30/9 Sailing to Bawean and a pit stop at Rass Island 74.3 NM away. Up at 05 and get the dive compressor packet furtherest away in the aft compartment. So get dingy motor on board and the dingy on the davit. Anker up at 06 in the morning and an hour after Randivåg. No wind so motor sailing. Sat main at 09 a clock. Later on 13 knots of wind. Beautiful sunset and nice sundowner when anchor was dropped close to Blue Rogers, Randivåg and Volo.
1/10 Sailing to Bawean Island over night jib only. First coal barge we saw. Later on we saw many.
2/10 At 10 a clock in the morning we enter the north bay of Bawian island and drop the anchor. After a nap we lower the dingy and went in to register. Two nice “guide/English student” girls went with us a tour around the village. We bought some bread and met a teacher who invited us to meet his university students. They sat on the floor in circle eating fruit and we had to get down on the floor too. We got fruit and the lady at the house gave us bread. Many pictures were taken of us with them.
3/10 Early morning we get picked up from Alexandra by a local boat and sailed to the Gili island. Thanks to Susanne on Erie Spirit who told him that we expected to be picked up at Alexandra. Our captain had a good boat and he pressed the speeder to the maximum. After a while we had only the police speedboat close bye all the other boats were much slower. One of the local boat had a leek and it was not much fun for the passenger. The idea was nice though to get out sailing with a local fishing-boat. Arriving on the Gili island we could go on land on the not so good bridge and the others had to get into the water. On the island Lars and I swam a little tour and Lars catch some corals and fish further out on the GoPro . I saw only see-grass. We bought some chips made from cassava root. Back to the very bridge and after climbing over another local boat we could reach ours and on we go to the Mhumbul Beach. Here we got a big welcome. All off us getting sarongs and hats before entering the stairs up the hill to the area for getting local food. The minister of tourism asked me if I wanted to hold a speech and of cause I could not say no. There were a lot of speeches from the scene further up. My speech was very short just telling about our dream to sail around the world and now being in Indonesia we were half away around. Also telling them how we enjoyed being here because of the beautiful places, historical sights but most because of the nice and friendly people. We got a big basket each with paper flowers and goodies because it was Muhammed´s birthday. Back to the anchorage in the north we were transported by trucks sitting on the let.
4/10 One of the young men took us, Sandie, Max, Lisa, Sven, Lars and I, to a whole day trip around the island. First to a culture centre with dance and batik. We drove a long very narrow road to a sanctuary for a very rare deer only existing here. They were not easy to see but Lars got them on the telephoto lens. We visited a factory making fish stick snacks and a shop selling rugs made of palm leaves. Finally we visited our drivers home and his mother invited us for lunch. It was very generous and we were not allowed to pay. The sweet mother had a pond with gold fish and enjoyed her garden with vegetable and fruit trees. We could taste a couple of exotic fruits. As she was a widow, living with two suns, a daughter in law and a daughter, was a good solution. Our driver could get time for a private prayer while we were eating, sitting on the fine rug, in the big hall. The village with nice houses was a little empty because many people worked in Malaysia. Back again we had no time to dress up but continue to a hot spring bath were we met the others. After that back to Mhumbul Beach again for farewell party on the pier.
5/10 Many rally boat have sail this morning. We stay put and make water for Sean and Sabine on Chevaldy. Sean had an infected wound, so he got eosin red in 10 ampules to put on twice a day, after rinsing the wound. Also they had problems with the motor. They had caught a fishing line in the propeller and the line had pulled the shaft out of the gear box. Sean borrowed an air tank to go down and check the propeller. Cleaning the boat and spray for prevention of getting cockroaches. Sundowner on Randivåg also with Max and Sandi.
