7th - 9th October 2013
Monday 7th October 2013
The following morning, we took advantage of the fuel barge being in close proximity to us and took on the fuel we require to top up our tank and jerry cans. We took on 822 litres of fuel which we hope will get us to Mauritius if not further.
Paul and Trish had left Babe and taken a hotel for a few nights, The Sentosa Seminyak Hotel (ww.sentosaseminyak.com). They invited us to join them for an evening as they had three double rooms and were only using two, so we gratefully accepted their kind invitation. We took a taxi there at around six o'clock after spending the day working on the boat, servicing winches etc. Paul, Trish and Kady were waiting for us in the bar and Paul took us to the villa to shower and change - wow. It was beautiful! An enclosed walled garden with a swimming pool in the centre, surrounded by three separate double bedroom buildings and a large lounge/dinning/kitchen area.
Our double room, as with the others, had a large double bed with a large wardrobe/ dressing area behind and an open air bathroom with double bath, shower, toilet and vanity sink.
We showered and changed quickly before returning to join them back in the bar, moving on to the restaurant for dinner. The service was excellent, the food was maybe a little too tv chef for our taste and international rather than Indonesian, but we enjoyed the food deciding that we could have missed out on the main course and made do with just the starters and deserts. Susan proclaimed the liquorice ice cream to be wonderful and probably the best desert she had had - ever!
We all returned to the villa and went swimming and had a night-cap before turning in for the night.
Tuesday 8th October 2013
I woke early and started running the bath for Susan, which looked as though it may take some time to fill, while I went to make a coffee. Trish was already awake and having an early morning swim. I returned with Susan's morning tea which I placed on the side of the bath before lighting the candles and waking her. We bathed together before joining Trish around the pool for another cuppa.
Susan was having her 'birthday' massage at 9 am then going for breakfast which I decided would take too much time out of the day when we had the winches to finish servicing and other jobs to complete so I returned to the boat to get on. She returned via Carrefour with the drinks part of the provisioning, later in the afternoon, stowing everything below decks.
We had a local guy, Ade, cleaning the boat. He did all of the stainless steel cleaning and polishing before continuing with the polishing of the top-sides fibreglass. It took so much pressure off us for the princely sum of £20 per 8 hour day!
We had received another kind invitation to celebrate Susan's 60th birthday with Richard and Claire at their Four Seasons Hotel, Sundara Restaurant for this evening (www.fourseasons.com/jimbaranbay/dining/restaurants/sundara/). It had also been Ian's 60th and he was also invited with his lady friend, Liz, who had just joined Yantina here in Bali. We got a taxi together across to meet Richard and his daughter Holly with Claire and her daughter Hannah who were waiting in the restaurant bar. We had a couple of drinks before being shown to our table at the front of the restaurant, overlooking the ocean through the open full length windows framed by the fish pools which ran the full length of the frontage. Holly and Hannah were asked to be aware of the closeness of these fish pools to the table when they took their seats at that end of the table.
The menu looked interesting, but again more international cuisine than Indonesian. We all decided to have a selection of starters in the centre of the table, tapas style, to share between us all. Once these were completed and the main courses ordered, Richard suggested popping out around the corner for a cigarette and I rose to follow him without thinking. He, as usual wanting to be first, stepped through the window opening and disappeared in front of me! I looked down to see his shocked face peering up to me from his position, almost waist deep in the fish pond! The staff came running and we managed to extricate him to the relative safety of the side, clutching one of his flip-flops in his hand that had come off and floated to the surface. He was not so lucky with his iPhone and glasses which he had left in the bottom of the pool!
Security were summoned to search between the fishes for these lost items while we retired to the bar for the calming influence of the nicotine that had been the source of this tragedy. When we returned the security guard was fully clothed in the pond and retrieved both items from the clutches of the Koi Carpe much to Richards delight especially as the iPhone keyboard was alight and appeared to be working! The staff rapidly appeared with a tupperware container of rice to bury the phone in and absorb any moisture as soon as possible. We then realised we had all missed the photo opportunity of the evening, as no one had managed to capture this event for prosperity and the alternative awards ceremony!
We had an excellent evening with Richard doing us proud yet again. The evening was interspersed with the fleeting visits from Eddie Jordan to kiss and hug Susan for her birthday, on several separate occasions in the bar, the restaurant and back in the bar again.
We sat having a coffee and brandy before leaving, much to the relief of our taxi driver who had now spent nearly six hours waiting for us outside!
Wednesday 9th October 2013
We were a little jaded again this morning so it was a slow start to the day. I still had to finish the port primary winch and do the starboard primary as well. We had breakfast in the Yacht Club then I returned to the boat to continue the jobs while Susan returned to Carrefour for the fresh provisioning, arriving back about 14:00. We got off the boat for a half hour break at the Yacht Club for a Coke and a sprite before continuing with our jobs. Trish had tried to arrange a fleet night out for this evening at Potato Heads on the beach but they wouldn't accept a booking so they moved it to the Cocoon 66 Beach Club for 8 pm to eat. We had already made our own arrangement to eat at Bumbu Bali as Susan wanted me to try the authentic Indonesian cuisine. We asked Tony from Wolfhound and he was delighted to join us as he had hardly left the marina and not really experienced any of Bali.
We had an excellent taster meal which started with a clear chicken soup followed by about 12 different dishes and two types of rice. We had a couple of bottles of wine between us and Tony bought the cookery book which we have at home. When we returned by taxi to the marina, the bar was already closed and we retired for a good night's sleep before our departure tomorrow.