Last night in Darwin, after a couple of weeks soaking up everything we could find to do. We’ve spent a lot of time with this fun group (5 kids between 13 and 14 is not an easy group to find out here) the last couple months in Vanuatu and up the coast of Australia. Now, on to Indonesia.

Darwin sunsets across Fannie Bay are pretty epic every night.

We’ve been stocking up at the grocery store at the same time as some sort of Disney promotion. Inevitably, when the cashier hears our accent they ask where we’re from, and then inquire about our rather insane looking purchases (think ten jars of peanut butter, ten pounds of ground beef, and ten bags of gummi bears) that are clearly not typical tourist fare. This leads to a bunch of chit chat and ends with them handing us like fifty packs of Disney cards.

Last stop in Darwin is the fuel dock, where Customs sits under a tent and clears boats out of the country. It’s a strange process, honestly. Australia is the only place that cares that you’re leaving. Officers isolate you on the dock and then climb aboard and proceed to go through every inch of the boat. Looking for what? Who knows. They hardly seemed to care when we arrived from Vanuatu, doing a very cursory inspection while being led around the boat by Ali. But when leaving they need to dig through everything. Weird. On the plus side, after rifling through our life they came outside and told Ali she had the cleanest boat they’d ever seen. They even went so far as to say thank you to her—lest you ever think I exaggerate her cleaning prowess.

We filled the tanks and the jerry jugs to the brim, knowing that we were in for a long passage full of thrumming motors. Ali and I still remember the stifling heat and the absolutely still air we encountered on our last trip to Indonesia from Darwin. The forecast, as far out as we could see called for the same this time around.

One minute the seas look like this.

And the next minute they are covered in “Sea Sawdust.” Trichodesmium, to be precise.

Bored dolphins wishing we would speed up a bit.

Not everyone is interested in enjoying every single sunset.

Australian Customs doing a fly-by.

Followed closely by another booby.

This guy arrived looking horribly ragged. Feathers a mess, and one foot all mangled and bleeding. He looked like he had narrowly escaped a shark. Even his eyes looked shocked.

He spent the night, got some sleep, preened himself, and left mounds of crap and blood stains behind before leaving in the morning.

One of the advantages of a dead calm passage, is the chance to stop and swim whenever the mood strikes. Far from land, in deep water, there is no better place to swim and feel your insignificance. It’s only out here that the ocean truly feels limitless to me.

And the clarity is always amazing.

Another overnight guest.

The sails were mostly up for show at this point, providing shade during the day, and the promise of a .1 knot speed boost at night.

It’s hard to see, but Indo is on the horizon after four nights at sea.

Entering Kupang, a port city that would come to surprise us.

I asked about the bird building and was informed the developer ran out of money. Apparently this is how it will stay unless someone new comes along looking for a building wrapped up in an eagle.

We arrived just a bit before dark, raised our Q flag, and went to bed. We’d deal with clearing in the next day.