Halfway!

We have made it! Barraveigh pulled into Bali Marina on 9th December 2008. I have sailed halfway around the world. Panama to Bali is halfway around this huge globe of ours. I am stunned & in shock that I have completed this crazy adventure. It feels surreal, as if I have lived someone else’s life for the last few years but I am so very very proud of myself.

Bobby & I fought the elements & we won! Halfway around the world on a sailboat….its time to celebrate!The last few months took their toll. Its only when you stop & relax do you realise the full extent of the pressure we were feeling everyday. The alternative route over the top of PNG was amazing & I wouldn't change it but it wasn't the easy route & we earnt the amazing memories.

The relief & happiness of pulling up to a dock with the knowledge we are staying put & no plans to leave in the immediate future was blissful & a huge relief. We are tired, our mojo’s low & we are in need of a rest & life with conveniences. Luckily Bali has that on offer in bucketfuls!Barraveigh needs a large amount of TLC but that is put on hold while we relax & take some much needed land time.

First things first, our list of priorities!

Fresh water shower at the marina

A huge meal washed down with ice cold cokes & beers!

Hire a carBuy an air conditioning unit for the boat

Get massages

Explore this fabulous island & its people

Wangi Wangi

Memories of the two nights spent here will always be recalled with a deep breath & the wonder of how we made it out in one piece.

The passage from Sarong was exhausting & hot. No winds meant running the engine every minute of every day, making the boat hot & noisy, & the captain concerned about an oil leak. Add to that no cooling breeze & no cold drinks (due to the broken fridge), equals a hot & bothered captain & crew! On the plus side there was plenty of power so we took our daytime watches in hour bursts taking it in turns to escape from the sun, sit under a fan & watch an episode of 24 – Jack Bower will never know how much he saved our sanity!! Bobby was crowned a hero when he discovered we could run the ice machine with the engine on. Cold ice cubes have never looked or tasted so beautiful!

We arrived in Wangi Wangi late in the afternoon. Not something we would normally do, trying to find a place to anchor as the light fades is far from good seamanship. We were tired & hot & made a decision that we came to regret. There were many factors in the decision process of which I will not go into but, it seemed the right choice at the time. As is always the case with time & reflection, sticking to the golden rules should never be broken. Anyone reading this with hopes of cruising in the future take note. Golden rule number one: never come into a new anchorage in the dark or without sufficient daylight.

The depth readings here were totally random. One minute you were in 100 feet of water & seconds later we had readings of 20 feet & less, only for it to quickly return to 100 feet. It was mentally exhausting & fried my nerves. Unable to find a suitable spot to anchor we were now unable to leave. On the way in we had dodged through 100’s of FAD’s which littered the harbour mouth & there was no way out in the dark without colliding with them. It was decided that we would drive in circles for a few hours & wait for the passenger ferry to leave so we could tie up to the dock. The dock was the worst we had seen & a boat owners idea of hell. Huge pillars of concrete with many jagged edges waiting to punch a hole in Barraveighs side. Just as we got settled with fenders in place we were asked if we could leave as another passenger boat was about to arrive…..could they not have told us this as we were tying up!!!

Bobby went off to check the engine before starting her up & found the bilge full of oil. We weren’t going anywhere. Wangi Wangi really is the back of beyond, they don’t get tourists & trying to converse with the locals in a high pressured situation was not easy even with our Bahasa dictionaries. In the end Bobby took the locals down into the boat to show them what was wrong with the engine. Crisis diverted, we were allowed to stay put.

Up & down like yoyos through the entire night as the tide went out leaving more of the dock exposed, left us more tired than when we arrived. At 4am Bobby had a brain wave & knew what was wrong with the engine & begun fixing it. By 7am we had waved goodbye to our buddy boat Emelia, & were left feeling both emotionally & physically drained. Bobby worked hard & got the engine fixed so we could move off the dock & out of everyones way, but we were still needed to fill up with fuel before we could go anywhere. A local fishing boat allowed us to tie onto their starboard side so we happily got resituated & breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately the locals were highly curious of us & sat along the side of the fishing boat staring. I now know what a caged animal at the zoo feels like. No privacy, no ability to cool off & discard any clothing when your every move is being watched & showering in the cockpit was going to be fun! We were also concerned they would come onto the boat & steal from us whilst we slept so we decided to make friends with the fishermen in hope they’d look after us. I handed out cigarettes & after requests for Michael Jackson songs I agreed to play 2 songs on Barraveighs cockpit speakers if they would then let us get some sleep.

Bobby made arrangements to collect fuel the following day & we then went in search of a restaurant with AC & cold drinks, not as easy as we had expected in this one horse town but we were so beyond tired just a cold coke was like heaven in a can! Ready to finally settle down to a well needed nights sleep, we were content & sure we had seen the last of the back luck, but someone had other plans for us. In the middle of the night the winds & swell whipped up smashing us into the fishing boat making staying put dangerous for both boats. We slipped the lines & motored in circles for 5 hours awaiting the swell to die down & the sun to come up. We took it in turns to rest in the cockpit whilst the other took the wheel. This trip pushes me & pushes me to breaking point but even when I’m there, it is not over. There is no choice but to dig deeper & carry on until you & the boat are safe. I have worked crazy shifts in the police & crazy hours on operations but nothing & I mean nothing compares to the exhaustion I have felt on this trip.

As the sun began to rise we retied to the fishing boat. Bobby filled Barraveigh with diesel & I made a cake for the fishermen & attempted to prepare meals for the next passage – I have no idea how I did this because at this point I was functioning with my eyes closed! We were ready to get moving, had the worst thrown at us & still come back fighting. We were tired but were safe & Barraveigh was in one piece. We were just taking stock of everything when a large passenger boat hit our port side. We were beyond words. The ferry had come into the dock too fast & got the angle wrong totally wrong, hitting us like bumper cars at the fairground. No word or sign of an apology from the captain or crew.

We had made friends with the secret police (which I think is their version of plain clothed policemen as they sure don’t make any attempt to be secret about who they are). The entire police station attended (about 10 officers) & brought the captain of the ferry boat with them. Luckily upon inspection we had no damage & the whole incident was sorted with the captain buying everyone a round of “dingin” (cold) soft drinks. Smiles & handshakes all round but we left Wangi Wangi soon after breathing a sigh of relief that we were still afloat.

It was certainly up there with some of the worst of experiences of this trip but at the same time we made some good friends with the locals, & the friendliness of the Indonesians helped balance the bad. We are heading for Labuan Bajo & then onto the Gilli’s. The end of this year seems to very close but still so far & I’m tired beyond belief!

Sarong

The people here are easily hypnotised by blonde hair. I have been living like a film star with people taking photos of me in the street & at the supermarket. They either try to sneakily take the photo or come up to me requesting a photo with them & then inviting me to their school or college. Its amusing, the people are so kind that it hasn’t yet got annoying & as we travel closer to the Indonesia more frequented by tourists I will no longer be the only blonde.

We travel about on benos. Tiny yellow mini buses that you just flag down. It must be law to stuff the windscreen with as many cuddly toys & lights as humanly possible so you can only just see the other cars on the roads! The other law they seem to have invented is at night you must have flashing neon lights all over the interior of the bus. It all makes for interesting trips to the supermarket & mini mobile discos on a Friday night!

I have begun a life of normality. I had a well needed hair cut (£3 for a wash cut & blow dry compared to £50 at home), I’ve chilled out at some nice restaurants, been clubbing for the fraction of the price back home, bought a mobile phone & when we get to Bali its only going to get better. Independence is probably the biggest thing I miss & one of the hardest things to try & keep alive living in such confined quarters with a partner. There are some plus sides to a western lifestyle!

I’m loving the experience here, the people & the food but the children I can live without. All day we are bombarded with the kids shouting “Mister Bobby, Mister Suzi” & if we don’t answer they then start throwing things at the boat. At which point they get an answer but I’m not sure it’s the answer they were wanting. It was bearable in the beginning but I’m starting to loose now!

The news I'm still trying to come to terms with is that the fridge has quit working. We are facing the real possibility of sailing the rest of the trip down to Bali with no cold drinks & no way to keep fresh food. There are cruisers that sail around the world with no fridge & I take my hat off to them but there are a few luxuries I cannot imagine being without in this climate, the fridge is top of that list. We are being forced into living without out it & it doesn’t get better with time. I know we will survive but arrgghh its not making provisioning for passages easier. Wish me luck or wish Bobby luck it maybe tins of baked beans from here on out!