Lombok to Lovina, Bali
We finally left Medana Bay Marina at 4pm on Tuesday. The rough plan was to get to Lovina and wait there and tour around whole our (hopefully) new crew member, Jenny- gets to Benoa marina on the boat she is on now, gets her visa extension and joins us up in Lovina. Unfortunately she won’t get to Bali until Saturday so we hoped things worked out fast. We ended up having a Great sail, we actually sailed most of the way - no motor! Grant was a bit worried cause about an hour after we left we saw a big mooring thing out in the middle of no where - so we were afraid of running into one at night. Unfortunately
we couldn't see anything at night unless we had a spotlight trailed on the water the whole time. So we took our chances and kept a good eye out. I took over from grant at 11pm after feeding Elora. He had to get up once to help me move the head sail because wind was changing, and then Elora woke at 2:15am to eat again so grant really only slept about 2 hrs. The Phosphorescence was great as we sailed along. It was very pleasant. We arrived in Lovina at 9:30am
There were only 5 other boats anchored. Once we got organised we went to shore. We were immediately greeted by 2 women with sarongs, jewellery etc offering laundry service, which a guy in a canoe who came to the boat beat them to. We walked around the block. We got a couple of prices for cars and tours it was pretty quiet
but definitely more touristy than anywhere so far but vendors but not too pushy, just asked our name and asked us to " remember and promise to come back " we stopped and had ice cream cause it was pretty warm midday, then we lunch next to beach at small restaurant. We have decided to goto the more cheap/ local warungs to eat cause they are good and the dollar stretches further! The next day we did a day trip with Sam our driver:
1st stop was Bali's only buddhist temple. Very pretty in hills looking out to the ocean. We continued to drive up further. Great views volcanoes and rice paddies. There were lots of drying cloves laid out in front of almost every home. Also, big bags of clove leaves stacked on the side of the road.

We arrived at Air Panas Banjar -hot springs There were 3 pools, 1 big one - water " taps " pouring out of wall into pools great to stand under for massage. The Pools were quite warm, girls enjoyed the swim and play - we are glad we got there before the crowds came! We even Had ice cream after. Next stop was the Waterfall: Air Terjun Singsing ( day break waterfalls ). We parked up in the road and walked down 800m along a fairly narrow path / road that motorbikes used to get down to their village at the bottom Of the valley. We also saw men picking Cloves up on high bamboo ladders. The waterfall was Beautiful and tall, lots trickles of water off the moss covered walls. Later we drove through the area famous for coffee ( kopi) and cloves. Cocoa We Stopped at cafe and small plantation that harvests spices and coffee and had a little tour of the plantation after I drank about 2 cups of the coffee myself! It was very interesting. Coffee is harvested June July. Cloves are harvested July - Sept.
The most expensive coffee from an animals butt. The animal is called a Luwak. It eats coffee pods from trees, then poops them out and they harvest those! They dry beans then roast for 1 hour over fire
Cocoa only takes 20 min to roast Cloves take 1 week to dry in sun and are outside of almost every dwelling. Use mainly for cigarettes. This plantation grew:
Coffee
Cloves
Vanilla
Ginseng
Cocoa
Ginger
Nutmeg
Cinnamon

Had a coffee with service made out of coconuts. Loved the non break factor so bought 4 tall cups, maybe one day we’ll get the tea pot. We also bought Coffee, cocoa / sugar drink mix and Vanilla bean pods. Staff was very nice, Elora crawled around. The cafe overlooked a valley and terraced rice paddies, very beautiful. On the Drive home we caught sight of the bay - whitecaps! Very choppy onshore wind- not the best anchorage. We want to go south for 2 days but need boat minder I think. Or at least someone to watch over her!