Lombok to Bali.
27 September 2012
Photo: Waterfall, Lombok
We stayed a second day at Potopuddu and went to the village in the morning. What a great experience. We took the dinghy into the shore alongside what looked like aerated ponds, not sure exactly what they were as they were fenced off. The local children showed us the way to the village, a 5 minute walk across open ground with makeshift bridges across the river. The village had brick houses and almost a western feel, with concrete roads and paths. There were lots of motorbikes and one car and the people were really friendly. The children were taking us to the school, as we had books, pens and pencils, not enough for everyone so the fairest thing to do was to donate them to the school to distribute. The school was a 2km walk, only to meet “Derry” the sister of the school teacher, to be told school finished at 10:00 on Friday’s. She took us to Joe’s house, the school teacher, where we handed over the books etc and had our photos taken. The children then escorted us back to the dinghy. The local fishermen in the lagoon often came alongside for the shade and told us how they spot the fish.
Saturday 15th we left at 07:30 and sailed to our next anchorage, Lawang, anchoring behind a reef off the island. A quiet night and then a motor sail 41nm to Medana Bay, Lombok. Medana Bay turned out to be rolly anchorage; however the main reason for going to Medana Bay was to renew our social visa which allows us to continue cruising in Indonesia until the end of October. The process was started at the marina where we filled in some forms and paid for our visa extension, original visas are only valid for 2 mths; 2 days later we had a trip to Mataram, spending the morning in a western style shopping mall and the afternoon at Immigration having our photos and finger prints taken, which with more than 20 of us took 3 hrs. The staff where friendly and gave us water and chairs, there was no air conditioning in the corridor we waited in. We finally got our passports back a week later which enabled us to leave Medana Bay.
Whilst waiting for Immigration, we kept ourselves busy. Brian did the major service on the engines and Gail gave the boat a good clean as we have not seen rain since we left the Escape River in Australia back in May. We walked to the local market for fresh fruit and veges and caught the local transport back, a horse and cart. That night we walked along the beach to the Eco resort for dinner, walking back along the road in the dark. As we passed through the village, we were greeted with friendly welcomes from the villagers who were sitting outside their homes. One of the things we have noticed in Indonesia is the flat platforms with shades located outside most dwellings, these are used to sit and chat on in the afternoons. Everywhere we have been the amount of rubbish and litter on the ground, roadside and rivers is amazing, the locals often set fire to it as a means of controlling the levels and it is not unusual to see a fire inches from houses and washing lines as the rubbish is burnt. The Indonesians are very proud of their uniforms; they are immaculately clean and ironed, including the children’s school uniforms. Lombok seems to have a lot of building construction in progress, more than we have seen elsewhere; it will probably become the next tourist destination as Bali begins to run out of space.
On Thursday 20th we did a day tour with Wayne, Ali, Steve and Anne to a National Park. We hired a guide and walked to 2 waterfalls, Sedang Gila and Tiu Kelap where we swam beneath the waterfall. The force of the fall was so great it took your breath away. As we dried ourselves and had morning tea, black monkeys played in the trees; they looked bigger and healthier than the grey monkeys we have seen in abundance in Indonesia. After the waterfalls we visited an old mosque, but more interesting was watching the locals harvesting the rice and manually threshing it on a wooden frame to separate the husks containing the rice grains from the stalks, which were collected to feed the cattle.
Saturday was another quiet day, housework and an afternoon of cards in the bar followed by dinner, and then Sunday it was Senggigi for the day. Senggigi is a tourist hub with hotels, cafes, restaurants and lots of offices/shops offering tours. We arrived back at the marina to collect our passports with the extended Social Visas and pay our bill ready to depart Monday morning and head to Lovina Beach, Bali. Monday 24th September we lifted the anchor at 07:20 with no wind in the bay, put a reef in the mainsail anticipating a strong wind as we sailed across the channel separating Lombok from Bali. We were not disappointed with 20 – 30 knot winds all the way to Amat, NE Bali. We did not stop at the Gili Islands as speaking to others anchored there it was very windy and boats where dragging on moorings or anchoring and ending up on the reef. We anchored at the NE end of Bali, Amat, which seemed a pleasant anchorage until nightfall when the wind picked up, or more accurately sped down the hills. Brian spent the night on anchor watch with a top wind speed of 41 knots; Gail sat up till midnight and was up again with coffee at 4am. We left Amat at 06:30 and once we left the bay the wind died away and we ended up motoring the 47nm to Lovina Beach, north Bali, arriving at 13:30.
Lovina Beach is one of the main tourist centers’ in the north of Bali, as we walked around the town for the afternoon and went ashore for drinks and dinner that night, we saw more Europeans than we have seen since leaving Darwin. Thursday 27th we hired a car with Anne, Steve, Claes and Laila and went to Ubud for the day. Ubud is an art and cultural hub 2 hours north of Lovina Beach and a big tourist area, evidenced by the tourist coaches. Bali is more Hindu than Muslim, therefore there are more temples and fewer mosques, the iron and stone work is more ornate and decorative. We visited wood, batik, silver and art studios, each with their own dedicated areas which probably equated to villages. For us Bali is not the real Indonesia we have been experiencing, it is definitely more western and tourist orientated. At Lovina Beach we enjoyed Happy Hour in the bars and ate out each evening, cheap as chips, there was also an outdoor volleyball tournament on each evening.
We are leaving Lovina Beach and Bali in the early hours of tomorrow morning to start the trip to Kalimantan and the Kumai River, off to hug an Orangutan.