Heading West to Bali/August '09

We are having trouble raving about this country. Compared to our other cruising areas this one is more challenging and we are not particularly enthusiastic about it. The anchorages are deep and rolly; not conducive to rest. The food is cheap but mediocre although the beer is good. The land is hot, dry and parched with lots of dirt and dust to collect on the boat….and no rain for over 2 months so there is salt everywhere. Many villages are pitifully poor and needy and we would like to help more than we can. Some actually rate as Fourth World!

We really just passed time until we got to the island of Rinca, near Komoto, and saw the giant Komoto Dragons. That was something impressive to write about. They actually can swim and climb aboard boats if they smell meat. We couldn’t get off the dinghy onto land because they looked so fierce.

We began enjoying this country a bit more when we arrived in Lovina Beach, Bali. We could have just skipped everything up until here if we had it to do over again. Also, this Boat Rally is the worst organized event we have ever seen…actually entertaining in its inefficiency! They keep cancelling things and changing the rules and the organizers quit halfway through it. We had taken off on our own away from the crowd of boats, anyway. We are waiting to renew our visas now and are just killing time before we visit the island of Bali. We have heard good things so are looking forward to improvement in our outlook.

We guess someplace has to be our least favorite!!! After here we go to Borneo to see the Orangutans and then to Singapore before another rally in Malaysia and then on to Thailand.

WE ARE ACTUALLY HEADED HOME AFTER THAILAND! In January we will head around India, through the Red Sea to Turkey. We won’t be back in the US on CYAN for at least 2 years but we are headed that way.

Lynn and Chuck on CYAN