September 30, 2008 - Nusa Lembongan, Bali, Indonesia

For a very short window each year, there are western boats in Serangan Harbor spending western dollars. That window is rapidly closing. The last of the rally boats left yesterday. Suddenly, we are the last game in town. Every time we come ashore, we are approached by several people trying to take our laundry or trash (to pick through for cans they can return for deposit or bottles and any other scraps they can use), to sell us trinkets or transport. The prices on boat services in the harbor have also come back down to normal since the other rally boats left. If we were interested in having work done, the supply and demand ratio is now firmly in our favor. But right now, all we want is to get out of this hot, humid harbor and park ourselves and Mata'irea in some clean water for a change.

After using up the last of our pre-paid internet, we made our escape back to Nusa Lembongan, where we spent a few days with Suzy at the end of August. We still haven't figured out how to time the currents around here. At times we made barely any progress against the current, with the jib full and the engine running hard at 3200 RPMs. Luckily, we left with enough time to make it into the inner harbor at NL before sunset. We picked up a mooring among Kika and two Dutch boats. Nick sped over to give us the good news that he'd had a response from one of his fliers. A Dutch woman was taking the ferry over to NL tomorrow to check out him and Kika. Good to know that our liver damage was not for naught.