Well! How lucky are we that we get yet one more time to visit the beautiful seas of Indonesia....!!! It is June 2013 and our plan is to set sail across the horizon tomorrow......oooooo...I am almost relieved as it has been stressful provisioning and spending so much money getting ready...

R25 000 to fill our fuel tanks!!!

This is the first of MANY such shops...each one a major trek into town and then dingy loading and then off loading and the my work to find place for all of the food and drink in tiny little cupboards..My biggest challenge is actually to stop the family from eating everything BEFORE we leave as there are still three more months to go to stretch it all out!!

The past few months- Brent and Cody flew to SA for two months and came back....Caden and I stayed on Micah and Rebak and got into the way of life there, we visited waterfalls,  trained in the pool, competed in eating contests and shopped until we dropped- for provisions for Indonesia three month voyage:)!!

Hopefully I can get one more blog out before we set sail for our next unknown voyage to the beautiful and wild seas of Indonesia again...minus Cally sadly who is doing a touch final year at high school...

While Brent was in SA, I let the swallows build their nest, lay an egg and have a baby in the cockpit of Micah up in the roof...After ten weeks- the little baby flew away with them...What a good feeling to know I was part of that:) Thanks for waiting Brent:))))

Look at our beautiful yacht!!!! So everyone- this is where we are heading and although the preparation is a little stressful as there are no malls and comfort foods in Indo...finding sunny calm anchorages like this with cooking surf for the boys just around the corner...is the ultimate:)- letting the out of season take its toll on Phuket until we return...

In this blog, the lovely photos that I took of our Durban friends who came to spend two weeks with us and made us laugh soooooo much with their many funny stories ...here below Brent, Ant and Mike try out fried locusts at the Night Market in Phuket:) Trust Brent to keep them on their toes;)

After a week or more of sailing and sun and laughter...Ant lost his winter layers and started to feel really good about himself...Life on the water does make  the kg's fall off-not my food or lack of it hey!! Plenty of food came out of that kitchen and then on nights off-dinner on the beaches with local Thai cuisine:)

 We took our friends to the big night market in Phuket and they loved it! Below Caz has her choice of hair clips:)

 Of course this is my favorite stall at the flea market!! The CAKE stall!!

  Above- gorgeous little Kai!! Ant and Cas's little one. What good children they were on the yacht!!

  Mike !!! It was such a nice surprise to hear you were coming to stay with us!! Come again sooooooon! It was wonderful to catch up after a ten year or so gap!!! When I look at this photo of you I just grin:) I think about your bus ride and how liberating this all was for you..!

tea on the dingy:) why not?

It was such a pleasure to have Craig Duff visit us as well for a few days at Phi Phi island and his girlfriend Nadine fitted in perfectly on Micah despite their concerns about seasickness!!
Look at these children and how much fun they had!! Here is Caden and Ant's son Aron:)

 Remember this everyone?:) Sunrise virtually and tea on the beach:) We always try and take our friends to this spot at Koh Phi Phi islands to absorb the moment of tranquility before the masses of tourists arrive in the noisy long tails....

and I also have some photos to include of our bunch of supposed IT "nerds" from Oz who came for ten days...IT guys are NOT geeks...what a handsome and wonderful bunch of beer swilling friends they were-

In both cases...I made life-long friends, laughed until my sides hurt and shed some tears when they left- leaving behind silence

and more silence....

 Here Brent has just arrived at Langkawi airport May 2013 after him and Cody being in SA for two months...Now we are gearing up for our next Indo trip....
In scenes from the early days I reflect on our happy times as we sailed around in our triangle between Phuket, Langkawi in Malaysia and Indonesia...

I realized, as I looked through my blogs, that I did not start them at the beginning of our adventure from our arrival in Phuket in 2010 and so I thought I may include stories from the beginning of my diary on our arrival in Thailand from SA and then off to Indonesia for our trip one- that I may start at the just after the beginning....in between this and the next few blogs so that my stories from then and photos may be shared:)

We have made wonderful friends in this sailing life and we have laughed!! Here is my favorite friend Rose!!! Thanks Rosie for the really good times and all the help with everything and all the french toast you keep leaving for Caden in the cockpit:) -Miss Carribeeeeean!! And we will see you and Frederick in Sumatra hey!

Sadly too, Cody will fly out of Indo and back to SA to do this last term at school there...He has made awesome friends here too...

Cody and Caden's friend sweet and kind Namara...

Well I have run out of time to carry on with this last blog for now as we are heading out shortly across the Sea to Indonesia...It will take us a few days and nights, perhaps 5 before we get to our first surfing spot as seen in some of the earlier surf photos above...time for new adventures and new sunsets....more wonderful times and stories for when I get back...It seems this adventure in Indo may go on until mid October when we should be sailing back to Phuket...so for now friends and family, loved ones and dearests:)- I will sign off and think of you all when times get rough out there:) This blog still needs lots more photos and stories so I will pick up on those in my next memoir!!:) Look for my story on Life on Micah in the new FH & L -Family, Holiday and Leisure magazine!! Not sure what it looks like so maybe at CNA?

BYEBYEBYE.....for now!
x