Indonesian Isles

Monday 21st
Grey morning with threatening skies, however we were still able to sit on the deck as the drizzle went by.  We crossed the equator at 12.54 and all the water went straight down the plughole :-)   Unfortunately we did then pass through a heavy shower, which delayed the King Neptune ceremony at 1.00.  It was all good fun (watching from above), with lots of noodles, eggs, ketchup, flour and other delights strewn about. No sooner had the proceedings finished the rain reappeared. Didn't last long and we saw a lovely sunset. After dinner we sat on the deck as usual and were treated to a magnificent lightning display, including some multicoloured forked lightning.  We were also travelling a fleet of squid fishing boats - over a dozen with bright lights, quite spectacular.

Tuesday 22nd
We are in the Java Sea this morning and the sea is flat, skies clear and I suspect that we could be in for a hot day.  They stole an hour from us last night, so we are back on Singapore time. It was noticeable at breakfast that there were only a dozen of us at 8.00, but the crowds rolled in half an hour later. We are back in the shipping lane, with a number of tankers passing or being passed.  There is also an aircraft carrier off to Port, but it is too far away to know whose it is.

Wednesday 23rd
We are about 20 miles north of Bali and later in the day we will pass between Bali & Lombok on our way to Komodo Island. The sea is still calm and the sun is bright. Once again we are on deck, but today half of our (non-smoking side) deck is closed as they are doing some maintenance work.  Update - they've finished!

We have a lunch today with other members from the Cruise Critic website. Cruise Critic is the cruising version of Trip Advisor and generally we have a get together once or twice during a cruise. We had a lunch on the first sector too. Our dinner table continues to be partially occupied each night, with only Diane from the Gold Coast a regular.  Sveta & George did come on Monday night, but we haven't seen Elaine since the first formal night.  Vivian did meet her in the passageway a couple of days ago & she apparently had gym at 6.00.  Like, I'm washing my hair too:-)

Had a good show last night - a comedian/magician from UK.  Reminded us of our friend Norman, from the last sector and he actually did one of Norman's tricks - but using invisible cards.  Sounds silly, but the woman from the audience played along well with the invisible cards gag. 

Well since I started this the sea has risen and the wind increased. As we are sitting more towards the front of the ship, we are getting quite a bit of sea spray. A reasonably large wooden raft had just drifted past, no one was on board, except half a dozen sea birds - and no, not boat people, as it was headed the other way, towards the north.  Both islands of Bali & Lombok are now in sight and the sea is further increasing however our stabilisers are smoothing out our journey.  Latest update just after 3.00, we have past through the small strait and are now in much calmer seas. It was very interesting going through though as I was up in the lounge on the top deck at the front of the ship and there appeared to be a large rip or at least current running and we were certainly moving around a bit.  I think that we are pretty well in the Indian Ocean now, although keeping pretty close to the shore on our journey to Komodo.