Position 00:25.07S 105:35.74E

Yes, we are still at sea !

Night 5 and I am starting to dream about soon having the luxury of sleeping for 8 hrs straight.

Not much to report, the shipping has dissipated now and the sea is cleaner as we approach the Riau Islands, ETA tomorrow early afternoon.

We cross back over the equator early tomorrow morning so we have a bottle of fizzy on ice ready to have a celebratory tipple with Bionic when we arrive at the anchorage.

The day has been spent playing with the sails, downloading photographs and putting together some photo blogs ready to upload when we arrive at Nongsa Point on Batam Island on 18^th November where we check out of Indonesia.

We won’t be sad to leave Indonesia, the whole visa and check in procedure has been a rip off nightmare, the marina facilities are dirty and smelly and the sea is full of rubbish.

The Police are corrupt, with several of the rally being stopped in their hire cars and given large fines for ‘not having an international driving license’ or for ‘not wearing a crash helmet’ (yes, in a car) etc.  You can make it as difficult as you like with court or jail or you can pay the fine – cash only please.

To top it all there is now a rumour that we will have fines imposed if we don’t arrive in Nongsa Point by our ETA that we were required to e-mail 7 days in advance !

With fluky winds, seasonal currents and tides, some boats with engine problems from getting tangled with rubbish, and deviations to avoid all the obstructions on route, it will be a miracle if any of us get there on time !

The check out procedure will then take two days - let’s not even go there !

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand – here we come - yippee