Friday 29th April 2022 –Gili Lawa Laut to Labuan Bajo

I got up at 6 am to go for a last dive here for the best chance to see manta rays, but I was disappointed once again. Maybe it's just not the season for them? I snorkeled the whole bay for about 2 km and must have been in the water for 2-3 hours. When I got back to the boat, I was exhausted and hungry, but had a fantastic dive as all the fish are hungry and active early morning.

After having breakfast & coffee, I got cleaned up and then we got the boat ready for the 19nm passage to Labuan Badjo. At 08:45 just as we were about to leave, a large panisi came around the corner wanting to hook-up to our mooring. It was perfect timing, we let go and right away he moved in to take the mooring as we set off on our way to Labuan Badjo.

The passage to Labuan Badjo was uneventful but I had to be on my toes as there is reef all over the place in this area. We arrived around 11:45, picked up a panisi mooring and then headed into town to buy some fuel. This place is fabulous with very old ramshackle buildings with lots of character. Everywhere you turn there is another photo opportunity.

I was amazed how much money has been spent on this place since I was here pre-COVID 2 1/2 years ago. The whole water front has been upgraded and the huge waterfront hotel has now been finished. I struggled to recognize any old land marks from my last visit, but eventually I recognized the fuel station and we filled 6 jerry cans.

The nice fuel attendant from Bali assisted us to carry the heavy jerry cans back to the dinghy, then we returned to the boat to fill the main fuel tank, then returned back to the fuel station once again to fill three more jerry cans, before returning back to the boat to secure them all in the forward cabin.

We were both keen to go back ashore for a look good around and the plan was to buy some stores, return them back to the boat, and then go back in again later for dinner.

We ended up having so much fun walking around taking photos, then later on we relaxed in a restaurant and ate salt & pepper squid and downed a few frothy's. We then did some more walking around the sea front where we found a very smelly fish market. After this, we went to a supermarket and bought all our shopping, then met up with my local friend Untung (a family friend and panisi owner) for dinner at the seafood wurung where I ordered a large coral trout, some squid and vegetables & rice.

It was a great meal and nice to catch up with Untung once again and around 9pm in the jet dark night, we loaded up the dinghy with all our stores and headed off into the dark night without a torch to try and find Sirocco. Luckily, we made it back ok and it wasn’t long before we were both sound asleep.

Once again we had a lovely sunset.

Track Sirocco’s progress

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