As you can see from our position, we have, once again, crossed the Equator.  We are back in the northern hemisphere again.

You will also notice that we FINALLY made it to Nongsa Point- and on time!  We received a note from rally control stating that we had to notify our "agent" in Bali about our arrival times in Nongsa Point.  A later email from this agent warned us that if we were more than 24 hours before or later than our stated dates, we would be penalized.  Rally control got around this by warning him that small yachts cannot give definitive arrival times as they are subject to the vagaries of weather and breakdown much more so than are commercial vessels.  But, if the agent needed up to date estimates, Tony was very happy to email him 22 arrival times in separate letters every day until all the boats actually arrived. And he did!

We continued our motorboat rally quite confident that we now had enough fuel.  However, we became a little bit nervous once the last jerry cans had been transferred to the tank- with another 36 hours left to go!

One night Dave was on watch when he suddenly realized ANGEL was passing between two white floats just 15 feet apart (we are 13 feet wide)!  Then, when he looked, there were white floats as far as the eye could see.  Fortunately, the engine didn't seem to have become fouled in a net, so he called MOONSHINER immediately and warned them.  They decided to go around the obstacle instead of trusting to luck.  They had to travel 3 miles out of their way to get around! Speculating on what it was- it seems too big for a net, we think it might be long lines suspended over a long distance.

As we drew closer and closer to Batam and Bintang there was more and more freighter traffic.  One had to be constantly alert.  And yet, despite the sea turning into a superhighway, the fishing boats were still out in force.  Even tiny canoes were sitting nonchalantly in the middle of shipping lanes calmly fishing. It is unbelievable!

One morning Dave managed to capture this waterspout on camera.  It was only about a quarter of a mile away.

And then finally........ Nongsa Point!

What a difference from Bali Marina.  Suddenly we were in paradise- clean, new, a fuel dock (not just a pump with a bucket at the side catching the fuel that spilled out of the perforated hose), a swimming pool, walkways, gardens, air conditioned meeting rooms, free wifi.  The pictures tell it all!

Mind you, the mie goreng ayam was not nearly as good as that in Bali!