Sitting by the pool

The fifteen miles over to Bali went quickly with two to three knots of current pushing us along. We arrived before noon on the high tide and tied up and plugged into the  shore power. It works ok as long as you do not  try to run too much equipment on the boat. In the afternoon we managed to get to the bank machine, organize a rental  car for the week, and hire a boat boy to wax and clean all the stainless on Kilkea. The costs here are just fine and we can indulge in having this done rather than us doing it in 34C temperatures.

The  next morning we and Callisto were off in the car to Ubud which is a town in the middle of the island with lots of temples and monks wandering around. It is very touristy but very good with a nice lunch that we had for about  $5 per head including drinks. There are some wonderful hotels that are on the walk to the rice paddies. They are situated in  a ravine with all the tropical foliage and big swimming pools and cost about $30 per night for two including breakfast. If we had know this we would have brought our tooth brushes. The driving here is interesting with hundreds of motorcycles all weaving in and out. We did go through a police road check and were informed we did not have an international drivers licence. Mike was driving and after passing the equivalent of $5 to the cop all was ok.. This is normal for this part of the world.

The next day we did some cleaning and directed our man on the waxing until noon then drove to an Italian restaurant for lunch in Kuta or there abouts. That area is full of the hotels and shops that cater to the tourists. It is very busy and rather dirty with big surf on the seashore. On the way back to the marina we stopped at a big Carrefour and loaded up on some of the heavy items.. Beer, milk juice and soda's etc, Dinner at the marina and were met by Sam, the sail Indonesia guy,  who collected our passports to get us a visa extension. Even though we have a 90 days visa it seems it is only good for 60. Who knows how these things work but it is most confusing. Hope we get them back!!!

On Friday we drove over to the Burkit peninsula where the Marriott hotel is. This is a huge area of big hotels all in a gated area. It is manicured unlike any of the other parts of the island that we have so far seen. The hotel is lovely with a big pool with islands and bars etc where I sit now doing this. The  best thing is a big room, air conditioning and long showers. We are with Michael and Anne and have had lunches and dinners out so for us a very nice mini vacation.

Lombongan Island

Every day the wind would come up at noon and blow for the rest of the afterrnoon so after a couple of days of this we untied and set sail to Lombongan Island about 40 miles away. It is only 15 miles from the main town  Denpassar on Bali. The strait between Lombok and Bali has currents of up to seven  knots and if you have wind against current some big seas develope. For us everything worked out well and we arrived here just after noon. We tied to mooring that would hold  the Queen Mary in crystal clear water. This is much more western with lots of tourist boats comming and going. They even have bannanas which are yellow plastic tubes pulled by a speed boat and can sit six or so people. It was Friday so the Muslim holiday and it was a sight to see women with full clothing riding around in the ocean getting soaked.

We went ashore the next day for a walk. Great small hotels and hostels in amongst the trees and shrubery. We went to one of the sea side restauranats for lunch which  was very good and  everything here is inexpensive. There are eight boats here and five of them have kids onboard. So the kids played on the beach  all afternoon  and we held court sitting in the restaurant with the parents. Soon the sun  went down so we stayed for dinner which also was very good. The cost for the whole day for two was about $25.

Yesterday we and Anne and Mike on Callisto went ashore in the morning and rented two motor scooters to drive around the  island. We managed to get back safe and sound although there were a couple of times the girls got off and walked. We had another great lunch  overlooking surfers with dolphins swimming in the distance.We were right out on a precipice about seventy feet above the water with  big surf rolling in. One of the kids actually just jumped in from the top after he threw his suf board in!! Ah to be young.

When we got back to Kilkea and after a swim we had Gary and Tara come over for a visit. The last time we saw them was a year or so ago in New Caledonia. Since then they have gotten married and now Tara is expecting in January. They got married on our anniversary date forty years later. It was good to catch up and they will be sailing on the  same route as us so we will be seeing them more often.

Tomorrow we will head off to Bali  and hope to get into the marina??

Gili Air

Watching the fisherman go out in their boats as sunset approached and the birds singing in the trees we slsept well in this quiet anchorage inside the reefs in 3 meters of water. Up and off around 8am we  dodged around fish boats for most of the morning on our way to Madena Bay on Lombok Island. This is a place that is supposed to have a rally event on the 20th. We anchored and went ashore to the dinghy dock which was good not having to land on the beach and found they had a small reasturant and bar but other wise just a small place but very welcoming. We stayed here for two days and had diinner aat the marina with the second night being Saturday they had Balanese music and dancing preformed by a large group of players. Lots of drums and bells and the dancers got many of the yachties up dancing.

The only problem with this anchouage was it was rolly so we moved four miles over to an Islet called  Gili Air. It is a small island that is freuented by back packers with lots of small hostels and some hotels all around the shore. The only mode of transportation is by pony drawn carts with the ponies all dressed in colourful ribbons. The holding is not good here for anchoring so the local fisherman have put out moorings to tie up to. It is a lovely place with great views of Lombok Island and at sunset the big mountains of Bali in the distance.

On our second day here we did a tour to Lombok which we are told is what Bali was like thirty years ago. We were off at seven a,m, on a long boat across to the island, about 3 miles, and then into a new Toyata van with comfort and air conditioning. Very nice as I know I have mentioned that it is really hot.here. We saw lots of monkeys in the mountains and saw wood working making tables chairs and lots of carving stuff, Then we went to a weaving place that does all this intricate work by hand on looms. Marian and Anne bought some of the cloth after extensive bargaining which was fun. Each village has their own speciality so next it was off to the pottery designers which resulted in more bargaining. Finally we managed to have a late lunch somewhere between three and four so we were pretty hungry and had a great seafood repast. We arrived back to the boats around seven that evening and called it a day which was very enjoyable.

Waking to calm waters the next morning we planed to just take it easy and relax and do some swimming and snorkeling but around ten the winds came up and by noon it was blowing 30 knots. Then the mooring we were on started to drag. We kept getting closer and closer to the boat behind us so we had to untie and find another mooring. The problem  we had was that our line was jammed onto the mooring. Three of the other yachties saw what was going on and rushed over in their dinghies and helped us get lose and then helped us get hooked up to another mooring. It is a great group out here with everyone helping out if needed. After our fun time another boat had the same problem and we feel lucky that this happened when we were onboard and not yesterday when were off the boat. This  wind stayed up all day yesterday as well so everyone stayed onboard most of the day. Marian and Anne went to shore for the day and walked around the island while Mike and I stayed with the boats. Last evening we all went out for dinner as the winds had dropped but when we came back, even though the  wind was down the waves were up, and we all got soaked getting back to the boats.

This morning is calm and very pleasant so hope it stays this way for the day. We will be off soon as we plan to be in  Bali on the 18th.. We are going to have a holiday when there and have booked into the Marriot for three days. Ah long showers, air conditioned room, and a bed that does not move. I  hope to upload pictures when there as we will have good wifi.

Yes we are still out here

We have had a few emails complaining that we have not posted for a while. Sorry about that but sometimes there are not enough hours in the day and then there is the problem of getting online  We have been moving westward with a few stops for just one night then moving on. We stopped at Gili Bodo and spent  two nights as we were at a very pretty island with a white beach with monkeys wandering around and the snorkeling  was good. We then motorsailed over to Labuan Bajo which is a very dirty town but does have the fresh vegies and all we needed. When  we anchored we had boat boys  in long boats come to us  and offer their services.  This included taking us to town, a mile away, and bringing us deisel which they call solar here. Also they had wares to sell of  pearls, and wood carvings of the Komodo dragons. There is this nice Italinan restaurant with a bar with bean bag chairs and lap pool. It is a 100 plus foot boat that was brought ashore and made into this relaxing  place. The  food was great being real Italian and we enjoyed a couple of meals here. In town for two  days we did our shopping and had two  good lunches and found a bank machine so all  was good. 

After three nights we left in the morning for Rincaa Island and anchored around 1400 in the  afternoon in a very sheltered bay. This is one of four  islands that have the  Komodo Dragons and has fewer tourists than Komodo Island which  is  nearby.  We are with Callisto and  will  do the tour in the morning before it gets too hot. We were ashore by 0700 and had a great guide "Kuba" who spoke good english and gave us great three hour tour. We saw a dozen or so of the dragons and had a nice walk. We were back onboard by 10.00 so left and  had a good sail with the current behind us for a change to Giliawa Laut Island. Here we found nine of the yachts anchored in clear but rather deep water. Justin of Miss Behaving helped us  as he was snorkeling and had us drop our  anchor onto a sandy spot. We spent the next few days  here as the water was so clear and the coral so good. We spent a couple of days drift snorkeling through a pass with beautiful corals and fish and turtles. On the way back to the boat in the dinghy we and  Mike and Gloria off Paikea Mist in their dinghy spotted a couple of big Manta rays swimming on the surface. We stopped and jumped into the water and  swam with these amazing animals which were at least 3 meters across. We had a great time at this anchorage with lots of evening company on each others yachts. Life is tough.

It was time to go to the  big town of Lebuan Bajo. We anchored off one of the western hotels and were immediately accosted by the boat boys. Our guy (Dona) turned out to be very  good. He brought us some diesel and took us to town in his  long boat. The town was very dirty but did have a couple of good restaurants for lunch. The best place we found was Atlantis which is an Italian restaurant and bar with a lap pool and bean bag chairs. The food was real Italian and we ended up there two of the nights. We did manage to get some fresh veg and  some bread. On the 31st we sailed to Rinca Island to Loh Buoya where we anchored in the  afternoon and will go shore in the morning to see the Komodo Dragons. 

The last night was very rolly so we were off to a  quieter anchorage for the night. The next day we decided to put  some miles behind  us  and  did  an  overnight passage to P Lawang on the north  east end of Lombok. Today we are off to Medina Bay and arrived at 14.30. This is supposed to be one of  the rally  stops but we do not know if  it is still  running or not.!! We will go  ashore and hope to find a little place to eat.