Its nigh on two weeks since we last communicated. Our only excuse is we may slowly be going troppo as these 30c plus days have that affect. Since visiting the land of the Dragons we have continued sailing west day-hopping across the north coasts of the islands of Sumbawa and Lombok before reaching our current anchorage on the island of Bali.
We spent over a week in a number of anchorages in the northwest corner of Lombok. The highlights here were a group of islands called 'the Gilis' which are very popular with the backpacker set. These coral reef surrounded isles have no mechanised transport, only cidomo's (ponies and trap) and tens of little beachside hotels & restaurants where you can have a meal for around $5. On the subject of food, local dining out is very economic but also very predictable with us. P mostly has fish because as he says they can't disguise fish. Whereas B normally goes for something like nasi goreng which (Peter says) could be any kind of meat they could catch that day....the mind boggles?
In contrast we splurged in Lombok and treated ourselves to a night in a 5+ star hotel, The Lombok Oberoi. Have peep at (http://www.oberoihotels.com/) it was just the best and worth the hit on the cruising budget. The driver for this was it was a Saturday and surprise surprise we (ie P) were looking for a hotel or bar on
Lombok that might be showing the final match of the Tri Nations / Bledisloe and we ended up cruising up to dock of this hotel and going ashore to check it out. Reception informed us that there were no screens in public areas but all rooms have satellite TV. On this basis we accordingly checked in and had a magic 24 hours with Musketelle anchored off the front of the hotel just like the 'YachtSet' in the Caribbean or the South of France.
Lombok is the first of the islands we have come across in Indonesia that has luxuriant tropical growth and as such is somewhat cleaner and tidier than those we have visited to date. We took a day tour around part of Lombok and were instantly impressed with land utilisation with crops grown on every inch of good ground.
Another memorable experience was sailing into an anchorage on Lombok as literally hundreds of traditional fishing boats with multi coloured sails were returning from a nights fishing to the same bay we were entering. Small fishing boats play a major role in the local food supply chain and as we move west hundreds of these traditional boats are pulled up on every available square metre of beach. Its not that different when they are out on the water, at night forming daisy chains of light like an LA freeway.
We were forced to leave Lombok by the competition between 3 mosques blasting their messages into the wee hours over supercharged loudspeakers. Being Ramadan they were still going for it at midnight and then again at 4am. At home the noise control officer would be in your face with a hefty fine.
Thankfully our passage from Lombok to Bali was a speedy affair with 20+knot winds in the Lombok Strait and seas to match....first real wind for months. We had contemplated sailing to Benoa Harbour on the south coast of Bali near Denpasar and the Sanur/Kuta area but the aforementioned wind, which was against a strong tide in the Strait, was on the nose so like good cruisers we just opted for the soft option and reached off for Lovina North Bali. In the other life P would have insisted on the bash'n'crash so he is mellowing!!
Bali is even more luxuriant and cleaner than Lombok due to its long term reliance on tourism. We took our lives in our hands and hired a scooter and scooted up into the mountains on a circuitous route that gave us a good view of everything. Once again very impressive land use, classic terraced padi fields and picture postcard views everywhere. The populace is largely Hindu with a sprinkling of Moslems so we are sleeping well in this anchorage.
One disheartening side to Lombok and Bali is the number of hotels and resorts that have closed and have bankrupt signs up, all due to the continued fallout from the Bali bombings. Although on the flipside there is a building boom as major hotel chains are investing again around Sanur/Kuta in the south of Bali and a new international airport is due to open in Lombok with Arab backing and Emirates Air the key carrier. All in all, we think Bali is once again an excellent option for a holiday destination.
As we look at our passage planning we are about to commence moving north to Borneo and a date with our forebears... the Orangutans which is one of the biggies on our "to do" in Indo.
Regards P and B
