Wednesday 30th October 2019 – Gili Gede (Delray Marina)

After breakfast I did quite a few boat jobs while Putu was busy cleaning. We got all our jobs done, bags packed, flights and transfers booked and so we could finally relax a bit until our sea taxi was ready to take us to Lombok at 17:00.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in the water cleaning the water line and hulls, getting off all the Kimberly grime and marks and she was looking pretty bloody good, so today I enlisted the help of half a dozen guys to wash down and polish both the topsides and the hull sides while I went and checked out the pool.

At around AUD$16/h I thought it was good value and money well spent. The pool was beautiful and cool and refreshing, but after a while I was feeling guilty, so I went back to the boat to see how the workers were going. They were doing a good job and I got them some cool drinks even though they had hardly worked up a sweat.

While at the boat we had a surprise visit by Michael and Liz from Cosmic Drift who we met several times during our recent Kimberly trip. We chatted for a while and then we all decided to go back to the pool for a drink or two.

The beach and grounds of the marina were very clean and tidy thanks to the efforts of the ground's keeper, but typical for Indonesia the adjoining beaches and area around the facility were covered in rubbish and it was sad to see.

It was nice to see Michael and Liz again, but around 16:30 we had to wish them goodbye and go and get ready to head off to Bali. At 17:00 a small boat took us across the channel to Tembowonh Harbour where our driver was waiting to take us to the airport. It took about an hour to get to the airport and it was an interesting drive, arriving in the dark.

After a short flight across to Bali, we were picked up by Putu’s cousin and takin to Klungkung where we stayed with Putu’s parents. It was nice to rest up for a bit as we had to check in for our flight around 05:00, so it was going to be a very long day tomorrow as we fly back home to Perth.

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Tuesday 29th October 2019 – Medana Bay to Gili Gede (Delray Marina)

I woke early to the smokey humid smells of SE Asia that I have always liked and we headed off to our final destination Gili Gede. It was a 31-mile passage and as we rounded the Island and headed south, we had quite a strong wind right on the nose for most of the way.

There was lots of shipping, many large ferries and small fishing boats crisscrossing the Lombok passage, but this time the tide was kind to us and we traveled at a reasonable speed arriving at Gili Gede just after lunch.

We had pre-booked the marina and they should have been expecting us as we were already two days overdue, but there was no activity. I managed to raise someone on the radio and organised to park on the end of the jetty until tomorrow and once secured, go into the office to register.

Unfortunately, the manager was away and there was no record of our booking and deposit, but after a while we got things sorted out then had a quick look around at the facilities.

We were planning on leaving tomorrow to head over to Bali for the night to spend time with Putu’s family and then flying back to Australia early Thursday morning, so we had a lot of things to prepare, get the boat ready for departure and then pack our bags, booking flights and airport transfers, so we were both very busy for the rest of the afternoon.

It was extremely hot inside the boat and we needed the fan going flat out the whole time. By sunset we had both had enough and so we had a shower and headed off to the restaurant for a few drinks and a feed.

At the bar we met the manager (owner) and chatted to him for hours. He has done a terrific job building the marina and surrounding facilities and he has grand plans for the future, so I hope his business prospers so he can complete the landscaping and expand the facility.

I was impressed by how close he is working with the local community, but there would be no way a business like this could operate and survive without the support and protection of the locals.

We had a good feed and I was very impressed with the marina and satisfied with our choice to leave the boat here and I felt content falling asleep easy.

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Monday 28th October 2019 – Medana Bay

We had a bit of a sleep in and then after breakfast we headed into shore to go and check out the Medana Bay marina. After checking out the facilities, services and the prices, we headed back out to Sirocco to gather all our laundry to take back to the beach.

Back at the sailfish café, we enjoyed a drink and a feed while we chatted with other cruisers and then we organised to rent a motorbike to go and check out the surrounds.

The marina harbour is a quite exposed from the north but its in quite a nice location. The jetties and facilities are a little tired and dated, but clean and tidy. You can get hauled out here and they have dry storage, but the haulage fees are very expensive.

When our washing was done, we took it back to Sirocco and hung it out, then headed back to pickup the motorbike. After leaving the marina grounds we headed off in a counter clockwise direction. Everywhere you looked there was massive damage from the recent earth quake and every house or shop was being rebuilt or repaired.

The government buildings were just bunted off and left in disrepair. We went as far as the Gili Islands and as we have been to this area before we decided to turn around and head back the other way. After cruising around sight seeing for a couple of hours, we headed back to the marina. We chatted with the other cruisers for a while and then I decided to head back out to Sirocco and go for a dive on the outer reef.

The wind was blowing quite strong and even though I went a long way out to the outer reef, the visibility was terrible and the coral was even worse. I tried another location closer in and that was just as bad, so I headed back to Sirocco.

After dinner, we headed back to the sailfish café for drinks with all the other cruisers until late in the evening.

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Sunday 27th October 2019 – Labuan Haji (Pulau Moyo) to Medana Bay

I woke up at first light and immediately raised the main and pulled the anchor as we had a long way to go today if we were going to reach Medana Bay which was 109 miles away.

I had wanted a shorter passage and to go to Potopaddu Bay for the night, but Putu was keen to get home. If I could keep up a fast pace of 6 to 7 knots, I should be able to get to Madana Bay just on sunset, but I was dreading a night passage and entering the anchorage in the dark.

We got off to a bad start with the lite breeze right on the nose, but I was hoping as we sailed around Lombok the wind angle would slowly improve to a point where we could sail the rest of the way.

We passed many small fishing boats, lots of FAD’s and a large Aussie dive boat heading for Komodo.

Unfortunately the wind persisted directly on the nose and we had a strong current against us slowing our speed to around 4 ½ knots and I knew I would have to sail the last few hours in the dark in a very busy part of Indonesia and I was not looking forward to it and I swear I wont let this happen again.

For about an hour we had many dolphins riding our bow wave in the crystal-clear water and it was such a great site sitting up on the bow watching them swim effortlessly as they were watching me. I never get tired of watching these beautiful animals.

The further west we traveled the greener the terrain got and the higher the terrain got with huge volcano's dominating the horizon. Underwater the sub terrain was quite spectacular also as the seabed went from 20 meters to well over 2000 meters in less than a mile.

I also passed over many active seamounts that were venting either gas or hot water that was clearly visible on my sonar.

As we worked our way around the North coast of Lombok, the wind followed us remaining directly on the nose as I prepared for a stressful night as the sun slowly went down as I dodged hundreds of small fishing boats.

With the boat lit up and the radar on, I carefully picked my way through all the boats hoping they would see me and move out of my way. Around 21:15 we reached the approach to Madena Bay that was full of anchored yachts, moorings and jiggered dangerous coral reefs. By now I was fried from intensely concentrating on the radar, looking through the binoculars and checking the chart.

I carefully negotiated the reef and slowly made our way into the bay and found a nice place to anchor between several yachts and I dropped the pick. Unfortunately, when the boat swung around with the current, we were too close to the reef for my liking, and so I pulled the anchor and slowly edged forward between several yachts using the radar and the spotlight.

One of the cruisers yelled out to us telling us there was mooring in front of his yacht which I had already seen, so I decided to pick it up for the night so I could sleep peacefully. After a quick bite for dinner and a couple of beers I was sound asleep.

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Saturday 26th October 2019 – Labuan Haji (Pulau Moyo)

We were up early as we were excited to go and check out the waterfalls and we had arranged to pick up the motorbike at 08:00. We pulled the dinghy up past the high tide mark and tied it to the stone jetty and then wandered off up the beach to Sunset Moyo where the motorbike was waiting.

With some sketchy directions we headed off through town then off up a very steep hill towards the center of the Island. The road deteriorated rapidly the further we went and it became quite dangerous and difficult to ride with a pillion. In places there were sharp coral rocks or a broken concrete track with a steep drop on each side. It was a broken ankle waiting to happen and it was as hot as hell.  

After an hour of so we entered thick rain forest and we came to the end of the road and had to walk the rest of the way to the waterfall and by this stage the motorbike was knackered.

It was a steep walk for about 500 meters and then the rain forest opened up and we could hear the water. We walked over to a clearing to see a magnificent view of the waterfall which had created its own flow-stone due to the high concentration of limestone as this Island is a coral reef that has been pushed up out of the ocean.

We walked down to the top pools of the waterfall and crossed the river and then walked down below the main falls. The waterfall was really awesome up close and right away I jumped in for a swim and a closer look. The water was cool and very refreshing and we swam for about two hours.

We moved down stream and there were a series of large pools and small waterfalls and we spent some time in one of the nicest. This was such a beautiful place and quite an unusual waterfall.

While in the water swimming, a long thin green snake slithered out of the bush into the cool spray of the waterfall and sat there for ages. After a couple of hours, I was water logged and wrinkly, so it was time to move on.

We walked back to the motorbike on a different track that had lots of interesting things to look at along the way.

We headed off back down the horrible track and when we got back into town we decided to try and find the smaller waterfall where the river enters the ocean. Unfortunately, we somehow missed the turn off and ended up way up the coast where we came across a small dive lodge called Blue Emocean.

Right away we recognised one of the girls we were talking to last night at Sunset Moyo and she invited us in. We chatted for a while and had a meal and a couple of drinks and as we were both dead tired after the rough road to the waterfall, we both fell asleep on the deck chairs at the pool.

We woke maybe an hour or two later in the late afternoon and headed off back to Labuan Haji where we went to watch the Sumbawa gay volleyball team play the local Labuan Haji team.

It was all very bizarre, and while I was watching the volleyball the village leader came over to introduce himself and to chat for a while.

After the volleyball, we went back to the warung to get some food to take back to the boat, and then we headed off back to Sunset Moyo to return the bike and to have a few sunset drinks.

We chatted with the owners until well after dark learning about all the politics on Moyo Island and finally we said our good byes to these lovely people and headed back out to Sirocco in the pitch black.

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