Sorry for the delay in posting this but let's just say we had some technical difficulties.

Business first: We were able to get text messages from Ann's sister, Sue, giving us the skinny on the arrival time contest entries. Congrats go to Patrick from the Netherlands. He nailed arrival time at the Saumlaki mark at 10:15...within 15 minutes of the actual arrival. WAY TO GO, PATRICK. He will receive his original, purple, 2013-2015 Moonbeam circumnavigation t-shirt, designed by Nancy, t-shirt designer extraordinaire.

Patrick: If we mail it from here in Indonesia, you most likely won't receive it until well after the circumnavigation is completed. (I say that based on my slo-fi, no-fi experiences. Aargh!) So...I'll mail it from Florida mid-October.

So, back to the update: We have been silent because we have been busy. The town of Saumlaki has gone all out to make our visit a showstopper. It was hard to find the perfect pic to capture the warmth and generosity of the locals. The 2 contending pix were one of Ann dancing in the street with the locals or Ken recruiting future crew members (or his next wife). They flipped a coin. The Captain won. Quel surpris!

From the time the first boats arrived, the town moved into visiting dignitary mode...we being the visiting dignitaries, believe it or not. In the interest of brevity (no laughing), I won't go into all of the events (with their nuances) during our time here. Suffice it to say that it raises the bar for hosting a rally.

It's like another 3 day holiday. Locals are everywhere, taking pix of us. I truly know how Brangelina feels. Monday started with loading us into 3 mini-buses, and having a police escort, replete with flashing lights and sirens leading us to the town of Tumbur, where were entertained, fed (well), blessed, and, of course, presented with an array of locally made goods to purchase. Local officials came to speak with us and thank us for visiting. Children all wanted to meet us, mug for our cameras, and shake hands. Moms brought their children over for hugs. I'm not sure who took more photos: them of us or us of them. Thank goodness for digital photography. Film (what's that?) would have emptied the bank accounts.

Tuesday, the high school marching band, following behind the police escort, paraded through the town, with us taking up the rear. We were supposed to walk 3 abreast but but the kids did a much better job of marching in formation. 'The street' is very narrow. At one point, I looked behind and I think every motorcyclist and taxi driver in Saumlaki was queued up; think Long Island Expressway in rush hour traffic. If anyone was actually going to work, they were going to be late. You'll notice that I didn't mention passenger cars. They are almost non-existent. Almost every vehicle is a motorcycle being ridden by mom, dad, kids, chickens, etc. It's interesting that the adults all wear (very sophisticated) helmets. Kids? Nope. Ken, with his 'Ken sense of humor' calls it 'population control'.

We were planning on leaving tomorrow but will stay one more day to get some work done on Moonbeam. (It IS a boat.)