Gone Cruising …..

It’s exactly a month since we arrived back at Rebak Marina and what a month it has been – some wild weather, unexpected meetings, new friends, many beautiful locations, and arriving in a new country.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

It was great to be back on Bali Hai after two month’s away and we were pleasantly surprised to find her looking great after such a long break. No mould down below, cleanish decks, freezer still working and a clean waterline.

We were anxious to get away so after a couple of days rest and a quick “hello” to Phil on Paseafique and Marilyn on Charon we headed out of Reebak Marina.

It was cloudy and looking rather threatening when we dropped our lines but it felt so good to be in Bali Hai and on the move again.

Unfortunately what wind there was blew from the direction we were heading so we had to forget the sails and motor round to Telaga.

Fortunately, the weather cleared up by the afternoon and we were able to appreciate the beauty of this lovely anchorage and enjoy a gorgeous sunset.

We woke to clouds billowing up Mt. Machinchang where the steepest cable car ride on earth takes visitors up 708m above sea level.

From the boat we could clearly see this amazing engineering feat which plies its way up the rugged peak day in day out, come rain or shine.

We caught up again with Phil from Paseafique who was about to check out of Malaysia to sail to Thailand.

Before he sailed into the sunset he braved the elements and took a trip on the cable car. I’m not that keen on heights and neither is Jonathan so we decided to postpone that pleasure for another day.

Phil told us all about it at sundowners on Paseafique and we are now determined to steel ourselves and take the trip up the mountain one day soon.

Our activities were more coastal based – a visit to the sail loft to enquire about patching a small hole in our mainsail and the possibility of purchasing a pole to use on our fore sail when sailing downwind, a walk along the lovely beach and a browse of some vintage cars on display.

As I mentioned in my last blog update, the cruising life has one big downside – saying goodbye so frequently. However, the upside of this is that sometimes you bump into people unexpectedly and you have the pleasure of saying an unplanned “hello”. This happened to us twice while anchored in Telaga.

The first was when there was a knock on the hull and we were both down below doing various chores. When we popped our heads up we discovered Sue Lupari and her husband Greg from Lupari Two.

Now we have never met either Sue or Greg but I felt that I knew Sue quite well as she and I both belong to a Facebook site called Women Who Sail Australia.

This community is open to women who are involved in boats and love the ocean and is a place where members can share information, ask questions without the fear of feeling stupid or being subject to ridicule, swap ideas and sometimes just “offload”. It’s also a great way of meeting other people.
So we enjoyed a sundowner with Sue and Greg on Bali Hai and the following day went over to Lupari Two for a very pleasant drink or two.

The second unscheduled and happy meeting was with Mike and Jill from Yantara. They were tied up in Telaga Marina and we just caught sight of them as we took our tender to the fuel dock.

We had a great catch up on Yantara and admired all the work that had been completed recently at Satun and then later met for a meal at a great little pop-up restaurant on the beach. Jonathan and my meals (three dishes) cost Aus$1.20 in total (not each!)