Sitting at the computer right now I am in the midst of about half a tonne of groceries spread all around the salon, galley, and aft deck…cans, boxes, cartons, bottles, fruit and vegetables all waiting for a home! I have offered to find a place for the chocolate and Pringles but no one has taken me up on it. Monika, Lasse and DJ have certainly got a job on their hands salting it all away, but for the rest of us it is nice to know we are fully stocked up again, as we have been running low on provisions over the last couple of weeks. (Not that there was ever any chance of us starving). Tomorrow we will have to fill up STARSHIP’s fuel tanks as well…we are running on the smell of an oily rag at the moment, and the same goes for the tenders which are both down to their last quarter tanks…this is most definitely a much-needed reprovisioning stop!

We arrived in the aptly named Bali marina, in south-east Bali late this morning after an easy 18 hour passage from Moyo…and you couldn’t find a much greater contrast than from the quiet, isolated places we have been visiting recently to the overdeveloped coastline of Bali that came into view. Large beachfront hotels and resorts, a flotilla of jet skis, speedboats, paragliders and ferries ploughing back and forth, groomed beaches and rows of umbrellas testament to the endless search for the ‘tourist dollar’. Seemingly this was a very different place to the Bali I had visited ten years ago, although no doubt once away from the touristy hot spots of Kuta, Legian and Ubud the old Bali would still be present with its small villages, friendly people, rice terraces and beautiful lush scenery.

Coming into the marina we could see a forest of masts and a multitude of boats of all sizes and designs … wind generators spinning madly and flags from a host of different countries waving in the breeze. Small dinghies puttered back and forth, and there were the familiar sounds (at least for people who live around the sea) of stays rattling against masts and the creaking of mooring lines. Most of the boats were cruising yachts and many of the crews were busy with various jobs like sanding, painting, replacing lines and cleats, or effecting repairs before their next passage. Here was a complete little nautical community with an entirely different set of concerns and priorities to the ‘landlubbers’ onshore. I often think ‘sea people’ effectively live in a different world that is hard for a ‘normal’ person to grasp.

One of the things I like about staying in marinas is the people you meet, especially the real old salts who have spent years traveling the world on small yachts and have a hundred and one stories to tell from around the globe. You often bump into couples with grown-up kids finally living out their dreams of traveling the Pacific, and still other couples taking their children with them to get a taste of life and a view of the world that many adults never get to experience.

Just slowly wandering along the docks and looking at the different boats is also fascinating; casting your eye over well weathered ocean-going yachts, sleek new racing yachts, battered old fishing boats and ‘Miami Vice’ style cabin cruisers, comfortable looking catamarans and eccentric ‘traditional’ craft. Some appear very ‘lived in’ with clothes hanging from the yards and lots of small modifications to make them more comfortable, while others sit forlornly gathering salt; a rich persons forgotten plaything. Some boats are beautiful to look at and lovingly maintained, others downright ugly; but all with character of some sort and a story behind them. A few of the older boats could have been cruising the world for forty or fifty years, clocking up thousands of sea miles and many adventures in that time…in fact if you totaled up all the miles traveled by the boats in a marina like this where most of the vessels are cruising yachts, the frequent flyer miles would earn you a trip to the moon! There’s certainly no getting away from the romanticism of boats and life on the ocean; sea-going vessels are a ‘link’ between all those exotic-sounding locations and ports of call around the world…conjuring up visions of different people and cultures, and epic voyages of discovery like those of Darwin, Cook, and Magellan. Mind you a good dose of sea-sickness or the reality of owning your own boat and paying to keep it afloat can soon cure that!

Henrik, Rene, Jan and Cornelius.(from left)

The STARSHIP crew (with the exception of the shopping contingent) spent most of this afternoon washing down STARSHIP and carrying out boat maintenance; Trevor replaced the Racors (fuel filters) that had been giving us trouble recently, Monika did some washing in the “Powerful Pulsator with Buzzer!” and I did a small repair on a broken latch. Michael meanwhile met with Rene, the wife of Lorenz and part owner of Wakatobi Dive Resort (which we visited while in Sulawesi) and Henrik, also involved with the business. They have invited the crew over for dinner tomorrow night, so we look forward to getting to know them better and hearing a bit more about their experiences in setting up a dive resort in such a remote part of the world.

Although having the pleasure of making some new acquaintances today, we were also sorry to have to say goodbye to Cornelius and Jan this afternoon…Cornelius returning to Germany briefly before his next photo assignment in Europe, and Jan off to interview a scientist in Kuta researching Komodo dragon saliva (! ) before also going back to Germany. They have both been great individuals to have onboard and provided us with some interesting conversations and ideas; it is the people like them that we meet along the way which help make this journey special.

Well here ends another day, the sky dark now and some delicious smells emanating from the galley…always a distraction for me! Tomorrow after fuelling STARSHIP we should be able to explore a little bit, so I look forward to telling you in what ways Bali has changed (or remained the same) since I was last here,

Adios,

Diver Dave