful Sail to Indonesia Rally. The men got given a little traditional Indonesian Bandana to wear and us Ladys a little Frangipani Flower for our Hair. Grant wore his “Towel” pretty good. The festival attendants had a lot of Bandanas left over and one of the helpers put one on my head. He giggled and said something Indonesian to his friend, and both went giggling away giving more Bandanas to other Ladys. These Bandanas were only meant for Men, but I was a proud “Towelhead” and wore it with a big smile. The festival started and, yes, you guessed it, we got given a Speech. I have noticed, Indonesians always carry a full bag of speeches with them and they are not afraid to use them. After the speeches, we got given sugar - Sugar in form of coffee or tea, and solid sugar with rice, vegetable, donut or gooey taste. They even asked you, if you’d like your sugar with sugar. While we were eating and drinking our sugar, they held a oxen cart race. As soon as it was finished, they invited us to try it out. Grant must have done that before, because he looked just too perfect on his oxen cart. After, we got separated into five groups. Every group got to see something different. Our group saw a Hindu temple, listened to their music and visited a Homestay, where they gave us fresh carrot juice without added sugar. At the back, you could see a man working on a rice paddy with his oxen. I was starving and could not wait for lunch. When they finally took us for lunch, we had to first watch some traditional dancing. How could I forget! As soon as the dance finished, I raced to the queue of the Buffett. I loaded my plate with little bits of everything and happily sat down next to Grant to dig in. I started eating, only to find out that this food fell into my category of inedible. The first thing I shoved into my mouth must have been ground up chicken bones. Little poky splinters rammed into the gabs of my teeth and gums. They might as well have served me a prickly cactus. As painful it was, I swallowed and washed after it with some foul tasting whatever that was. I decided to only eat the plain rice and the plain salad leaf that had a flying ant on it. No, I didn’t eat the ant, silly! I looked around. Most Yachties were gobbling the meal down. Funny, but none of the Indonesians were eating what we got given… I was disappointed. Fortunately, we stopped at a Carrefour Supermarket, where I bought Spicy Chicken and Mangosteen.

Today was one of Grants “Other-people-boats-fix-day”. Garry and Julie came by with their Tinny and took Julie and me to Lowina Beach. Julie had to go and print some Paperwork. We wandered up the streets to find the Fuji Print Shop she had seen a day before. As we walked along the Beach, where the Tourist shops are, we got bombarded with Shop owners trying to sell us their stuff. It was a hassle, but we made it past. At the corner of the street I found a Shop? With absolut stunning looking hand carved and painted Birds. I wanted to buy a Robin, but there was no Shop assistant to be seen. Julie and I walked further down the street until we found the Copyshop. After the important things were done, we spent time dress shopping for Julie. First I did not see it, but then I saw a little kitten sleeping on Jewellery in the Shopwindow. The Lady in the shop was so proud of that kitten, that she needed to grab it out of the window to show me. The sad little Kitten hissed and meowed while she held it up. Then I saw what she wanted to show me. The kitten had a twisted back leg. Full of pride, the lady told me, when she has the money, she will take it to the vet to get its leg done. I felt sad, because that will never happen. The people in Lombok earn a lot, but most of the money goes to food or shop lease. Doctors and Dentists make the bottom of the list. I’m guessing vets do not even make it on the list. Being curious, I googled Veterinarians in Indonesia, but got pretty disappointed. Should Chase ever get sick, he better not does it in Indonesia. After Lunch at the Village Café we made our way back to the beach. We saw Grant dinghying along and I tried to wave him down. But he did not see me. I called him on Julies Phone and he came all the way back to pick us girls up. That was really sweet!

Early in the morning, the sun had not even come up, we left our Mooring and the other Rally Boats behind in Gili Air to make our way to Lowina in North Bali. It was just a day sail, but with more FADs and Fishing Boats quite eventful. We crossed the shipping channel. A lot of Cargo Ships were out and about, so we slowed down and sped up, and slowed down and sped up. They were pretty friendly on the radio to us. At one stage, four of the Ships met and looked like a giant Supership on the Charts. Out of the Shipping channel, we came past a few FADs and had to zickzack around them. We arrived in Lowina in the Afternoon and found a nice anchor spot next to Fiddler VI further out in the bay.

Early this morning we let our Mooring go and motored the boat to Gili Air. SV Althea (Margie and Larry) left before us and found a free Mooring for us. Soon after us arrived SV Melipal and grabbed a Mooring. We dinghied over to Althea and picked up Margie and Larry in their own Dinghy to go ashore. A man with about three teeth came to us and held a Letter under our Noses. With little Information from the Cruising Guide and a Boat called Bay Dreamer we guessed he was the one collecting the Mooring fee. We paid 5 Bucks each and he vanished happily in the crowd. The letter he had was written in an Indonesian Dialect and Google Translate did not want to translate it. The letter could have said anything, however, despite the many people on the beach, the Dinghy and everything in the Dinghy was save. We caught up with Mark and Susan at a little Café. Irie was there too, but did not want to hang out with us, because we wanted to see the Turtles of Gili Meno. Grant organised us a Glass Bottom Boat. It took us about 15 minutes to cross over to the other Island. On the way we saw a lot of dead coral, but also pretty colourful lively fish and even two adult size Olive Turtles. The Boat dropped us off at the Beach of Gili Meno in front of the Turtle Sanctuary. The Turtle Sanctuary is a hobby project of an Indonesian Man, who build a square basin that he divided in 5 individual rectangles in which he houses Turtles of different age stages. It was a joy to see so many healthy and playful Seaturtles. There were so many of them that they kind of reminded me of a cluster of Cockroaches, with their brown colour. A man with a horse cart was waiting for possible passengers at the Turtle Sanctuary. We hired two of his carts to show us around the Island. We split up in two groups for each cart. There was us, super beautiful, attractive, intelligent, amazing, absolutely awesome, sexy women in the brown Horse Cart and the guys in the beige Horse Cart. Hoppy, galoppy and of we went… Being in that horse cart was quiet an experience. I was holding on where ever I could, because that Horse only knew fourth gear or stop. It still was extreme fun. Our first stop was the Bird Garden. It was a beautiful garden, but no birds. They all were moved to the newly opened Elephant Park in Lombok. We had a Beer at the Bird Garden since we already were there. The next stop was a Lake. We walked on a rotten wooden Jetty along the Lake. The Lake itself was, how shall I describe it, because I have never seen such a Lake before… pretty dead. Little dead fish were washing up on the sand and the water was kind of stagnant. Grant asked the Horse Cart Driver, he had showed us a closed Bird Park, a dead lake, if he can show us something interesting. The driver only understood “Bird Park and Lake interesting” and answered Grant with a “Thank you, thank you”. He wanted to show us more good stuff and we climbed back in our Carriages. The boys were already around the corner, when our Horse decided, it wanted to go on a wild goose chase. It turned around and of it went with us women in the back. The driver jumped on and tried to direct the horse in the direction the boys disappeared, but it was no use. As fast as it can run, it went down the street and stopped, then reversed into the ditch, went back the way it was running. The driver told us, we will go around the other side of the Island to catch the boys. The horse paced past houses, Resorts and cafes. The Landscape and the Resorts and Cafes were beautiful. And we were happy that the Horse showed us these eye candies. And then the Horse stopped again. This time it was determined to stay where it stood! The driver spoke to the horse, dragged the horse, whipped the Roof of the Cart to make the Horse go and finally whipped the Horse. It buckled and reversed us in a prickly Cactus, turned around and reversed us into a tree. At that point, we told the driver we are going to walk. The driver apologized. However, the walk back was about ten Minutes past some beautiful Bars, cafes and Resorts. We took lots of photographs for the Boys, to show them, what they are missing out. We arrived the same time the boys arrived. We had some Beer for Lunch and made our way back to Gili Air in the Glass Bottom Boat. It was a great time. Grant and I split from the Rest and walked down the street of Gili Air. We stopped at an Ice Cream Booth for Ice Cream. They had little huts where you could lie down, relax and eat your Ice, while watching the Canoe Boats and snorkelling Tourists. A beautiful cat came to sit with us, hoping for some food. It had a big flesh wound on its throat. We had nothing to give to the cat, so, it wandered off. We returned to the Boat.

Today the rumour spread it was Larry of SV Altheas Birthday. Surfari arranged to go to the Eco Resort for Larrys Birthdays Sundowners. We even got the permission to use the Resort pool. The pool was cold. None of us spent a really long time in it. But they had a lovely swing at the beach. Me, Grant and Margie tried it out and enjoyed all the memories of our childhoods rushing back. And then it happened… Everyone was in a conversation except me and Jocelyn! Of course, she came over to me… and it started: The Nagging! Ken doesn’t do this, I don’t want that, his daughter does this, and its pissing me off. Please, Jocelyn, stop seeing only the bad side and making your own life so miserable. Try be a positive person and you will get along with other much more easily. Just stop your bitching! Luckily, we soon left, to join the other people who had organised a birthday cake at the Sailfish.

Today we had the Medana Bay Welcome Ceremony. Lots more speeches, even Lyn had to do a speech! Poor Girl! And look at the poor boy in the picture, who had to take a photo with that horrible old lady. A Parade started, followed by the town women, who were carrying food for us on their head to blankets on the ground. Each blanket had one basket of food: chicken, rice, vegetables, the usual. We gathered in groups of four around the food and everyone was allowed to dig in.

Geoff and Lyn invited us to join them to go to the shopping center to stock up the boat stores. At about 10 a.m. we rented a car and a driver. No shops in Indonesia open before 10 o’clock. Our first stop would be an ATM in Senggigi. Wendy and Jim aka Jagga 2 needed a lift to Senggigi, too. So, we took them in the car with us. Lombok is a mixture of old and new, and often you see the most amazing buildings in between ruins of old Houses. To get to Senggigi, we had to take the long way around, since they blogged on side of the shortcut Brigde for constructions. We drove through a Road called Monkey Forest. Little and also big Macaques were sitting at the side of the Road, running over the barriers or sitting on them eating nuts and fruits. When we arrived in Senggigi, we dropped Wendy and Jim off, while everyone was busy in the ATM, Lyn went to a little clothing shop just a couple buildings beside the ATM. They had wonderful and cheap clothings. Unfortunately for me, there was nothing big enough to fit me. I am not the fattest, but come on, the Indo girls are not thinner!!! Next stop was couple of marine and motorbike shops, to get fan belts and bits and bobs for the boat. Getting boat parts in Indonesia is close to impossible. So far, all we needed for boat repairs we got through trading with other Yachties. Our last stop was a big shopping centre called Epicentre. It reminded me of the shopping centres in Beijing or Hong Kong. This kids friendly shopping centre even offered "kids rides" to ride around the shops. We first went to eat Burger King, went straight to a clothing store and ended up in the Food Supermarket. It was the first Supermarket since Darwin selling useful cooking ingrediencies. They had dry stores, fruit & veggies, bread, frozen stuff, Yoghurt, Milk, Butter, and lots more. We finally found food - not sugar with food flavouring. Close to six we finally arrived back home, where the whitish Dog terrorised the Patrons of the Restaurant.