sv evi

We decided to sail 400+ miles to celebrate Halloween with our friends on SV Salty Finch in Waisai, Raja Ampat. En route we stopped at an island called Balbulol, near Misool, Raja Ampat. It was so dreamy there! Fabulous scenery with tall upside-down ice cream cone shaped islands — limestone cliffs with trees on top. And fantastic swimming, paddle-boarding, and snorkeling from the boat. The water was really clear, and most importantly — no jelly fish! It was a bit scary coming in, and we had to tie off 2 stern lines, port and starboard, because it was so deep but there wasn’t enough swing room between the reefs on three sides.

Jade had been bugging me for several days that we needed to find her a cloak for her Hermione Granger Halloween costume — I would say, look around Jade, do you see any stores? Finally, in Waisai, I went looking for a cloak.

I asked at a fruit/veg stall in the market where I could find a white shirt. Amir and his wife conferred, and she told him where to go. Then he hopped on his scooter and told me to get on. He took me to a few stores, and we succeeded with the white button-down shirt. Then I asked about black cloth, figuring I would try to fashion a cloak myself. But he took me to a tailor’s to get the cloth, so I showed the tailor a photo on my phone and asked if he could make me the cloak for the following day. He agreed, but only if I brought Jade in to be measured. So then Amir took me back to the Meridian Dive Resort & Marina, where Jade was playing at the pool with Gisela and her kids. We picked Jade up, and she LOVED riding on the scooter. She was waving at everyone she saw. I hope she remembers riding on a scooter to get fitted for her handmade cloak for Halloween. 🙂

Another boat SV Tayrona, from Australia, joined us to celebrate Halloween too.

We all had dinner at the marina restaurant, Gisela brought out some glow sticks, and the kids played outside on the grass. Two other boats in the marina also gave out candy! The kids had a ball!! (whew! check.)

We enjoyed relaxing and swimming in the pool.

We did a fun all-day excursion to see Kalibiru, or Blue River. It involved renting 3 scooters and a car, driving an hour each way, taking a local boat, wading through the river, and hiking on a trail…. but look where we ended up!

and some pics of the journey there and back:

We all had a lovely time in Waisai with our friends. And now we are off to Sorong to pick up our friends Nic and Steph, who are flying in from Seattle. Riki is currently cleaning bird poop off the deck — so much of it! 😦