Cleared Out from Dili

Hi everyone,
We've had a great 5 days in Dili but it's nearly time to leave. We arranged our outward clearance from East Timor today so need to sail from Dili tomorrow. We intend to sail north 20nm to Atauro Island with several of the Dili Rally boats. We all have 90 day cruising authorisations for East Timor. We hope to overnight there before heading east for Saumlaki.

Awards Ceremony Band

The Skippers

The anchorage

Our time in Dili was spent on organised rally events, doing our own thing, and resupplying the boat. Fuel was arranged by the rally organisers at US$1.55/litre. Water was also supplied, as was a bar, a water taxi and dinghy guarding service. The organised events included a tour of Dili, a presentation ceremony and a dinner. We had dinner with the guys from Freedom Express one evening and Scot Free 2 on another. Both were adventures due to difficulty communicating with taxi drivers.

Today we shopped for fruit & veg at the markets and for bread at the "supermarkets". We had a good walk around the centre of Dili which is quite dirty but full of all sorts of shops supplying everything from food to computers to satellite dishes to furniture.

Charity suppler Vega

Zen Again the The Doctor

We also spent some time at the Hotel Dili using the free WiFi internet connection they made available to rally yachts.  For some reason we couldn't edit our blog, but it was good to get our email and take a look at what's been happening in the world recently.

It would be nice to have a few more days in Dili to explore, but time marches on and we need to meet up with the Sail Indonesia fleet in Saumlaki next weekend.

Hope all's well where you are.