September 28th: another sleep in as we were waiting for Stormvogel to get their laundry back (oh the joys of having a washing machine on board!) I utilised the time to update the website and answer emails while we have internet. Robbie went for a spin in the duck to have a look around in particular at a local fishing boat with an unusual set up with 2 inboard diesels on a hinge with a long shaft and propellor. We were able to skype Robbie’s Mum and my brother Murray who is white-baiting down the West coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Although we have an Indonesian cell phone the cost to call Australia or New Zealand is astronomical and every time we have made a call it has used all of our credit on the phone – sometimes $100 so we don’t use it now and use Skype instead – that is when we have internet.
We had a very pleasant cruise to a beautiful little anchorage called Tel Potopaddu. It was a very narrow entrance between two reefs and a beautiful sandy beach into a lagoon like area that was flat calm and very picturesque. There were monkeys in the trees near where we anchored.
We were immediately inundated with kids and adults in canoes, begging and asking for stuff. Normally I give out heaps of stuff but when they are like this I feel like it takes the joy out of giving. We all headed over for sundowners on the little sandy beach and there was a canoe of 5 kids hanging off the boat when we left so Robbie gave them a tow over to the island, that was pretty cool. Moonbeam and Solstice, two of the American yachts in the rally had arrived in the afternoon so it was really lovely to catch up with them all.
We were in a fun mood so after sundowners Robbie snuck up on Stormvogel and was nudging them around with the duck. We ended up having a few drinks on board Oda and Per was in top form and came out dressed as a pirate with a long wig, hat and machete in his mouth, then it was Pipi Longstocking wig, he really is the funniest guy and we had too many laughs again.
