Category Archives: Cruising Life

Describes an experience regarding the boating lifestyle of our travel.

Thursday Island, Australia to Kupang, Indonesia — Day 1

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Yesterday, our first stop was fuel for Kosmos. We had an appointment at 09:00 and we filled up with duty free fuel at only AUS$1.11 per liter (~ $4/gal USD). Ouch. At least it was cheaper than filling up in Cairns by about 35 cents per liter. The fuel dock is made for taller boats and getting off of it was tricky. After we were done pumping, they told us to go and re-anchor and come back later to pay. We suppose that with 8 zillion customs boats and planes patrolling the area, they figured we couldn’t get too far away if we decided not to pay.

We re-anchored, paid, and then hopped the ferry to TI. Debbie and Jim were kind enough to let us use their internet again. The other day we had run off so fast after looking at the forecast that we hadn’t checked email, posted blogs, or done any of the other stuff we need to do on-line. While doing a little research on Indonesia, we realized that our intended first stop, Saumlaki, isn’t normally Continue reading →

Watching Cyclone Guba and Visiting the Torres Straight Museum

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When we were in dry dock we met a gentleman named Jim who was also having his boat worked on in. He lives in Thursday Island and gave us his number and told him to call when we got into town. Yesterday we went to lunch with Jim and his wife, Debbie.

Christi had awoken with her face more swollen than ever. She had one nostril double the size of the other, one chubby cheek, and a lopsided mouth from the partially swollen lip. She felt like a walking Picasso painting, but in reality you had to look to notice the swelling.

We caught the ferry and met at the cultural center restaurant. Unfortunately, the gallery was closed for making a video, but we still got to see a few nice exhibits in the lobby. Jim and Debbie are interesting people and very nice. The first thing they mentioned was some ominous news about a brand new (15 minutes old) cyclone watch that included the Thursday Island area. Hmmm. Cyclone season isn’t supposed to Continue reading →

Passage from Lizard Island to Thursday Island

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We went over to visit with Maria and Gary on Merlin. They were a wealth of information, telling us all the best places to go in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. While in Port Douglas we had picked up a cruising magazine with an article about Indonesia, and it turned out they are the authors. They have written a couple other articles for the magazine on Indonesia, as well. Guess we bumped into the right people!

The plan was to Continue reading →

Diving Cod Hole & No Name Reef

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Everyone was coming at 07:30, so we were up very early to get ready. Kosmos was a mess inside, since we have been more focused on the exterior than the interior since getting out of the yard. We ate a quick breakfast, did some tidying, and got our own tanks filled and our diving gear ready.

Everyone was on board and ready to go by 0800. There were 11 of us total — 4 snorkelers, the instructor and his two students, and another couple that would be diving with us.

Cod hole is 10 miles southeast of Lizard Island. We were happy to see there was a mooring available. The reason the spot is called Cod Hole is because gigantic Continue reading →

Snorkeling in Watson’s Bay

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We headed over to the beach a little before 13:00 (1:00 pm). Everyone was gathered around a small picnic table under a tree on the beach. There were about 16 people there, all Australian retirees. We listened to the horse race on the radio, then hung out and chatted with everyone for a couple more hours. Everyone was really nice. Politics was at the forefront of everyone’s mind since Continue reading →