You may want to put up another cup of coffee. We actually have something to write about.

We finally arrived in Saumlaki on Sunday morning...and we got busy, so the blog update went on the back burner. (For the purpose of the arrival time contest, the exact moment at the Saumlaki mark was 10 AM. Of the 3 crew members, the Captain won...and Ann and I get to chip in on his massage. Do you think it was rigged? Just askin'. Until we get to wi-fi, we won't know if anyone won the t-shirt.

As we neared, we got into arrival mode. The first order of business was to give a proper burial at sea for the flying fish who populated our deck: hitchhikers who made an error in judgment and joined Moonbeam for the ride. OK. We can have another contest: how many were there? Just joking. Scroll down for the exact number.

We pulled in the sails, cleaned up the cockpit and Ann raised the yellow 'Q' (quarantine) flag. Of our sub-group in the rally, we arrived almost last. Ken said that having the wind astern is Moonbeam's worst point of sail. Who knew! (Obviously, he did.) That said, there was a definite advantage in taking up DFL. ("It was a rally, not a race", says the Captain.) The radio was full of chatter of essential info: where to buy the best-priced beer, what the laundry situation is (bring it in, they wash, dry, iron and fold it...all for $2/kilo), food shopping (don't bother; it's cheaper and better to eat out), and what do do about clearing customs (do nothing...they're all in church till the afternoon). That was perfect. We had our traditional arrival beer and the delay gave us time for much-needed chillaxin (wash hair, shower, nail TLC for some of us) and converting Moonbeam from an offshore cruiser to a live-aboard vessel: untie, un-stow and un-bungie.

Finally, the customs boat appeared and started working the anchorage, in their own order of preference, so it mattered not at all in what order we had arrived. We were assured they would get to all of the boats that day, but that didn't happen. They left, leaving 5 boats (including Moonbeam) not cleared in. We were going to post a picture of Ann raising the Indonesian courtesy flag but, it is Monday afternoon now, and we still haven't been cleared. Instead, here is a pic of a fishing hut...the first structure we saw as we neared Saumlaki. A couple of our buddy rally mates came over to Moonbeam for a quarantine party, while everyone who had been cleared went in to town for dinner.

All in all, it was a benign and pleasant passage. I was somewhat unnerved on the first day when we were hit with a 50 kt squall (oh yeah, we're in the tropics) but after that passed, the weather was perfect, Moonbeam held up beautifully (except for a snapped lifeline which Ken jury rigged with a cable tie and duct tape) and so did the crew. The worst part was being out of wi-fi access and the feeling of being somewhat disconnected from our friends and family (not so good) and the world at large (not so bad).

Contest: 46 dead flying fish...enough to provide bait fish for the fishermen of Saumlaki for a week.

Today is Monday. Even though we didn't clear in, we were allowed to dinghy in, go on a tour (that will be tomorrow's blog) and buy SIM cards for our phones. The data wi-fi is so far non-existent, so if you don't hear from us for a while on email, it's because we're in cell hell.