We have taken the plunge and are 23 hours into our epic mission across the Indian Ocean. By 15 December this year, s/v Khulula will transit just under 5000 ocean miles, with brief stops at various islands along the way: Cocos Keeling, Rodriguez, Reunion and Mauritius.

Yesterday afternoon we left Bali Marina, Indonesia, and motored into Selat Lombok, the straight between Bali and Lombok. This event was not without a fair bit of nervousness from the crew, as it represented the last turning back point before setting sail to cross the entire Indian Ocean. By 8pm we were sailing along under starry skies, the trickle of the water past the hull the only sound in the still night. We realized that it is good to be at sea again, and we look forward to the many landless days ahead. At 9pm we were joined by phosphorescent subsurface dolphin meteors, our Balinese farewell party. It an incredible sight, these magnificent luminous trails that arced and zoomed around the boat as the dolphins played! wow

The other event today was our radio ceasing to operate. Mild panic ensued (the radio is our link to weather, email, civilization) as we checked out the entire system, re soldered connections, and trouble shot the entire system in the the 30 degree heat. Two very sweaty hours later we had it up and running. Whew!