After almost an entire year sailing and exploring SE Asia we are preparing to cross the Indian Ocean and start the last leg of our adventure. Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have been amazing. We have made lots of new friends and had lots of great adventures and some pretty crazy experiences. We are a bit sad to move on as we are leaving some of our cruising buddies and that is always the hardest part. Zack especially hates these good-byes and we have had at least five good-bye parties this month. We keep meeting up and have to have a next party and final farewell.

The final and last farewell was in Johor Baru, Malaysia. This one is for real as we will continue south through Indonesia to the Sunda Straight and most of our friends have joined the Malaysia East rally to head home to Australia and New Zealand and will be heading west. We will be traveling with our friends Will and Karen on Chantey, whom we have traveled with for the past year. So, don't worry we are not alone (we have now met up with a few more boats, 2 with kids.)

We have decided to transit Indonesia without checking in (clearing customs.) It is just too expensive and a bit of a pain in the butt. We will not be able to go ashore but we are short on time and need to get south before the monsoon season changes so we really have no time to stop anyway. Chantey was stuck in Johor waiting for a part from England so we decided to day hop through Indo until they caught up. It is easier for us as I hate overnight sailing and the myriad fishing boats in Indo make night passages a bit stressful. We chose to go through on the east coast of Sumatra. In hindsight we wished we would have left more time and done the west coast. We have heard some surf stories and are kicking ourselves for not going. The east coast meant that we had to motor the entire way. It was about seven days of motoring, think expensive! Good thing fuel is fairly cheap here.

Our SSB radio decided it had had enough and is no longer transmitting, so we have no communication when we are offshore and so had no way to contact Chantey. We kept an eye on our AIS and saw them passing us at 6am one morning not far from Belitung. We upped anchor and now we were chasing them. We sailed together to Krakatoa which is the famous volcano that erupted in the late 1800's and killed approx. 40,000 people. It is a beautiful anchorage and you are actually anchored in the caldera of the original explosion which is pretty cool. The sand on the beach is volcanic and so it is black. Zack and I took the kayak to the beach to explore and saw a monitor lizard that was over a meter long, just hanging out in the bushes. The rangers are only on the island on the weekends so we did not have to pay which was good because we have no Indonesian Rupiah. We went for a hike up Anak Krakatoa which was lovely. There is a trail and it takes you about half way. After that you are hiking up the side of the volcano and it is all loose and sharp volcanic rock. Zack and | made it about half way up before turning back. David and Will made it almost to the top but the smell of sulfur was overpowering and they had to turn back. Up is difficult but down is a scree fall with lava rocks avalanching around you. Lots of fun! After lunch we all went for a snorkel on the shore by the anchorage. It was wild, unlike any snorkeling we have done. The sand is all black and the coral was all white and various shades of yellow. It was quite a contrast and so, very interesting even though it wasn't the usual large variety of corals.

After Krakatoa we headed to Panitan Island. Karen had read in one of her guide books that it was a national park and there were lots of rare wild animals there. More importantly there was a surf break. Zack was stoked. Little did we realize it was a world famous reef break. We were at the famous Apocalypse Wow, One Palm Point, and Napalms surf island. There was a local boat and David and Zack went over to talk to them for some local knowledge. They named off a few more of the waves that are all in one general area and we decided to surf on the easiest of the group, as did they, It was called "Pussies" I guess it is for the less than professional surfers who show up to surf with the big boys. It was our first reef break and it was breaking with 8 foot waves, way over our experience levels. But, what the hell, you only live once and we will never be here again. We got our boards out and headed over. Fortunately the reef was deep enough that we weren't in much danger of hitting it. Good thing because we had some epic wipe outs! The guide, written by a surfer, had described Pussies as a forgiving beginners break. It must have been in a bad mood because it did not forgive us anything, we got our asses handed to us, no silver platter just a drink of salt water to go with them. We did get a few rides each and it was amazing! Long and fast, the best surfing we have ever done. Zack got crushed on a wave and so we wrapped it up and went home. We did not go back the next day as the waves were meant to be even bigger. But, we came and we surfed so we were pretty happy with ourselves. It's a shame Dan and Angie left because Dan would have been in heaven.

We left Penitan Island to make our first crossing in almost a year to Cocos Keeling Island. Cocos is part of Australia and is our first stop in our Indian Ocean crossing. We have heard that the Indian Ocean is "boisterous" That's a nice way to put it. We started out with nice weather which quickly deteriorated into a mass of squalls and rain. The first squall coincided with the start of my night watch and looked fairly small so in all my brilliance I did not take the foul weather gear that David offered me. What a mistake. I was soaked so I did not want to mess up the inside of my practically brand new super comfy and dry rain jacket and then had to spend the rest of my six hour watch thoroughly soaked. It poured so hard there was a river in the cockpit as the water drained out. Absolute misery. The winds were also really shifty and the entire night was the worst ever. The next day the sun came out and it was all sunshine and happiness for the rest of the passage. The seas remained confused and there was a strong swell from the south so not great. We had very light winds in leaving Indonesia and had full sail up. When the winds kicked in on the second day we were flying. We had our fastest 24 hours to date and it was exhilarating but a bit rough. Fortunately I had cooked enough food for the passage before we left. David had to do all the cooking and it was brilliant for me, because trying to cook in that type of sailing is awful. We pulled into Cocos Keeling after five days and four nights and WOW! The place is beautiful.

I need to mention our fishing competition. Zack made a bet with Will, he likes to make fishing bets. Will had told Zack how to make gun powder. You need 3 ingredients, charcoal, which Zack found on the beach by Krakatoa, sulfur, which Zack collected on Krakatoa as well, and Potassium Nitrate (dried urine.) Zack's mean mom told him he is not allowed to dry out a bucket of wee on the boat. So, Zack, knowing what a good fisherman he is bet will that if he caught the most fish, then Will would have to make the dried wee crystals on his boat. I don't know why, but Will agreed. We hooked 11 fish, landed 6 and kept one.(a 4 foot Wahoo!) Will only fished for 2 days and had no luck whatsoever. So, Zack was the winner and Will will be peeing in a bucket! Customs and Immigration came out to the boat and they are far easier than mainland Australia. They allow you to keep all your food as long as you do not bring anything ashore. You are also not allowed to dispose of any trash here which is a bit of a pain. All sailboats are also limited to Direction Island, which is deserted and a mile dinghy ride to Home Island, where you can catch the ferry to West Island where most of the Australian population live. On Thursdays and Saturdays there is a ferry to and from Direction Island but it is mostly for locals and tourists that want to visit Direction Island, it doesn't really work out for the cruisers. I think cruisers are something they have to deal with and while you are welcome to stay and enjoy yourself there are not a lot of services geared towards the boaters.

We came in on Friday and Saturday we were doing a bit of school before going into play. We were watching the dolphins play around our boat when a dinghy with 2 girls pulled up. They had been here a week and said the dolphins were playful and we should jump in for a swim. We were in straight up and spent an hour swimming with dolphins! It was amazing, there were dolphins swimming all around us and playing with each other. Not quite close enough to touch but right under and around us. It was truly magical. We were wet so school got put off again! We headed to shore to snorkel "The Rip" which is the cut between 2 islands and the current pushes you through at high speed. It was great, we saw hump head wrasse, black tip sharks, white tip sharks, giant clams. and lots of other fish. We were headed back down the beach and to the boat to continue school, but when we were snorkeling the ferry showed up along with a few local boats. The beach was now full of kids. Zack hasn't had any kids to play with since we left Malaysia so school was canceled and we spent the rest of the day on the beach. There is a platform with a small diving board and Zack went straight out and joined in with the rest of the kids. We jumped in with the adults in the water and were welcomed in true Aussie style. It was reminiscent of North Straddie where we were part of the group straight off. We got lots of local knowledge and had a great afternoon.

Sunday we went for a snorkel in the Rip again and then David, Will and Zack went out spear fishing Zack was stoked because he hasn't been able to use his spear gun all year. He made a few shots but missed. I'm sure he'll get better with some practice.

The next day we decided to head over to the main islands to get some fresh fruits and veggies. We had to dinghy over which was not all that bad and then we caught the ferry to West Island. At the visitors center we met up with Jeff, one of the locals we had met on the beach. He gave us lots more info and we hung out there for a bit. There is really not a lot to do on West Island unless you have brought a surf board, or some other sports equipment. We had not as we had come to shop. The grocery store was better than we had expected. You could get most things albeit at a premium. It is difficult to sticker shock a St. Johnian regarding grocery prices, but, mission accomplished Cocos Keeling.

There are now 10 boats in the harbor, including Convivia, who we have been trying to meet since Brisbane last year. They are American and have 2 kids. We are all getting together for a cruisers potluck and barbecue on the beach this afternoon. Should be lots of fun! This is our type of cruising!!