Bali Stay and (eventual) Departure

Hi everyone,
We had a great four days away in the Bali hills with Graham and Anne from Kakadu. We stayed in a villa near Klungkung for two nights, then another villa near Sideman for the next two. Both were very nice in different ways.  Here are some photos...

The pool at Puri Pondok Villa outside Klongkong

There be dragons at the Klongkong markets

and spices too!

Klongkong temple guardian (one of many)

Klongkong temple art

Tanto Villa near Sideman

Trekking around the rice paddies near Sideman

Sunbrellas in the grass

Twas a long walk with fantastic scenery

A River Somewhere

Well tended rice paddies

View from our lunch restaurant

Climbing up to the temple

Worshippers at the temple

A beach at Candidasa

We returned to Benoa on Monday, stopping at Candidasa for lunch. That proved to be a bad idea since 3 out of 4 of us got bad food poisoning and we've only just recovered fully from it. Y'aint been ta Bali if ya ain't had da Belly...

Yesterday we did our final preparations and cleared out of Indonesia. Clearing out requires visits to 5 separate offices and it took nearly 3 hours but was uneventful which is the main thing. This morning we settled up with the marina and departed at 0930. We had 1.5knots of current against us in the Benoa harbour channel as expected, but then found the main current in the Lombok Strait was running north. It's supposed to be running south by now (and actually was a month ago).

It took until 1400 to motor-sail through and out of the area of contrary current. The wind gradually built and we are now sailing along close-reaching under full sail with a very nice 12 knot ESE breeze. Lovely blue sky, clear horizon (no haze) and isolated Cumulus clouds. Champagne sailing and heading for home!

We are aiming towards Dampier and expect the passage to take about 6 days. This morning's forecasts showed nice easterlies pretty-much all the way, which of course won't come true but one's gotta have a dream!

Trust all's well where you are.