Here are just a few Bali Tid-bits mostly from a friends blog, www.theslapdash.com , and from an email.  Jaime and Seth are circumnavigating on small catamaran and we met up in Panama and have stayed in touch via email.  So many people have been concerned about the check-in for Indonesia so I wanted to forward this info on to my cruising friends heading that way and to a few other that might be just entertained.  There is also a section about the price of things in Bali, and it sounds good.  FYI he says he has the dollars converted into Canadian dollars (its not their fault they are Canadians) but I just checked the currency conversion and it seems the USD is the same as a Canadian dollar right now, neat.  You can get a lot of good factual information on their passages plus heir website / blog www.theslapdash.com is an awesome read as they are having an amazing experience and are great writers as well!  Hope somebody finds this useful! -Kirk

(AN EMAIL SENT TO KIRK ON March 10 2010)

Bali is relatively easy to check in to. Send an email to Bali Nautical and ask for a CAIT. Tell them which islands you think you might stop in at. Costs the same if you hit one or all. Give them about 4 weeks to process it. Arrive into Benoa Harbour. Walk across the street to customs, immigration, port authority, etc. Takes all day but they are cool. If you get someone who isn’t cool, give them $2 and they will bend over backwards for you. And enjoy. CAIT is good for 3 months I think and can be renewed. Costs about $250 AUD Read the rest of this entry

Well after being here over 48 hours I decided it was finally time to get off of the boat. I was too lazy to put the outboard motor on the dingy so I rowed a 1/4-mile to the shore and then took a walk down the beach. I admit, my primary motivation was the free showers on the boardwalk, I don’t think it’s weird to use soap in the beach showers at all, I cant imagine why no one else does… Then I decided my beer rations were getting too low as I might spend up to a week or more in the somewhat isolated Sandy Strait area, my next stop. The Wind forecast is looking awkward, either too much wind or not enough or the wrong direction, but maybe I could make a sail of it if I leave tomorrow night and sail overnight. Its only 64 miles but that’s just a bit further than I can make in one day, then again I might attempt a night time approach since I’ve already been over this “Wide Bay Bar” three times and once at night One time being on my way south a few months back when I lost my forestay, but that’s an old story now. Back to the beer run, so the cheapest case (24) of beer that I could find was $40 AUD, that’s basically $40 USD these days since all of you back home decided to screw up the value of our dollar, not that I really blame anyone :-). So I skipped the beer and got a soft serve Ice Cream Cone from McDonalds for 50 cents, Extra Value meals here start around $9 just to give you an idea of the price of things… But that’s ok. In a few months I’ll be in Bali sipping $1.00 cocktails at the bar and getting $5 massages on the beach.

I added a few photos of the anchorage here at sunset to the Australia album;

Click Here For More Pictures

Finally back underway after about 3 months of being moored in the Brisbane River. Here is the log from Brisbane to Tangalooma;

Thursday April 22 2010. Brisbane Australia, Pylon moorings off of the Botanical Gardens in the Brisbane River. Depart, 730AM, 6.5kts,

10:15AM, Brisbane River head, Motor off, 4.8kts. Squally ahead

11:30 Caught 30″ Spotted Mackerel!!

1:40PM Anchor down in 16′ water, Tangalooma.

What the log fails to mention is how good it felt to be back underway! I was hoping to leave Brisbane a bit earlier, but I decided to take the opportunity to do some work on another boat and help re-stock the cruising fund while I could, even if this meant leaving a few weeks later than planned. Read the rest of this entry