Looking back its been a while since the last post. Most of that time has been spent ashore finishing our time in Lombok and then moving across to Bali for a week. It was great to be onshore enjoying the comforts of hotel life with NIk, having everything on tap and not having to worry about boat things for a while. Our schedule was very relaxed and our only commitment was a yoga class every morning which we had done on Lombok and continued in Bali and watching the sunset. Nik flew home on the 8th August and I moved back onto the boat the next day.
I had not been to Bali for 10years. The last time I was here it was so busy that
I was put off returning anytime. This
time I was surprised that whilst it is still busy it did not seem as bad. In addition, it seems much cleaner that it
was. Even though its not my scene there
is no doubt that it is a magical place and even with all the tourist
development and associated ills, sitting on Kuta beach with a beer watching the
sunset over the Bali Sea and a relentless wave breaking on the beach is special
– and it happens every night.
The next day we slipped our mooring and headed away
from the marina. The first day we just
motored across to Gilli Asahan and anchored.
I did not feel ready to start the sail across to Bawean Island and this
gave us a chance to settle down and make sure we were ready to go to sea. I
think my unease is in no small measure due to Nik’s absence as she helps me get ready
for sea and acts as a secondary check for me. It also gave Abi a chance to get
used to the boat and for us to get to know each other. Abi is English and works as a freelance
travel blogger but lives in the Gilli’s.
She will be blogging the trip aswell but more diligently and
professionally I suspect. (this is the link to her Instagram Account AbigailCarolina.Dalton) Abi has brought a drone with her so am
looking at getting some spectacular pictures of the boat.
The plan is to head towards Malaysia stopping
at a few of the islands in the Java Sea on the way before a final sail up the
Malacca Straits to Lumut just north of KL.
The islands are typically out of the way stops that would generally be
off the popular tourist trail such as Baewan Island, the Karimunjawa National
Park and Biliton Island.
On the 12th August at a decent time
in the morning we headed out into the Lombok Strait. Almost immediately we picked up radio traffic
from a vessel responding to a Mayday call south of Bali and about three hrs
south of our position. They were
assisting at a ferry fire where many people were in the water. My VHF would not get past the land so we
motored west to get a clear line of sight and called the vessel. By that time more rescue vessels had arrived
on the scene and recovery of personnel was well underway. Since it was going to take us three hrs to
get there it was deemed not necessary to attend. First
time I have had a Mayday call.
We turned north and headed towards the Bali
Sea. Once we cleared Bali the wind
picked up and we spent the next two days sailing with a following wind all the
way to Bawean Island about 270NM away off the coast of Java. The sailing was great but the wind was directly
astern so a bit rolly. In hindsight I
should have put in two big gybes instead but am always worried if I pick one
side the wind will swing in the wrong direction and end up slowing us down.
We managed to get into our anchorage at Teluk
Jati, Dedwang on the north coast of Baewan just before sunset on the 15th
August. It’s a beautiful big protected
bay although we are a bit far out as there is coral reef stretching from the
shore quite a way out. We spent the first
day relaxing on the boat, catching up on various admin tasks and organizing a
tour of the island for the following day.
A trip in to look around the village was undertaken later in the day and
where we beached the dingy there was a small warung where the ladies and kids
made us so welcome we stayed for dinner.
The next day Abi and I met up with DJ and An
our tour guides for the day. They had organized
two scooters and together we came up with an itinerary. First stop was a lake in the hills about an
hours ride away followed by a 20min walk.
After a quick freshwater swim we pushed onto a small port on the east
coast and took a local fishing boat across to a place called Noko Island. This is a tiny sand cay covered in pine
trees. Very picturesque apart from the
garbage washed up on the shores. We had a
few hours here swimming, snorkeling and flying the drone before heading back into
the main island. On the way back DJ and
An stopped at a friend of theirs house so we could shower and then we had a
meal with them. It was really
special. Finally we sped back to Tanjung
Jali.
Bawean Island is really beautiful and best seen from a scooter. The terrain is very lush and hilly and the roads provide endless scenic views over rice fields, hills and the coast. The island is called the island of women because most of the males leave to find work abroad or on the other major islands like Java and Sumatra and there are certainly a noticeable excess of women. The island looks quite wealthy as the houses are all brick and tile and in good repair, the roads are good and you see very little in the way of poverty. The people who we met and passed were all super friendly and everyone smiled and wanted pictures taken with us. This is such a cool spot to visit. It kind of feels like the real Indonesia. We could easily have spent a few more days here exploring and enjoying the extraordinary hospitality of the people.
We push on tomorrow for Karimunjawa National park about 130Nm to the west.
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