by Judy Handley | Sep 14, 2008 | Indonesia Bali, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 128, Year 3: Happy Birthday, Justin!
Date: Hari Minguu (Sunday), Bulan S�pt�mber 14 Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Another Sunny, Perfect Day
Location: Lovina Beach, BALI, Indonesia
Today we arrived in Bali and in only three days Justin and Jo will arrive. Today is Justin’s birthday, but we will certainly have to have a celebration once he arrives here. So Justin, Happy Birthday today, with promises of a “Bali Birthday” when you arrive. Actually Sail Indonesia changed the Bali Opening Ceremonies to September 18 from September 15, so now Justin and Jo will be able to attend. Justin’s 29th birthday was celebrated at Aggie Grey’s in Samoa, and I’m hoping his 31st here will be a gala event. Gala or not, it will be so great to have Justin and Jo here with us.
We left Lombok at 2:30 am this morning. That was a bit earlier than planned, but we were awake so we just went for it. For the first few hours we had fantastic winds of 25 knots and current with us. The moon is almost full and it lit the way, but as we were looking at the moon we noticed the strangest constellation just to its right. The stars were red and looked like the tail of a dragon. We thought it might be a comet. But just before dawn, Mark pegged it. It was either a lava flow or fires
burning on the side of Gunung Agung, Bali’s “highest and most revered mountain” as written in my bible, the Lonely Planet. This perfectly volcanic cone is almost 10,000 feet high and quite imposing. We could not see it in the dark, but we could see those “red stars” becoming fiery. Then the almost full moon started to disappear behind what I thought was a cloud. But as soon as it was no longer visible, it provided backlighting for this magnificent mountain. As the sun rose in the east I could see Lombok’s mountains lighted in red and Bali’s Gunung Agung backlighted by the moon. What a special moment. And then we had another surprise. Just after dawn, literally hundreds of local outriggers came racing home from sea after a night of fishing. What a colorful sight. The lanteen sails on these little guys look like brightly colored spinnakers. It was another very special moment. So we were off and running, but then as we sailed past Gunung Agung, the winds started to die down. Unfortunately,
we spent the rest of the day with very little wind and a counter current, but we had a great beginning and made it here to Lovina Beach by 4 pm. It was a great day and a great feeling to finally reach Bali.
Now here’s the bad news. Our batteries are really ‘dead.’ No matter how long we run the motor, the charge lasts only a short time. We can’t buy new batteries until we reach Langkawi, Malaysia, so we are just going to have to run the engine more often. And more bad news. Mark has the dreaded Indonesian cold. Many cruisers have had this and it evidently lasts longer than it should, but hopefully he will be on the mend before Justin and Jo arrive. And the last piece of bad news is that tonight
this anchorage at Lovina Beach is rocky and rolly. We are hoping that is because we had northwest winds today and we are on the north side of Bali. It is not untenable, just irritating. But then there is a little good news. There appears to be wireless internet with a good signal here in the anchorage. We will go into town tomorrow morning and pay for a user name and password, and then we will see just how good this advertised “broadband wireless internet” might be.
by Judy Handley | Sep 13, 2008 | Indonesia Rinca to Lombok, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 127, Year 3: Official Welcome to Lombok
Date: Hari Sabtu (Saturday), Bulan Sèptèmber 13 Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Another Sunny, Perfect Day
Location: Teluk Naré (Kombal), NE Lombok, West Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia
We just got home from the “official” welcome ceremony and it was quite different from any rally ceremony we have attended. There was no music, no dancing, no food until after sunset, and nothing to drink but water and green coconuts. It is Ramadan and we are in a Muslim country on a very Muslim island. So why the rally organizers even thought of having a function here is beyond me. I guess we all thought that the ceremony location, which was far away from anything, was picked so that rally life
could go on as usual. But that was not so. It is just a shame that we weren’t told as it really was a total waste of time. It was nice to see other rally folks, but we will see them in two days in Bali anyway. Live and learn.
Earlier in the day, Mark finished the last of sewing of new covers for all the cockpit cushions and made covers for our fenders. They were starting to deteriorate from too much sun, so the new polar fleece covers should extend their lives. I am so happy with the look of the cockpit now that it has new cushion covers. It makes it feel like a new boat. After the sewing, Mark, Tina of Shirena, and I got a taxi and went south along the coast to the tourist town of Sengiggi. The coastline between
here and Sengiggi is beautiful with coconut plantations, very nice resorts, and wonderful views of the offshore islands. Tina needed to find an ATM and a new phone card, and we went just for the views and to have lunch. We had a little miscommunication with our taxi driver and he tried to take us to Mataram to the “mall” to McDonald’s for lunch. We understood him to tell us that no restaurants were open until after 5 pm in Sengiggi due to Ramadan, but when we got back there, all the restaurants
were open. I guess either there was a total miscommunication or the guy just wanted the extra money from the longer trip. Whatever, we had a lovely trip and a great lunch.
We leave at 3 AM for Bali, so it is time for bed. It is a 70 mile trip and since the currents and winds are impossible to predict, we are leaving early and hoping we can make it. The Lovina Beach anchorage that is our destination is tucked in between two reefs, so we need to arrive before the sun gets too low in the sky. So here’s hoping for wind (from the right direction) and current going our way. There will be a full moon the next day, so currents will be at their strongest. If they are against us, it could be a VERY long trip.
by Judy Handley | Sep 12, 2008 | Indonesia Rinca to Lombok, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 126, Year 3: Work Day in Teluk Naré
Date: Hari Jumat (Friday), Bulan Sèptèmber 12, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Another Sunny, Perfect Day
Location: Teluk Naré (Kombal), NE Lombok, West Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia
Our little bay here seems to maintain about 20 boats. Some leave each day, but more come. The winds have been gentle the past few days, so the Gili Air anchorage is holding at least 12-15 boats. The Lombok rally celebration happens tomorrow and I figure all the boats in Gili Air and here in Teluk Naré will be headed to the celebration late tomorrow afternoon. The rally organizers are trying to figure out transportaion for us, so we will be ready to go at 3 pm. Earlier in the day we plan to take
a taxi south to Sengiggi. Evidently the road from here to there runs right along the shore and is quite dramatic.
So tomorrow will be a play day. Today was a work day and Mark did an amazing job of making Sunbrella covers for our badly deteriorated closed cell foam cockpit cushions. They looked absolutely awful and now they look great. It was a long hot day for Mark, but the results are fantastic. He has made me a very happy woman.
by Judy Handley | Sep 11, 2008 | Indonesia Rinca to Lombok, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 125, Year 3: Double Dose of Gili Air
Date: Hari Kamis (Thursday), Bulan Sèptèmber 11, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Another Sunny, Perfect Day
Location: Teluk Naré (Kombal), NE Lombok, West Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia
We did get a boat to take us back across to Gili Air early this morning and we enjoyed a full day of snorkeling around the three Gilis – Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan. Here’s what the Lonely Planet has to say about these islands: “Just off the northwestern coast of Lombok is a vision of tropical paradise – a trio of tiny coral-fringed islands, each with white sandy beaches and pellucid water teeming with a kaleidoscopic array of reef fish.” I guess that pretty well paints the picture.
The boats that we travel to and from the islands in here are sampans. These boats are like an over-sized canoe, 20-30 feet long and VERY heavily built with a sunshade built overtop. They glide through the water so smoothly and are delightful as a mode of travel. The one we went out on today was painted a bright yellow with “glass-bottom boat” painted clearly on each side. We first snorkeled off the northern tip of Gili Meno with turtles. We then moved to the northern tip of Gili Trawangan to
snorkel the coral gardens that were teeming with fish. Next we went back to the west coast of Meno to the “swimming pool.” This was just a shallow snorkeling area running north to south along the island with a steep drop off. We motored around to the harbor on the east coast of Meno for a lazy lunch and a visit to see baby turtles. A man named Boulong has set up a turtle nursery to give the hawksbill, loggerhead, and green turtles that hatch on the island a head start. He collects them and keeps them in salt water pools until they are eight-months old. He then releases them but figures they have a better chance at survival by doing this. Our last snorkel stop was a drift dive along the shelf on the east side of Gili Air. We enjoyed every minute of the day in the “pellucid water teeming with a kaleidoscopic array of reef fish.” The Lonely Planet has this one described perfectly.
by Judy Handley | Sep 10, 2008 | Indonesia Rinca to Lombok, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 124, Year 3: Finally . . . Gili Air
Date: Hari Rabu (Wednesday), Bulan Sèptèmber 10, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Sunny Day with Clouds Over the High Mountains
Location: Teluk Naré (Kombal), NE Lombok, West Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia
We finally made it to Gili Air today. We had read that it is a cross between Gilligan’s Island and Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. That’s not exactly the way I would describe it, but however you describe it, it is a wonderfully delicious place to visit. The village part of the island is just like any of the villages we have visited. But there are no cars or motorcycles on the island. The only modes of transportation are walking or riding in a cidomo (horse and buggy). Of course, that only makes the place all the more charming. The east side of the island is the resort side, and there is everything from luxury villas to bamboo thatched huts. But everything is simple and it feels delightfully refreshing. There are not hordes of children begging for money. You are just left alone to enjoy the beauty. We had a great day eating and drinking our way from the northeast part of the island to the southeast. Mark made a mid-day stop at the internet café on the island and it was just as fast as the connection in Mataram. That is still not great, but he was able to accomplish a couple of tasks that we have had on our “to do” list. We had a late afternoon swim at the beach to cool off before dinner. We ate at Wiwin and the food was wonderful. We just had a great time, and some of us are hoping to return tomorrow to do an all day snorkeling trip on a glass-bottomed boat. We have reserved our places, but we are not sure we can find transportation across. We asked Muhammad’s brother, Abdul, to try and find us a boat and he promised he would do so and call us as soon as he has one for us.
So hopefully it is back to Gili Air tomorrow, work on the boat on Friday, attend the Lombok Sail Indonesia Opening Ceremonies on Saturday, and then head for Bali. In only seven days Justin and Jo will be joining us. Can’t wait.
by Judy Handley | Sep 9, 2008 | Indonesia Rinca to Lombok, Sailing Logs Year 3 |
Day 123, Year 3: Just a Day in the Bay
Date: Hari Selasa (Tuesday), Bulan Sèptèmber 9, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Beautiful Day with Winds in the Afternoon
Location: Teluk Naré (Kombal), NE Lombok, West Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia
Today was a workday. Mark went to Mataram to try to get online with our computer to updates finances, etc., but unfortunately it didn’t work for him. He was able to download some pics of Sam from Picasa and we love the one of him eating sushi with chopsticks. At the end of summer, his reddish-blonde hair looks more blonde and he has grown a bit since our last pictures. We are so hopeful that we will have a good internet connection in Bali and can see him via Skype once again.
I stayed on the boat and cleaned stainless and did the laundry. I had just sent a huge laundry to be done by Muhammad’s mother, but that was mostly towels and sheets. I did the run of the mill clothes today. I also worked on naming pictures, but I had a bit of a frustrating computer day as well. Even though I have removed almost all photos from my computer except the ones I am currently trying to name, I keep getting the message that my computer will hold no more. Tonight we will do a defrag
and hopefully that will straighten things out.
Tomorrow we are going to Gili Air to spend the day. We have looked forward to going there for so long, so I just can’t wait. Muhammad’s brother, Abdul, is taking us on his boat late morning and will bring us back after eight tomorrow night. We look forward to ‘eating our way’ around Gili Air. Evidently the food is good and cheap, so we will start by eating lunch and then work our way around the island until time for dinner.
Our plans after tomorrow are still not set. We called Dewi this morning. She is the woman organizing our Sail Indonesia travels and we wanted to find out more specifics about getting our Indonesian Visa extended. She came to Kombal Beach this afternoon at 4:30 and had us fill out our Visa applications and took the money and our passports for getting the job done. This means we are without a passport until after the start of the Bali rally on September 18. That is a little scary, but we will
trust that the passports return with our approved extension.
