Gili Gede crew change

Ruth 2 skipper, James is now joined by his new crew, Par (Sweden) Nicko (Spain), Richard and Guy (Ireland). We all arrived, somewhat exhausted. Some of us recovered from our lengthy journeys by staying a few nights at the excellent KokoMo Hotel. Fine rooms with excellent food and great staff led by Wayan. Journeys between the hotel and the marina required boat transfer, often in darkness navigating around the reef!
Gili Gede Indonesia is a tiny island at the tip on the western tip of Lombock, only reachable by boat. The people are charming and friendly. The local children are a delight, cheerfully waving at us as they walked
past the hotel on their way to school. We joined the Oyster party on Wednesday at the marina and it went on long into the night with dancing to the live band. Some hidden talents of our crew included playing the air guitar! Following a final exercise walk on dry land, we hauled anchor on Saturday, October 8th and headed out through river floodwater and debris flushed into the bay by overnight rains. After clearing the island we headed into the Lombok channel between Bali and Lombock. A strong current flows east to west as the Pacific meets the Indian Ocean. The breeze picked up and we fetched our way across the channel into sizeable and steep seas. A rapid induction test for sea legs! Once past Bali, to the north, the seas settled and the current came astern to assist us, giving perfect reaching sailing conditions. We are settling into life on board, enjoying the boat. Food is great, there is clearly cooking talent on board. We are heading almost due west and should pass Christmas Island tomorrow. Making good headway with 680 miles to the Cocos Keeling Islands. Life on the ocean wave!