The T shirts are soggy

After 4 uneventful days and nights at sea we had Land Ahoy! Rinjani- the 3700 m volcano on Lombok- peeped out of its clouds just before sunset . But we also saw a Fish Attracting Device, a sturdy unlit construction of oildrums either floating on the current or moored in 2 km of water. We took it VERY slowly from there on in the moonless night. At dawn we entered the clifflined Lombok Strait under spinnaker. There were lots of little trimaran fishing boats around, with colourful lateen sails. By lunch we were in Lembar.

The friendly harbourmaster who was supposed to be aware of our arrival was not. And he was also adamant that there were no customs, immigration or quiarantine officials in Lembar. Something was very wrong. It was tropically hot and sticky in his office and between that & the worries I got soaked. But a couple of phonecalls later Abu, a representative of Ace's ( our lucky Lombok contact!) office apologised for not being there yesterday and arrived within an hour along with the relevant officials in his car. In Tribute's little duckie the dignitaries were ferried to the boat. Sheaves of paperwork, and I was short of at least two vital items. Thanks to Abu this was all smoothed over, rectified and mended on the spot. We almost got through it all by 9 at night but we were weary after our journey and I suggested we continue the next day.

Ashore in the harbour a group of men sat round a burning log. They offered me Arak and their guitar. So I sang the Carnarvon Blues and mixed a bottle of G&T for them in return.

By the next morning boat and crew were cleared for cruising in Indo waters and we set off to the Gili isles, about 20 nM North of Lembar. At Gili Air we anchored ( and dived, and tied ropes to unused moorings) and then went ashore. No motorised transport on the islands, just bicycles and horse buggies and there are 20 or more little restaurants dotted around the beaches.Palm trees, people building wooden boats, fishermen on the reefs. Nasi goreng for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The next morning I spied a breaking wave and a bit later Hutch, BUH and I were happily snorkelling, making pictures, or trying to surf. Especially the surf made us stay another day- the water is 28 degrees and the slow wave has a smooth 2 m face. We had the break to ourselves for hours. BUH got up properly a couple of times, I managed to escape the foamies to get on clean wave for a few happy seconds. And Hutch was happy as Larry with his underwater camera in the surfline or over the corals. Strange- the viz must be over 20 metres even with all sorts of rubbish floating in it.

Anyway- it is all very beautiful and exotic and whatnot. The weather has been kind, the water is warm and clear. We are making our way to Bali for a crew changeover.

Farewell!

BUH has arrived, and thrown a Hullett-sized spanner in the finely tuned organisation of S/V Tribute. He tried the old trick of 'forgotten my sleeping bag', but was fobbed off with a spare and still had to sleep alone in the starboard forward coffin. The victuals are getting hammered.
Brad Beaumont, and ex-Carnarvonite now deeply into the marine matters of Dampier, lent us his ute & threw a barbie for us so we are developing a soft spot for the harbour.

The Customs MAY be able to clear us out today so it is all hands on deck to fuel & provision everything to the gunwhales. The forecasts are for nice Easterlies initially and then a patch of at least 2 days of NO WIND AT ALL. There's a low lurking off Java, too.

But anyway. We're off soon, aiming for landfall after a week or so in Lombok. I wish everyone well!

Cabin Fever

We did an overnighter to the Montebellos, had a look around the lagoons and anchored in Champagne Bay for the night. That was fine. The next day it was 30+ knots all day until it eased in the late arvo, and I got a kitesurf in. That was all well and relaxing too. The next day- 25-30 knots again. The books were losing their charm, all the odd jobs had been done (Hutch even cleaned the cutlery tray) and we sat beady-eyed in the cabin eating a third breakfast and realised we'd contracted Cabin Fever. There is only one cure: we secured everything and set out in the late arvo into a 20 knot headwind. The waves, whipped up by two days of strong Easterlies were three metres high or so and we got drenched, slammed and centrifuged. Again a night sail. Tiring this time- Dirk the autopilot does the steering, but needed constant adjustments- in the gusts the boat would accellerate to 8 or 9 knots, then slam into waves and drop off the back of them. Wet and uncomfortable .The solution was to head up 5 degrees, to keep things at 6 knots or so, and following the waves up & down. But in the lulls this higher angle would stop Tribute in its tracks on the next high wave, cured by 5 degrees down again.
Anyway-after 16 hours of this we arrived in Dampier. Bruce 'Useless' Hullett is on his way and it looks like customs is closed until Monday.

Life at sea

While near the huge submarine radio base at Northwest Cape, it is prudent to shield your brain from radiation. Visit Exmouth to find out why.

We made it to Surerrier island just before sunrise this morning. A bit of snorkelling and recuperating, by late arvo we were on our way again. The Monties are the next stop and we need to get there with the sun high in the sky to navigate the bommies and reefs. Anyway, not much news, we are settling in nicely on the boat. Hoisting all sorts of sails to cope with the flukey winds and taking them down again. Making meals at strange times. Motoring over glassy sea in the Mary-ann passage at the moment, Hutch sound asleep. The lights of oilrigs and beacons litter the horizon. Moon low in the East, it is very pretty.

I've noticed that running the watches - asleep or awake at any odd time in the day or night interferes with memory. Mine at least. Everything becomes sort of blurry. Whatever!

We've changed the hooks on the lures to singles and crushed the barbs. And made some sort of a foamrubber slipway for the fish on the back, so we can release them (this is a 114 cm mackie) more or less unharmed.

On our way at last...

There was a pleasant farewell party on Tribute last night, where fresh VMG and tortillas were served. Checking my email later- Bruce and Hutch suddenly need a visa! Frantic phone calls, netsurfing etc, etc. Hutch and I left this morning just after sunrise and I'm writing this off Coral Bay, I had to check email to see how the visa saga was developing and I'm on watch anyway with nothing to do but stare at the swells, the moon, the single double-reefed sail and the dimmed instrument lights. It feels WRONG to be internetting on the high seas, but by wishing for everyone's dreams to come true at the next falling star, good may come of it after all.

A ray of hope!

It may be luck or chance but the past few days appear to have been guided by fate and karma more than anything else. It involves someone 4 degrees removed from a me, and resulted in stretching a conceptual loophole in the bond-system until it was large enough to allow the possibility of Tribute sailing through. If it succeeds, I am in karma-debt. You all are. Let's be nice to everyone.

The boat is asymptotically approaching readiness, and only another 100-odd pieces need to fall into place and arrive at three different addresses at the right time. My house and shed and finances and insurances, permits and taxes and other obligations are a different matter altogether, and if I didn't have likeable neighbours attached to my unit I'd be burning the lot behind me. I'd also like to sign my own death certificate to get registered as deceased by the bureaucrats for a while.


Anyway, it is all systems go and I hope to opdate this blog once Hutch & I are on our way to Dampier!

DISASTER STRIKES!!!!!!

I won't bore you with the good news- the boat is cleaned, antifouled & ready to sail & I'm on holiday. As of last week, Bali Customs is enforcing a 45% boatvalue bond system to release the boat for cruising in Indo. The procedures for paying it are hazy, there is no known system for getting it back and to my knowledge nobody's ever been game to try it. I discovered this three hours ago.

As things stand: The Bali Marina tells me that in Kupang things are more flexible. This is pure hearsay, last year Kupang was the only known port to actually enforce the bond and it caused the Darwin-Kupang Rally lots of grief. If this is confirmed or not denied, then Bruce, Hutch and I may have to sail to Kupang which is upwind. Bitch, bitch.

Bali is still an option, but for a max of 2 weeks with passports impounded.

I called the CAIT people, who announced that shipping agents and marina operators etc will have a meeting tomorrow regarding this. It is unlikely that any boat would ever visit Indo at all under the bond system, and they'd all be without a job. Something may come out of this. I'll find out tomorrow.

Keep ya all posted.....