August 1 - Safe arrival in Kupang, Indonesia

We arrived at the Roti Strait at sunrise and were anchored by 0930 in Kupang. A safe trip from Darwin across the Timor Sea with no boat issues; always the best kind! There are about 80 boats in the anchorage in front of Teddy's Bar, the cruiser hangout. The Customs folks boarded us about 30 minutes after we anchored, and to say the paperwork is voluminous would be an understatement. We then were able to take down our quarantine flag and go ashore to clear in with an entire room of officials seated at six tables! We now have a small bag of clearance paperwork that would impress the most hardened cruiser. Colorful booklets, stamped paperwork in duplicate, multiple signatures on many forms that we have no idea what they are...it makes any bureaucratic forms from the USA look short and puny by comparison. We used our boat stamp multiple times - you have one of those, don't you? We had our first Bintang beer; cost for a large bottle was about $2.75USD. Food here is cheap and good; tonight is another welcoming party (free food and drink) with the Mayor of Kupang attending; we were enroute a couple of days ago when the Governor welcomed the fleet at another dinner, but as a friend of ours who attended said, "these people really know how to party!" Yachties from all over the world are here, and the Sail Indonesia folks have done a wonderful job of putting together these preliminary events and easing of the clearing in procedures for everyone.