We emailed our Christmas greetings mid December and received many in reply – good news from all around the world! Another year over and an exciting 2025 ahead of us! This year we plan to visit the USA and Cuba in July and August. At the end of the year we plan to sail down to Tasmania and cruise around the island for a month.
The Schady-Muller mob on Warriewood beach.
December, as for most of us, was a busy month. Michelle came back from Fiji and is staying with us until she has lined up her next project. We spent time with the girls on the beach as well as attend various events with our sailing friends.
Stumpy the lizard visits the Sail Cruising Division Xmas lunch.
It was good catching up with old friends from South Africa and local friends over lunches, as well as our neighbours at 153 Garden Street, in Warriewood.
Dec. 2024; Reini, Lynne, Annie and Dirk.
Dec.1983: Reini, Lynne, Annie and Dirk.
To work off all the festive food and drinks, I did a lot of cycling, Annie a lot of gym and together, we did walks and swimming along our local beaches.
Annie doing her laps in the Narrabeen rockpool.
Annie and Michelle enjoying the sail down the coast to Sydney harbour.
The girls asked us to sail down to the harbour for the New Year fireworks and we had the pleasure of meeting a lot of their friends. We ended up spending 10 days on Sydney Harbour (Port Jackson), before sailing back.
The extended family anchored in Rose Bay for the fireworks. Welcome Evan!
Another spectacular show, viewed from Esprit. Also, midnight ringing in Annie’s 70th birthday! (looking good and many more birthdays, my love!)
We celebrated our friend Gavin Birch’s 80th birthday for lunch and music on the Zephyr charter boat, cruising on the Pittwater.
The excellent duo performing on Gavin’s birthday cruise.
Dusk- Zephyr returning to Newport wharf.
Our friends Jim and Gail Petrie arrived at their apartment on New Year’s Day. Over dinners, we caught up with their Cape Town news. We visited Pretty Beach for two nights, did a coastal walk to Maitland Bay and attended a Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows concert in Gosford.
Gail, Jim and Annie on the Maitland Bay walk.
Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows at full tilt.
Australia Day on the 26th January fell on a Sunday, with a public holiday on the Monday. We started the festivities with champagne and canapes at the RMYC and ended with the SCD members at Bonny Doon beach.
Part of the Australia Day crowd.
Michelle, in the meantime, discovered that some of her frequent flyer points were about to expire. So off she went to Sri Lanka on a two week surfing holiday – evidently, the new Bali for surfers and yoga lovers. Latest news is, she was having a whale of a time.
View of the surf from Michelle’s accommodation.
Annie is getting excited about the prospect of becoming a grandmother on or about the 5th February. I have asked her to hold back until the baby has arrived. We will report back with the deets on gender, weight and name in our next post.
Looking up into the sky in Langkawi, you are bound to spot sea eagles, which are fascinating to watch as they swoop down to catch Garfish, which are in the habit of tail walking across the water. Langkawi, according to folklore, got its name from the two Malay words ‘helang’ (eagle) and ‘kawi’ (reddish brown): hence, lang-kawi.
The huge eagle statue in Kuah town.
After a five-day stay at Rebak Marina west off Langkawi, during which time we met a host of new yachties and travelled across to the main town Kuah, we set sail to explore some anchorages on the surrounding islands. The scenery is absolutely unique, with sheer limestone marble cliffs rising from the landscape at every turn. The land is densely forested with small fishing villages found only where there is flat land, which is rare. Most of the population resides on the biggest island Langkawi, where Kuah is the centre. We saw surprisingly few cruising boats and had anchorages to ourselves.
Rebak marina.
We anchored off Princess lake, which is quite a tourist attraction. Because we had no dinghy at this time, Annie used her paddleboard a lot to visit onshore sites. We tied up at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club for two nights, during which time I installed a new anchor pressure wash system to cope with the muddy bottoms in these parts. We also filled up with diesel before setting off north to Thailand.
Princess lake.
RLYC
Sunset from Charlie’s Bar at RLYC.
The new anchor pressure wash system installed at RLYC.
Sailing north along the east coast of Langkawi island, we stopped at the “Hole in the Wall” which is part of the Kilim Geoforest Park – a World Heritage area and definitely worth a visit. We had a leisurely three-day sail from Langkawi to Phuket, averaging about 45 miles a day.
Kilim Geoforest Park.
Entering the Hole in the Wall.
The lake inside hole in the wall.
On our first day, as we crossed the border from Malaysia into Thailand, I was busy lowering the Malaysian and hoisting the Thai courtesy flags, when Annie shouted for help. Thailand had welcomed us with a beautiful Spanish Mackerel, which Annie landed, filleted and cryovacked into 16 portions. This catch will keep us fed with protein for more than a week. The beauty of this species of fish, is the absence of scales and fish bones – simply slice the meat off the spine and its bones.
Up goes the Thai flag.
Spanish Mackerel.
Annie the filleter at work.
As we approached Phuket, the peculiar vertical limestone marble outcrops rising from the sea became numerous. These sheer stone structures known as karst outcrops, with vegetation clinging to it, are all over. The last time we visited Phuket was two months before the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. After the utter destruction, now 13 years later, it is paradise again, as usual.
Karst outcrops.
We arrived at Chalong Bay in the south of Phuket on Monday 11th December and anchored to check in with the harbour master, customs and immigration. It was a public holiday and we were advised to check in later. So, we sailed up the east coast of Phuket to a berth at Ao Po marina. Cholamark Boat Company delivered our new Highfield 2.9m Ultralight dinghy the same afternoon.
Michelle hiking with friend in the Lake District.
The following morning, we drove a rented car to the airport, to welcome Michelle our daughter, who flew in to Phuket from London where the temperature was – 6 degC. Two days before flying over, she was hiking in the Lakes District where it was snowing and the week before, she and her friend Simon, were in Iceland to see the Northern lights at -18 degC. The local temperature of 30 degC was a welcome relief.
Gosh – look at this pale girl.
Pale girl with dark father.
Afterwards, we drove south to Au Chalong to check in with the harbour master, customs and immigration – this was a painless and speedy 15-minute exercise. On the way back to our marina, we stopped to stock up with Vittles for Michelle’s 10-day stay.
Hong entrance.
After two nights at the Ao Po marina, we set off to explore the numerous islands in Phang Nga Bay, between Phuket island and Krabi on the mainland. Some of these karst outcrops have internal lakes, accessible by narrow caves which you row through in the dark to get to the “hongs” which means rooms. These are spectacular natural wonders, sometimes open to the sky through steep shafts, letting in light and air.
Entry to hong at Koh Phanak.
From the inside.
Light shaft.
Annie on an internal lake.
After exploring a few of these hongs, we were motoring to “James Bond Island” when we ran aground on an uncharted sandbank. This resulted in a 6-hour wait for the rising tide to lift us off, with the aid of the Mercury outboard on the new dinghy, pulling at the 10-tonnes of Esprit, at full throttle.
James Bond island in the distance – Esprit careening in the foreground.
Visiting JB island by dinghy while we wait for the tide to turn.
We continued at a relaxed pace to the east coast at Krabi which is really beautiful. We spent a few days exploring and sampling the local food before heading south to the Phi Phi island group.
Koh Yao Noi beach resort for lunch, enroute to Krabi.
Esprit anchored off Railay beach in Krabi.
At the penis shrine on the beach.
Rock climbing is very popular in Krabi.
Outdoor stalactites.
Amazing walks.
But, I am so hungry!
Krabi village street.
Bob Marley bar – magic mushrooms and ganja with the drinks.
Railay beach.
The ubiquitous and noisy long-tail boats.
Canoeists give scale to the overhanging stalactites.
Annie & Michelle on the beach.
A strong wind started to build up out of the Gulf of Thailand from the east, so we had a boisterous sail back to the shelter of Nai Harn beach on the southwest tip of Phuket island. In the relative shelter of this beautiful beach we sat out the gale force winds for three days. This severe weather system sank a yacht in the Philippines, drowned the Aussie skipper and left two crew in hospital.
We did numerous walks and on Thursday the 21st of December we will rent a car to drive to the airport in the north of the island, for Michelle to catch a flight to Sydney. She will spend the festive season with Karen and friends in Byron Bay, before going to the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Victoria, where she and a friend have received a grant to do an art installation.
We will be hanging around this area for the Christmas and New Year festivities with the other sailors, before sailing back to Langkawi to have Esprit slipped, cleaned, antifouled and the engine serviced for the long haul to India at the end of January. We will do another post before setting off. Cheers for now.
The warm welcome we received on entering Malaysia at Puteri Harbour Marina was a harbinger for the friendliness and excellent facilities which awaited us, as we sailed north.
Puteri Marina harbour.
Approaching the bridge linking Singapore with Malaysia.
Esprit sailing north – from catamaran “Por Dos”
Malaysia is a modern country with good infrastructure, a varied manufacturing base and a country that seems to have pollution under control. After crossing the South China Sea which was busy in terms of marine traffic, the Strait of Singapore was an eye opener in respect of serious marine traffic, as reported in our previous post. Sailing and motoring north through the Strait of Malacca, between Sumatra and western Malaysia, traffic intensified even more, due in local fishing and cargo vessels.
Approaching Malacca.
Our first anchorage after leaving Puteri was at Pisang Island (Banana island). A further two days of motor sailing got us to Malacca. The Portuguese, later the Dutch and then the British, settled and administered Malacca as their trading outpost in this region. Lots of the original buildings are still standing and the old part of town has been declared a UNESCO world heritage area. The oldest church in Southeast Asia sits on the hill in the centre of Malacca and has an interesting history.
St Paul’s church exterior.
The history of the church.
Church interior.
On the floor: A surprising South African connection.
Malacca bicycle taxis.
Dutch fort on the river.
Old town centre.
Historical Malaccan houses.
Malacca’s famous son.
Malacca has however expanded incrementally and now is a modern city surrounding the old town. After three days of exploring the town and city, a two-day sail to Port Dickson followed, where we tied up at the Admiral Marina. Three days of stocking up, filling with diesel and trying to repair our dinghy, which suddenly started falling apart at the seams followed. Getting around was cheap and easy, as Uber and Grab operates in this part of the world.
Admiral Marina
Ex Saffer’s on the rally.
Chili’s at the supermarket – an ingredient in most dishes.
There followed a 2.5-day sail via Port Klang the huge harbour for Kuala Lumpur, to Pangkor Marina Island. We managed to get a berth in the marina on our second day anchored outside. James Khoo, the manager is an exceptionally friendly and capable man, who arranges any spares, services etc. you may require. Apart from that, he also organises seriously good parties with free beer, which is a winner with the yachties.
Welcome dinner and party.
Excellent duo.
One of James’s contacts Alan Quek from ATT Marine, came to inspect our over the hill lead acid batteries, wiring and charger controls. He quoted us to replace the four 110Ah service batteries with a 200Ah Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePo4) battery with BMS system, charger and control. His price, including installation, programming and commissioning was 50% of Sydney prices.
The Buddhist temple with Kim & Tom from Canada.
View from the shrine on the hill.
The little Great wall of China.
The tiger shrine.
The fishing harbour at Pangkor island.
Yachtie kids swinging on the beach.
Lunch on the beach – 5 nationalities at one table.
Sundowners at Pangkor Marina.
A wedding party in front of us.
Sundowners take two – Eric, Booker, Dave and Sieg.
We had a wonderful time in Pangkor, with tours, parties and meeting new friends. After 12 days, we set sail for the Straits Quay Marina in Penang. We passed under Penang’s second and first bridges on the way to the marina. The second bridge which opened in 2014, is 24 km long and is the longest bridge crossing in Southeast Asia. It is also the longest rubber damped bridge in the world, designed to withstand a 7.5 scale earthquake.
Approaching bridge no. 2.
Penang bridge no. 2 curving away in the distance.
Penang bridge no.1.
Massive yacht anchored off the city shore.
George Town on Penang island, is also a UNESCO world heritage area and the centre of Malaysia’s first world medical services. I availed myself of the competitive rates, and had my bi-annual colonoscopy performed by Dr Chin Loong (G’day mate! He lived in Melbourne for 10 years, studied medicine at Melbourne University and did his specialisation at Melbourne hospitals). We also applied for our Thailand visas at the Thai consulate in George Town.
The Swettenham Pier cruising terminal at George Town.
Our berth at Straits Quay Marina. Nice spot!
Entrance to Straits Quay Marina Mall – Christmas decorations are up.
We have to confess, we love Malaysia. It is a sensible destination for any retiree. It has first world facilities, excellent medical and dental services and it is very affordable to live here. The government promotes their MM2H programme (My Malaysian Second Home) which encourages foreign ownership of houses, apartments and condominiums at a fraction of Sydney prices. A 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment in the Straits Marina complex (the low rise behind Esprit) for AUD 350,000! No taxes on offshore income and pensions. Also, Penang has island wide free internet broadband, provided by the local government! Maybe we come back here after our planned circumnavigation.
Alan Quek installed the new LiFePo4 service battery, additional battery charger and battery monitor on Esprit, the Saturday before we set sail north. We can wholeheartedly recommend his meticulous service .
Alan with the 200A/h LiFePo4 battery (2,560W/h) that replaced the 4 Exide lead acid batteries (2,200W/h)
We spent a day walking and exploring the World Heritage listed George Town. The old buildings, shops and restaurants in Little India and Chinatown are fascinating.
George Town has some outstanding public art.
Better than Banksy?
Street musicians in little India, raising money for a charity.
Temple in Chinatown.
Colonial architecture: Penang city hall.
After Penang, we had a robust 20 knot one day sail to Langkawi island, in the north of Malaysia. Langkawi is a duty free port and requires checking in and out with Customs. The farewell party for the Sail Malaysia Rally participants at Rebak Marina was a huge success with around 100 sailors, fantastic catering, drinks and live music, worth more than the $120/boat entry fee for the rally! Langkawi with its 105 islands is beautiful and laid back. We will report in more detail on this area when we sail to Phuket and Krabi.
Sailing into Langkawi – typical sea eroded rocky islands.
After leaving fabulous Belitung, we did a two day sail to Ketawai, a small island off the mainland. Robby the local organiser did a fantastic job of organising parties, food and music on the island, as well as tours onshore.
Robby, the organiser, with his twin daughters.
During a visit to a local school, I realised I had run out of money. No problem – our tourist police escort ran me to the nearest ATM with their blue lights flashing. I felt like a politician in South Africa!
Two friendly policemen who took me to an ATM.
More friendly students at the hotel and tourism school.
An interesting item on our itinerary, was a boat ride to a secluded and unspoilt mangrove forest. A long walk on walkways to protect the mangroves followed, culminating with lunch at an eco-friendly cafe.
Mangrove walk.
Lunch at the mangrove cafe.
Back at Ketawai, a farewell party with live music provided by a very talented young band and their vocalist.
The very good band on Ketawai island.
The sail north from Ketawai was best done during the day, as the sea was littered by fishing structures made of bamboo, complete with huts on top. Literally hundreds of them, unlit at night!
Fishing structures out at sea.
Number two of hundreds – why we don’t sail at night in this region.
Two day sails brought us to Lingga island with it’s smaller surrounding islands – absolutely beautiful and unspoilt by tourism. On Tuesday the 17th October 2017, we crossed the equator just south of Kentar island. This was followed that evening with a party on Esprit with the other three boats at the anchorage.
Crossing the equator as shown on our chart plotter.
A toast to King Neptune.
And another G&T for us!
Our second last stop in Indonesia was at Sembulang island where Thant Zhin from Burmese Breeze helped me repair four leaks which had suddenly sprung on our dinghy.
Thant Zhin fixing our dinghy.
Our last Indonesian anchorage was at Bintan Lagoy where the Sail Indonesia Rally organisers and the Bintan Tourist Ministry pulled out all the stops. Trips to various sights, like a beautiful Buddhist temple with 500 soldiers, a music festival and the final night gala dinner with a band and a beach party.
The representatives from Sabang island in attendance to market their island to us for Sail Sabang week, after Sail Malaysia.
Buddhist temple – completed two months ago.
Our guide and an army of 500.
Annie and an angry fellow.
These senior ladies know their moves at the Bintan festival.
Kids play area – just like in Sydney.
Join the Indonesian Army, Navy or Airforce!
Beach structure resmbling a snail or hermit crab?.
Seriously good rock group for the beach party.
The yachties doing their moves.
Midnight – setting off the mini hot air balloons.
Annie waiting for her balloon to lift off.
Up, up and away!
After the farewell and checking out of Indonesia at Bintan, we had to cross the Strait of Singapore – quite intimidating when you have to cross two shipping lanes, with more vessels than you can count on your AIS.
Most of the large vessels are travelling at around 20 knots, with the numerous ferries going at 30 knots. A rain squall hit us just before the first lane so we waited for it to clear and was lucky to get a reasonable gap in the east flowing lane. The west flowing lane required gunning it at maximum revs to pass just ahead of a 200 metre long tanker doing 18 knots.
Esprit approaching the Strait of Singapore.
Shipping highway.
Massive crane.
We checked into Malaysia at Puteri Harbour Marina where the organisers made the customs procedures part of their service, requiring only our electronic fingerprints. Absolutely painless and a 3 month visa at no charge! They laid on a gala welcome dinner for us at the 5-star hotel on the waterfront. A total of 68 vessels have signed up for the 5 week sail to Langkawi. We depart from here to Malacca on the first leg.
Puteri marina reception.
Sail Malaysia 2017 entrants.
Annie in her pedal VW Kombi.
We will catch up again in Langkawi, before we sail into Thailand. Cheers for now!
The Watson’s took a ferry from Gili Air to Bali on the 22nd September and we cast off the following morning to have a brisk sail to Ambat on the north-east coast of Bali. Ambat is at the foot of the active volcano, Ugang. The Watson’s who keep abreast of the news, told us that volcanic activity was imminent and that people have been evacuated around the volcano.
Mount Ugang
When we set sail the next morning, Ugang emitted a light cloud of steam, barely 10km away, so we hotfooted it to Lovina Bay for an overnight stay.
She’s smoking!
The rest of our rally group was now in Kumai, Borneo to see the orangutans, so we day hopped from Bali along the coasts of Java and Madura, before we did an overnight sail to Karimunjawa. With a population of about 140 million people, Java is the world’s most populous island and is home to about 60% of the Indonesian peoples. Around Surabaya, the second largest city after Jakarta, there are extensive gas and oil fields with very heavy shipping traffic and thousands of fishing boats.
Huge clouds forming over Java.
Approaching the strait between Madura and Java, I counted 73 large vessels on our AIS system. Mostly tankers waiting to take on oil and gas, but also ferries, tugs with longline tows of barges laden with mountains of coal and of course, the ubiquitous fishing vessels. It is best to only sail during the day because of the traffic intensity, but we had to do a 170-mile overnight sail to Karimunjawa, which was nerve racking. Most of these vessels don’t have AIS, and being timber built, not visible on radar.
One of the many unique Javanese fishing boats.
Internationally, vessels at sea show three lights, red (port), green (starboard) and white (stern). In these parts, strobe type LED disco lights in blue, pink, purple etc. are popular, making it impossible to determine the vessel’s course. The larger fishing boats have very bright arc lights to attract fish. So, sailing at night is a real challenge, particularly when you factor in the fish traps and fish nets. After anchoring in Karimunjawa, Annie had to dive to get some fish nets off Esprit’s propeller.
Even the smaller boats are decorated.
Karimunjawa is a pretty place where we stocked up with fruit and vegetables at the market and had dinner at a local café. The two plates of Nasi Goreng cost us AUD2.40, all up. The beers were slightly dearer at AUD3.00 for 500ml of Bintang beer (Bintang meaning “Star” in Bahasa). We left the following day to do the long haul to Belitung island. The 274 nm crossing of the Java sea took us 52 hours. Very little wind, meant we motored for 49 hours, burning about 90 litres of diesel.
Karimunjawa fisherman’s house.
And another quaint house.
A big and strange looking fishing boat.
We arrived in Belitung in a heavy rain squall at about 3pm in the afternoon. A lot of familiar faces from the rally awaited us and we joined Burmese Breeze for a fish BBQ in the evening. Annie discovered a lesion on her calve which she thought should be checked in case it was a melanoma.
The beach resort at our anchorage.
Kelayang beach on Belitung reminds a lot of our previous home in Bakoven, Cape Town, where we surrounded by these huge granite boulders and white sandy beaches.
View towards the Kelayang village from a small island offshore.
A small island near our anchorage.
Walking trail on this island.
This island is a sea turtle sanctuary.
The view from turtle island.
A huge granite boulder.
The following morning a helpful local gent took her on the back of his scooter to the local hospital, where he announced her as an emergency. She saw a doctor who confirmed it was a beetle bite, picked up in Karimunjawa. There seems to be poisonous rogue beetles on that island. The doctor gave her cortisone cream and antihistamine tablets – total charge was AUD0.60.
The doctor and Annie.
We visited a local senior high school where the students and staff laid on breakfast, singing, acting and dancing of a very high standard.
The teacher’s welcoming us at the gate.
Entry ceremony.
Male students doing their thing.
Female students welcoming dance.
Revlon has a big market in Indonesia.
First, a vegetarian breakfast.
Some of the 700 friendly students.
Welcoming song where Annie was asked to join in.
One of the student’s acts.
Dancing to wrap up the ceremonies and our visit.
The teachers also want to join in.
This was followed by lunch at a traditional timber house, with more dancing and music. Again the entry ceremony is a quaint and funny ritual where our host had to convince the owner of the house to let us in. In this case the owner was offered and accepted a fake A4 size, 100,000 Rupiah note (about AUD10).
Convince me why these people should enter.
Welcoming gifts.
Lunch at the traditional house.
Our traditional lunch.
Lunchtime music.
On the way back to our anchorage we visited a timber boat building yard where fishing boats are built in the traditional style.
Planked timber hulls.
Boat interior.
The evening was devoted to our welcoming dinner with various musical acts, excellent food and even the minister of tourism singing for us!
Opening act.
Childrens group creating environmental awareness.
Another environmental act aimed at unlawful hunting.
Leslie Rigney, one of our yachties, singing for the locals.
The minister doing his thing.
We had to do a closing act, so we sang Rod Stewart’s “We are sailing” to the max.
Part of our group.
Full blast.
The local tourism authority laid on an extensive programme of tours, cultural events and music performances for us. We also spent time talking to the local high school student’s “English Club” to give them the opportunity to practice their English and learn about our countries and cruising agendas. The students are bright and eager to learn, knowing that the future of their island is in tourism.
My group of English Club students.
The East Belitung Tourist Authority took us on a bus day tour to the capital Manggar and on the way we visited an open pit tin mine, a Buddhist temple with dragon dances and the local fighting between young men who try to cane their opponents on the back.
At the mine with Khadafi the tourist police chief.
Dragon dancing.
The dragons and us.
Beating the bejesus out of one another.
We were treated to lunch at a restaurant on the water’s edge before visiting the tourist authority offices and finishing at a coffee bar (Manggar has approximately 1,100 coffee bars) where a local music group performed for us. The two 17-year old local vocalists were very good.
Our last report was from the Medana Bay marina on Lombok. We called in at Gili Air on the way to Lovina Bay in the north of Bali. Michelle our daughter, has spent some time surfing in the Gili’s and highly recommended a visit to these islands. Ironically, she and Karen her sister, was in the heat and dust of the Burning Man festival in the USA, during our visit to these islands.
Gili Air – no motorised transport!
Gili Air anchorage.
Esprit enroute to Bali.
We arrived in Lovina Bay to renew our 3 month visas for Indonesia. Our Sydney friends, Ron and Michelle Watson, arrived the next day to join us for some sailing and R&R. The visas took five days to process, but the welcoming parties for the Lovina Bay Festival kept us fully occupied.
Annie and Michelle.
Ron, our new six pack barman.
Mr & Miss Lovina Bay Festival 2017.
Ladies, all dressed up.
Gents, also in their best.
Yachties, in their best.
Eric from Seattle, looking like a local.
Lovina Bay locals welcoming us with a dance on the beach.
Beautiful ladies on parade.
Very good kids band.
These girls were excellent twirling their flags.
Traffic jam.
Mick, Annie & Dirk at the selfie seat.
Fashionable teenagers strutting their stuff.
While these kids are making mud cakes.
Creating awareness for recycling!
Lovina Beach wall sculpture.
Buddhist/Hindu prayer posts everywhere.
After receiving our visas, we backtracked to Lombok island to show them the southern Gilis (Gede and Asahan) and northern Gili islands and visit Medana Bay.
Gili Gede.
First customers at a pub on Gili Gede.
View from the pub.
Hoola Hoop resort on Gili Asahan.
Drinks at Gili Air.
The young lovers in front of us.
To remind us of our age – the Stones mural at a music venue.
Aji the driver took us to some spectacular waterfalls near Medana Bay and also to an Elephant and wildlife park. After this we visited Gili Air where we enjoyed some good food and music. Unfortunately, the Watson’s had to catch a ferry back to Bali after 10 days on board, but hopefully they will join us again in Thailand.
On our way to the waterfalls.
Adam and Eve.
Ron and Annie had to swim.
Walking back through the Dutch built irrigation tunnel.
Park entrance.
Annie and some birds.
Ron, the snake handler.
Less dangerous feeding an elephant.
Agile monkeys.
You call that a day bed? Annie calls this a day bed.
We are now working our way across Java up to Karimunjawa to re-join the rally. There will be a number of overnight sail legs and we will report on these in our next post.
