In July 2009 we cruised from Bora Bora to Suva in Fiji, 1,722 nautical miles in total. Suva is not a "sexy" place for sure but the people are welcoming and utterly friendly. The market is just brilliant and cheap too, what a contrast to the expensive French Polynesia.

We were just in time for the annual Hibiscus Festival. The merry-go-rounds really look like they date back to the 60's but then again the fairground was full.

Just 5' from the Hibiscus Festival we walked through the beautiful Thurston Gardens where we visited the Fiji Museum. We saw something we never saw before, the fork of a cannibal and right behind the fork on display, the picture of the priest who was eaten with this fork…unusual for sure!

What we loved in Suva was the handy bus transport service and the restaurants featuring Indian food. We even went to the brand new cinema to watch "Up" the new animation movie by Pixar, a great afterrnoon indeed!

From Suva another 734 nautical miles to Noumea, New Caledonia. New Caledonia offers beautiful landscapes but Noumea is a very ugly city, expensive too!

From Noumea, a very long and slow crossing through the Torres Straits to Bali reached in October 2009 but what a reward, Bali is a beautiful island and the people are probably the friendliest in the world.

We loved Bali and enjoyed our tour of the island by car this time because Bali is the land of the rice fields and temples and there is only one way to visit it, by car or motorbike. We did both and enjoyed every single minute of our trips.

Walking in the paddy fields gives you a sense of being "zen" all the time, it's so peaceful that you hardly talk while admiring the intricate water system and the Balinese people working hard in the heat of the day. We visited a awful lot of temples too, there must be thousands of them in Bali. The best time to visit them is early in the morning when the Balinese women go to the temples with their offerings. Another best time is also when a ceremony takes place and there are also plenty although the year. Balinese people dress up for the occasion and they are continuing a tradition which probably contributes to their philosophy of life. They always smile, are always keen to help and pay extremely good attention to children and elderly. It's a pleasure to be among them.

We stayed one month in Bali and our conclusion is "We will be back, we simply love it here!".

When we left Bali early in December 2009 we didn't realise how long and slow our crossing would be to Singapore. 1,000 nautical miles only and it took us 23 days of motor-sailing which meant re-fueling in four different places. We made 13 stops in total mainly on small islands but also on the coast of Java and Sumatra!

Our encounter with the Indonesian fishermen everywhere was a surprise to us. They all smiled, waved, came closer out of curiosity, a contrast to what the media usually spreads in terms of potential pirates or thieves. We always felt safe and when we went ashore like in Muntok on Bangka the people always went out of their way to help us find what we needed. We really enjoyed seeing Indonesia with our own eyes and can tell you it was a fantastic experience.

Now we are in Singapore for a short stop before entering the Malacca Straits. In the city with the motto "Shop till you drop" we just want to relax and go through the maintenance of "Minuit" before we move on.

Singapore is also special to us as we celebrate the new year. As we entered Raffles Marina, we were ending our circumnavigation. We were here in 2004 and we have gone round the world since, an amazing trip, a great adventure, the dream of our life coming true!