DAY 157 - Saturday 26 September - Medana Bay, Lombok Island
We decided to catch a bemo (little van) to Sengiggi - motor bikes had gone up to 75,000rp, hawkers everywhere in your face. We walked out to the road to catch a bemo. A 'local' decided to help us and stopped one going in the opposite direction and it appeared they were going to turf the people out so we walked away from that one. We had bemos stop for us but the 'local' kept interfering in our negotiations and forcing the price up. We walked further down the road three times to get away from him. Peter and Dave finally negotiated 80,000 and the 'local' stuck his bib in again and it was suddenly 150,000. We went back to the marina and asked the man there to see if he could get us one. He got us one for 100,000 each way and they would wait for us. We told them to go off and earn some more money while they were waiting. We thought Sengiggi was very ordinary - people had said how good it was. Found a craft shop and finally saw the correct prices for stuff. Peter's 300,000 woven piece was 85,000 in the shop!!! So I bought a couple of things in there and it was so nice not to have to bargain. Had lunch and returned for the gala dinner. They put on a pretty good spread and then had speeches and a muslim band. Looked really funny seeing guys in white gowns doing rock band stuff.
DAY 158 - Sunday 27 September - Medana Bay, Lombok Island to Ambat Road, Bali
08°19.940S 115°38.511E
Upanchored at 7am and headed out to cross the strait between Bali and Lombok. It was ok till we got around the Gili Islands. Peter put 2 reefs in the main. The seas were really really rough, the wind was blowing a gale, we were doing 7 knots and it was truly awful - really bad tipping (I hate tipping in rough seas!!!). Heaps of water over the top and then we broke the autohelm (new) so Peter had to hand steer the last couple of hours. We had to keep our eyes on a couple of big ships out there. Finally got in the lee of Bali Island but still the wind blew and it didn't stop until we got right into the little bay of Ambat Road. We anchored off the beach in 20m of water and hung back to 25m. Peter got the old autohelm out and was able to repair the new one with parts from the old one. We didn't go ashore but I wished we had as it was a pretty little village with pigs, dogs and chooks on the black beach, a couple playing with children, a couple learning to scuba dive and just generally people being busy. That night another yacht down from us dragged badly. We were calling him but he didn't answer. He went a couple of miles out before he realised. There are lots of fish traps around and the wind blew all night.
Miles: 30 Total 3,886
DAY 159 - Monday 28 September - Ambat Road, Bali to Lovina Beach, Bali
08°09.713S 115°01.109E
Left at 6am with wind still howling and headed out. As soon as we put the mainsail up we totally heeled over - very scary. Sailed out with huge wind and were hoiking along at 7 knots going around the coast of Bali. The scenery was wonderful and all the little spider boats were coming back in with their sails up and they looked like big colourful fish - there were hundreds of them. Got around a bit further and we totally lost the wind so then motored the rest of the day. Got in around 3.20pm and anchored with a heap of other boats. Lovina Beach is on the north coast of Bali with black beaches and not so touristy.
DAY 160 - Tuesday 29 September - Lovina Beach, Bali
Decided to get the jump on getting our visas so went with 10 others to the Immigration office - we were told we would get our passports straight back. We had to fill in myriads of paper work and sat in the hope of getting our passports back. By 2pm it became obvious that this wasn't going to happen and the fingerprint machine was broken so we left and caught a bemo to town, walked through the market, had lunch and came back. We enquired about motor bikes and when we found one for 30,000rp ($3.80) a day including insurance we grabbed it.
DAY 161 - Wednesday 30 September - Lovina Beach, Bali
Paid for our visas but no sign of our passports. Took the bike out for a ride so Peter could get used to it - semi automatic - gears but no clutch. Went past a big temple with men out the front playing cymbals and zylophones with hammers. Listened for a while then went to the hot spa pools. Didn't have our swimmers but had a look. We got a telephone call telling us to go to immigration so we thought we were getting our passports back. But no, we just had to get our photo taken and have all our fingers on both hands fingerprinted. Went to a Balanise restaurant for dinner. Two little girls about 3 and 8 did a dance - so cute. Then a girl about 12 and then a man with a very scary bad spirit mask on - he was very scary. He came down and talked to us after - a very jolly man. It has been very windy.
DAY 162 - Thursday 1 October - Lovina Beach, Bali
Peter cleared out with customs and still no passports. A day of not very much really!
DAY 163 - Friday 2 October - Lovina Beach, Bali
Happy Anniversary Amy and Pete Happy Birthday Ann
Went in for a Sail Indonesia/Malaysia 9am meeting and got our passports back. Dave and Jean (Whistle) got a bike and we headed off on a minor road which deteriorated into potholes with a bit of bitumen. The roads were very steep and it was overcast. Our bike struggled and on a very steep bit we couldn't get up and I went to get off and we slid backwards as the brakes wouldn't hold. Peter burned his leg on the exhaust but managed to get the bike sideways and stop it. David and jean didn't know which way to go so Dave braked and also started sliding bacckwards so he put the bike down. Jean jumped off but momentum carried her backwards. When I looked back the bike was on the ground and jean was on her back in the gutter - gave me an awful fright!! All ok though. We got a bit lost and then we lost Dave and Jean and it took us about half an hour to find each other again. Started pouring rain - we got totally soaked and absolutely freezing. We had gone from dripping with the heat in the morning to shivering with the cold in the afternoon. Missed the water temple as it was raining so hard and then we were running out of time so went straight to Ubud. Jean & I walked the street trying to find somewhere to stay. All the nice places were full and of the rest they either had a good bathroom and crap bedroom or vice versa. We finally found a not too bad place next to a rice field. Very busy touristy street out the front and rice paddy out the back!
Fair winds and calm seas
Dell and Peter
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