Bali

Today we were awakened by the clanging noises made by the engineers who were trying to repair the cable of our lifeboat which broke in Darwin. As we looked out from our balcony we saw a little home-made dugout canoe-like boat with outriggers carrying two men and a big fish in a basket. They were holding their hands up as if they wanted something ($???). When asked, they responded that they wanted soap. No problem. We threw them some soap, some shampoo and also some fruit, which they loved. If they didn't catch something they just dove into the water to retrieve it.

After a short tender ride to shore, we were basically attacked by Bali people offering us rides in their cars, selling watches, sunglasses, necklaces, pulling on our shirt. They are so poor.

We finally chose someone to be our driver after inspecting his car for safety and told him where we wanted to go -- to Ubud and the rice fields. Also, a stop at a batik processing store and a silver factory.

Our next port is Sandakan, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. The captain has told us that The Entrance to the harbor in Sandakan is very shallow and can only be navigated by us at high tide. At low tide the clearance under our ship is a little under one meter, which is too close for Comfort. At high tide it's two meters. Based on the latest tide information we have to leave Bali two hours early and travel at full Speed for two days. We'll let you know in Sandakan if we made it since everything is dependant on wind and sea conditions for ther next two days.

written by  rcodel on March 6, 2011 from Ubud, Indonesia
from the travel blog: World Cruise - 2011
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