Travels With Barbara

Bali

I have been ashore in Bali for six days and have had a fabulous time exploring this amazing island. It is quite different from what we saw in the South Pacific, largely because of the Hindu religion and culture. Although most of Indonesia is Muslim, Bali is predominantly Hindu. They have accommodated the Indonesian law that all religions must have only one god by naming one god which happens to have many manifestations (equivalent to the many gods of the Hindu religion practiced elsewhere in the world).

One of the most interesting experiences I’ve had here was attending an anniversary celebration at a temple near Ubud. The celebration actually lasts about 10 days and there is a special ceremony at the temple each evening of the celebration. In order to enter the temple during a ceremony you must wear a sarong with a sash around the waist and a shirt with sleeves (3/4 or full length for women) and men must wear a traditional headdress.

During the prayers and blessings by the priests with holy water, which lasted about 40 minutes, everyone sits cross legged on the ground, shoes off. It started at 1830, just as daylight was fading, all the pavilions were lit and the red, yellow, white and black (all sacred colors) adornments were beautiful. Everyone was wearing their finest sarongs, the men all wore white shirts and white headdresses.

When the formal ceremony and prayers were finished, the male gamelan orchestra took their seats in the music pavilion within the temple while a female gamelan orchestra went to play in another pavilion just outside the temple. Meanwhile, a lot of people carrying offerings of fruit and other foods to be blessed lined up to enter a door into another level of the temple. The orchestra played and women danced traditional Balinese dance in the same space where everyone had just been sitting during the prayers.

Shopping in the markets, riding through the countryside, walking in the Monkey Forest, climbing the many levels of the Mother Temple in Besakih, having massage and foot reflexology, seeing weavers, wood carvers and silversmiths at work, and eating delicious Indonesian food has made Balia a truly unique experience. Right now I am too busy doing all these wonderful things to write any more. It’s after mid-night and I have an early start scheduled for tomorrow.

I will write another update or two after I get home. (I fly out of Bali on December 4^th.) And I hope to figure out how to upload photos to this blog once I am home at my own computer.

Last Days at Sea

My last days at sea went by altogether too quickly. I did my best to appreciate every moment from sunrise through sunset and as much of the starry night that I was awake. And since I don’t sleep well aboard when the engine is running day after day, I was usually awake for two or three hours in the middle of the night. With the weather continuing to be hot and humid, finding a place to sleep on deck became quite competitive.

One night I was late going to claim my space on the cargo hatch; when I got there at 2030 it was already full. The Aloha deck was also fully occupied. The mate suggested that I sleep on the fo’c’sle head, so I squeezed into a space between the anchor chains, forward of the capstan, by lying diagonally across the deck. It was not the most comfortable place, but better than sleeping in the hot, stuffy salon. And in the morning I lay there watching a spectacularly beautiful sunrise that got better and better for about 45 minutes or longer, which I would not have seen if I had been sleeping midships. The next night I made sure I staked out my spot on the cargo hatch before 2000, and I woke up early enough to get my camera for the early morning sunrise show.

Daytime was mostly occupied with more sailmaking and other projects that involve the use of a sewing machine, such as re-upholstering a cushion for the Captain’s office and making a new Indonesia  flag.

Our focus this week was on the new foresail. Working together on the quarterdeck with the sail strung up waist high on the port side, Susannah, Jill, Morgan and I stitched the wire rope onto each leech and the foot of the sail, followed by a canvas rope covering which we also stitched on. My sailmaker’s palm and pliers came in very handy for these projects.

We had our last two Rules of the Road classes on Monday and Tuesday, learning the last of the lights, shapes and sounds that are used by various vessels on international and inland waterways. After dinner we played backgammon or read or watched the amazing sunsets which seem to me to have been much better since we came into the Indian Ocean.

Wednesday, November 23^rd was the ship’s official celebration of American Thanksgiving. Watches had to maintain their schedule for helm and lookout, of course, but we did not do ship’s work (no painting, sanding, ospho, rigging or sailmaking). However, we did have to “super clean” the ship in preparation for arriving in Bali. When domestics were finished in the common areas, each of us had to completely clean out our bunk. Meanwhile Joe cooked up a storm in the galley, serving a huge turkey dinner with all the fixings: stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, and more. For dessert we had apple, pumpkin and cherry pies that Brian had baked the night before, as well as strawberry shortcake which Andrea D. had requested for her birthday (Nov. 23). Nobody went hungry!

Thursday was my last day on board the ship. I spent the morning working with the sailmakers, stitching wire rope and canvas rope coverings onto the foresail. After lunch I went below to start packing my belongings for leaving the ship. I had already started the process the day before when we did the big cleaning of our bunks. Even so, it was a large undertaking and I was not nearly finished by the time we anchored in Benoa Harbor late that afternoon.

Making the Indonesian flag was a spontaneous project that arose just as we finished anchoring in Benoa Harbor. The mate realized that the Indonesian flag we had raised was rather tattered, beyond repair, and asked me to stitch up a new one. The flag is a simple design, the top half red and the lower half white, and we had the material on board. Considering all the activity on deck, I decided to set up the sewing machine in the Salon even though it was very hot and also a beehive of activity with people packing to go ashore. After several delays when we were all called on deck, first to fill in Customs cards, then for mail call…I was pleasantly surprised to receive letters and packages from home, including my favorite dark chocolate from Carl!!!...and, finally to hear an orientation to Bali, I finished sewing the flag around 1830. By 1845 I was climbing over the rail of the ship, into the skiff to go ashore.