North Sulawesi, Indonesia

We are currently in North Sulawesi in Indonesia and have been for two weeks. Email is a little tricky so hence this is coming via the satellite phone and Amanda - aka the Post Lady

We have survived the sail Bunaken rally in Bitung where 60 yachts were anchored in the Lembah Straits. I have been one of two thousand divers claiming the Guiness book of records for the largest number of divers, diving at one time. The previous record was 900. Have the T shirt and certificate!!

The rally was full of surprises and true Indonesian hospitality. Jakarta has poured a lot of money into the north Sulawesi community to make the whole event a wonderful experience. We have been entertained nearly every night, given numerous T shirts for this and that, hats, stuffed Nemo toys (the mascot of the event), cases of beer, cases of canned tuna (locally produced!), coffee table picture books of the area and islands from a Google earth perspective from the Major of the area, sports bags, day excursions to Takagong National Park to see Tarsius (world smallest primate) and rare black macaques, only found in this area. Been taken to Manado for shopping to great supermarkets compared to our experiences two years ago in the southern part of Indonesia.

Have had numerous chicken satays, nasi gorengs (fried rice), gado gado (veggie salad with satay sauce- yum) and Mie goreng (fried noodles) and fried squid! Missing the roti chanai's of Malaysia (this is a flat bread that comes with curry or dhal. The north Sulawesi people are predominantly Christian which makes a change after Malaysia.

We have had a very social time meeting new friends from sail Indonesia 2009 and saying goodbye to old friends who have different schedules and plans to us.

We are currently waiting for Ginny and David on Pura Vida to catch up with us. They are still in Borneo at Kudat with a head gasket problem but hope to enter Indonesia in September. We are going to potter around the Sulawesi islands and snorkel and scuba dive and of course complete school work for a couple of weeks and then head east to Ternate and Halamera! The water is blue (true indigo blue) and warm and the coral is brightly coloured due to strong currents and nutrient rich deep water. The fish are small! But there are rare fish only found here. It is a divers paradise and off the beaten track.

We have a cruising permit valid for as long as our visa is valid (up to 6 months, which is new way of doing things in Indonesia). We have been given cheap extensions on our visas (half the price of sail Indonesia 2007) so currently have visas for 90 days as of the 12th August. We will get another extension at the beginning of November probably at Biak......

All is well on Blue Moon except for myself having an eye infection from a new brand of contact lens. They don't supply the one if use in Australia in SE Asia!! I'm sure it will clear up soon but it has curtailed my snorkelling and diving. Latest news is it is a cornea infection - a bit more serious and means new ointments and drops. Luckily there is an australian afliated eye clinc here in Manado. We will stay this are of north Sulawesi until the eye improves.

We have found a wonderful bay which is calm, great diving, snorkelling, white sandy beach, no shops and views of numerous volcanoes. None are smoking but from here on we will probably see lots of volcanoes and many active. For those who want to know the way point 01N41 125E09 - Petimti Bay, North Sulawesi. This where we are sitting as if write this email. Check it out on Google Earth.

From Manado we are going to explore the islands north of here. Looks good on google earth!!

Please text our iridium if you have a moment, we'd love to hear what you are doing and what is going on in the world. We have indonesian mobile now too.