It was of course very calm with no wind, so once again we motored for most of the way. Occasionally we motor-sailed and very rarely sailed. We experienced some problems with our digital charts with several computer crash dumps. The computer kept wanting to install a new driver for our GPS system (our "hockey puck") but we have no internet out at sea which is needed to install any new driver. Hopefully we can solve this problem at Bali.
As backup, we printed digital screen shots of our route and also our computer waypoints just in case the computer refused to restart.
On our 2nd evening, we ran into choppy seas and a countercurrent which slowed us down to only 1 nautical mile in 1 hour. Sea Turtle should be averaging around 5 nautical miles per hour so we tacked.
We saw dolphins a couple of times, and as we finally approached the mountainous island of Bali, we suddenly noticed literally hundreds of fishboats with sails and NO lights! They were obviously avoiding us as we could barely see them till the sun came up a bit more. Apparently they leave Bali shores to fish every morning with their bright coloured sails flying.
Watch out!
We picked up a Royal Bali Yacht Club mooring ball at S08°43.157' E115°14.442' on November 25th at 11:00. We moored at small Serangan Island, a 15-second dinghy ride from main Bali Island.
With a message from Jordan's son and our daughter-in-law (Aaron and Dee), we quickly found a local man's van to rent for cheap at $20/day and headed out to meet them, leaving behind Serangan (aka Turtle Island). What an amazing drive!
We passed temple after temple, yards filled with religious-offering structures, shops filled with wood carvings or stone carvings or glass carvings...exquisite carvings far and wide. It was non-stop, everywhere you looked, you couldn't take it all in.
Traffic was unbelievable and moved urgently. Hundreds of motor scooters zipped in and out of 4-wheeled traffic. The lanes were ignored as several scooters were in each lane with a car or truck - no such thing as 1 vehicle per lane as back home! Being in a van, it was difficult to pass but the scooters moved much quicker with their size.
We checked into the same bungalows as Aaron and Dee in a charming town named Ubud (pronounced Oo bood), and as the rain came down in buckets, we had dreams of sights to see tomorrow...
Our Warsa Bungalow
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