Bali in sight
Digiboat's "Product Testing"
Simon Blundell
Wed 9 Mar 2011 19:12
08:53.52S
114:09.57E
This is our last
night at sea. As I write, we are 63nm from Bali with an ETA of 6:30pm at
the anchorage at Gili Tawangan local time tomorrow. It feels very
satisfying to have completed a passage of this length - nearly 2000nm
in eleven and a half days plus two days bureaucratising in
Padang. It has been great fun in spite of the lack of wind and fish.
The company has been delightful, with many entertaining stories shared both
true and false, magnificent meals, great books, intense Scrabble, and the
odd evening movie thrown in. We have a stack of photos of shipboard life
and some unbelievable sunsets. Living on the east coast of Australia, we
are deprived of the beauty of the sun setting into the ocean, enhanced
by the incredible red of the Asian pollution.
Our anchorage is off
the largest of the Gili Islands which are a group of small islands just off the
NW coast of Lombok. Simon's brother owns a resort on the island, so we are
looking forward to a swim and a meal or two without our plates, cutlery and
wine sliding off the table. At this stage we plan to see a bit of
Bali Thursday and Friday and will book flights home for the
weekend.
The Scrabble decider
was played this afternoon. Tim and Al had a convincing win with the
highest score of the tournament so are the current El Oro Champions winning 4
games out of 7. They are to be congratulated for their persistance, their
refusal to accept a second-best alternative, and their resistance to our
attempts to distract them with our gamesmanship. Bar and
I are looking foward to a rematch.
MC
9/1830z
Wind has deserted us
today, motoring at 8.5kn through a clear, warm day on the ocean. Surrounded by
storms tonight with dramatic lightning displays in every direction. Continuous
rain but not torrential, no wind in the storms and still
warm.
SJB
9/1900z