When we docked the dinghy at the usual place a guy said we
have to move our boat. We asked if we could pay some money and stay for another
couple of nights, but he was adamant that we had to leave NOW without
explanation.
I’m not sure if the owner of the mooring just required his
mooring back or the local mafia was pissed because we had our own boat and weren’t
paying for snorkelling trips and the like?
Whatever the reason, we were being kicked out and had to be
gone as soon as we come back from dropping off Iyan.
Saying farewell to Iyan on Gili Trawangan
We said our farewells to Iyan and headed back to the dinghy
and then back out to Sirocco. Someone was waiting near us in a small boat, waiting
for us to leave so he could claim the mooring. I wasn’t going to be bullied
into leaving immediately and so I took my time to get the boat prepared while
Putu called her relatives to look into options for mooring the boat in the
region.
Her cousin said he can organise a cheap mooring not far away
at Teluk Narat and so we decided to head over there for the night.
I dropped the mooring around lunch time and immediately the
man hovering around in the small boat attached his boat, and we motored off
towards Teluk Narat around five miles away.
After negotiating a large pearl farm, we entered the small sheltered
bay of Teluk Narat and there was a small boat waiting for us to direct us onto
the correct mooring. After we were securely tied up, we locked up Sirocco and headed
into shore to take a look around and to buy dinner.
This area of Lombok is notorious for theft and other crimes,
so we were very weary. We chatted to a few people on the jetty to get a feel
for the vibe of the area and we paid a local guy a few rupes to keep an eye on
the dinghy while we were away.
It seemed safe enough and these people were still suffering
so much from the large earth quake that a few rupes in the pocket meant so much
to them.
We hired two motor bike riders and went into town to get
something to eat and to buy some food. It was a good fifteen-minute ride to the
nearest shops and there was earth quake damage everywhere you looked.
[
Buying street food at Teluk Kombal
We had dinner in a small warung and bought some extra food to
take back to the boat. The place was very noisy and the air polluted from all
the traffic going past and I couldn’t wait to get back to the boat for some peace
and quiet.
It's interesting how random the damage from the earth quake can be. This house survived while all the houses around it were totally destroyed. The trick is to either make your house super strong (expensive) or out of flexible materials like bamboo and palm fronds, any thing else will not survive.
We called our riders and they were here in no time and took
us back to the jetty now in darkness.
Our dinghy was right where we left it and the guy was
looking after it well. We headed off into the darkness for a quiet night on
Sirocco.
Track Sirocco’s
progress
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