We had a wonderful time in Rinca. The anchorage was beautiful - an almost land-locked bay with terrific shelter. The arid hills of the island give way to lush mangroves at the water's edge, home to numerous crab-eating Macaque monkeys. We were anchored only 40 yards from the shore, and had a fantastic time watching them, and all the bird life: several different types of herons, egrets, curlew look-alikes, various unknown birds, and especially the brilliant flashes of emerald/turquoise which were the Javanese Kingfishers.

At night we were sleeping in the cockpit under the stars, and the noises were a touch unnerving - particularly a loud roaring noise which scared the living daylights out of me. Reminiscent of the time in Norway when I bravely said I'd sleep under the car, but rapidly abandoned the idea when I heard what I thought was a musk-ox only inches from my head!

The next morning we explored Rinca ashore. Rinca and Komodo, and a couple of other adjacent small islands, are the only places in the world where you find the Komodo Dragon. The island is so hot during the day that you need to explore it before the sun gets too high, so we arranged to meet a ranger from the Komodo National Park at 7 in the morning. He was very good: very knowledgeable, and quickly able to find us some dragons. They really are pretty scary - up to 4 metres long, weighing up to 160 Kg, and able to run at 15 kph. They look genuinely prehistoric, which I guess in a way they are. And mean!!!

Although the dragons look sluggish, they are able to catch most of the big mammals on the island: buffalo, deer, feral pigs, etc all of which roam the island in profusion. Apparently they initially injure the prey in some way, and then wait for the wounds to suppurate, which they eventually do, when they are finally able to eat them; they just hang around till they snuff it. We were able to approach quite close to some of the dragons, though not without a touch of tachycardia.

From Rinca we had a 150 mile sail along the northern coast of Sumbawa. The night-sailing was particularly worrying, as most of the local boats, of which there are masses, are unlit, and often not visible on radar. On the way west we passed a couple of active volcanic craters, and it was unforgettable broad reaching past on a pitch-black night, and seeing these volcanoes spewing out flames, rocks and clouds.

We eventually reached Moyo Island, where we were planning on anchoring, but we couldn't find anywhere safe to put down the anchor. While manoeuvring off the reef, the engine began to overheat, and I beat the world-record for changing the raw-water pump impeller, and we were able to get going again without running into trouble. The following night we found a wonderful anchorage inside a small island off the north-eastern corner of Lombok, but a dicey one surrounded by reefs. The next morning we again had an over-heat problem as usual in a tricky situation, but fortunately the weather was good, and eventually we were able to sort thing out, again without making contact with the coral. It turned out that I had a leak round a crack in the raw-water filter: for safety reasons this is situated above the waterline, but it means that the water-pump has to "suck" the raw water to send it to the pump, and if there is any leak it can't deliver it to the pump. I'll fit a new filter, and new pump, in Bali.

We've had one or two slightly worrying encounters with fishing boats, although probably it's all paranoia. But everyone here has an anxiety in the back of their minds about pirates. Jofrik (on Mazy) and I have of course discussed this at some length, and have a planned strategy should either of us get really anxious about an approach, although as yet we haven't had to invoke it. Unlike some of the other boats here, we don't carry firearms. Well actually, that's not quite true. While in Darwin we made friends with a delightful chap who has a house on Cullen Bay Marina, and he presented Mazy with a home-made "spud Bazooka". It has a barrel about 1.5 metres long, and a combustion chamber the size of a rugby ball. This has a diesel engine glow-plug in it. The technique for firing it is to load up the barrel with the ordnance (raw spud) fill the chamber with the propellant (L'Oreal hair lacquer) and apply 12 volts. The effects are stunning (nearly literally on one test-firing) T here's a loud 'whoomp", a flash of flame, and the ammo is sent soaring into the ether, a distance of several hundred metres - on one occasion in the Arafura Sea high over Hygeia's mast, to land in the sea about 300 metres distant. We thought if necessary we could magnify the effect of the weapon by a subtle change in the ordnance - eg change from raw-spud to canned-spud. Or if in serious trouble maybe toss in some ordure from the heads. I'm pretty sure the principle danger is to the operator, rather than an enemy. And just what an Indonesian fisherman would make of half a hundredweight of King Edwards flashing across his bow can only be imagined!

We finally arrived in Bali yesterday, although we had a slightly ignominious arrival. The approach-channel is apparently well marked, but in retrospect clearly not adequately dredged. Almost in view of the marina, in a perfectly reasonable position in the channel, but with cloudy water, we had that dreaded lurching feeling when you run hard onto sand - the first time Hygeia's keel has touched anything since Curacao (and before that in Campers' in 1997) It was potentially a serious situation as it was at the very top of a high-tide, and a spring at that. Fortunately, the ever-reliable Mazy was near at hand, and they had launched their dingy within seconds, and had a line on us in minutes and were able to pull us off. So no damage done, but we were lucky, and feel suitably chastened.

So we are now in the Bali International Marina and amongst yachts again (a number of old friends from Darwin and before): we have been very much in the wilds for the last three weeks, and have seen no other yachts in that time. We are even alongside a pontoon and can get ashore without using the dingy. But it's not as luxurious as it sounds. Although we have piped water on the quay, we are advised not to put it in our tanks. If you run water into a bucket it has lots of green strands in it: apparently the supply is down pipes straight from a paddy-field in the mountains!

We will spend about a week here during which we'll do some sight-seeing, and do one or two things on the boat. Then it's off again. For the time being we will stop travelling west, and start to go north again. Initially to Kalimantan (Borneo what was) and then up thorough the Riau Islands to Singapore.

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