Lombok and the Gilis
Casamara
John & Susan Simpson
Tue 15 Oct 2024 01:52
Reaching the island of Lombok marked a watershed moment for us as the point at which we said farewell to a number of yachts we had sailed together with since the Caribbean. The World ARC sailing rally leaves from Lombok in September each year to set off across the Indian Ocean towards South Africa and from there to the Caribbean. Next year Casamara will be part of that fleet on the final leg of our circumnavigation. It brought home to us that the final leg of our circumnavigation is only a year away. The World ARC rally organisers were hosting events for the 2024 fleet prior to their departure from Lombok at Medana Bay Marina on the island’s north coast. We know the team well, having sailed on their rallies across the Atlantic and the Pacific, so we anchored near to the marina and went ashore pretending that we had come to check in for their next rally a year early! They weren’t taken in, but kindly invited us to take part in the events for this year. It gave us a lovely opportunity to socialise with our friends for a few days before waving them off on the rally start line. It was an emotional moment!  The start line for the World ARC 2024 leg from Lombok to South Africa - there wasn’t a breath of wind for sailing but they all motored hard across the line when the starting gun sounded! Lombok is one of the Sunda islands, a chain that lies in a line separating the Indian Ocean to the south from the Java Sea to the north. At this time of year, the SE Monsoon season, the wind blows from the south east for much of the time and the islands create huge wind shadows over the Java Sea.The sea state is beautifully calm but over the last few weeks we have spent a lot more time motoring than sailing. Casamara carries plenty of diesel - 1334 litres to be exact - but we had last filled her up in Cairns so we were pleased to be able to top her tanks up again at Medana Bay Marina. Our expectations of coming alongside to a jetty with a fuel pump proved a little optimistic. There was a rickety jetty next to the beach, which fortunately had just enough water for Casamara to come alongside. The diesel was ferried in jerry cans from the local petrol station in the back of a truck and then carried, can by can, in a wheelbarrow to the beach, down the gangplank and onto the jetty. A small electric pump was set up to pump the fuel from the cans into Casamara’s tanks. We’d ordered 800 litres so it took many, many jerry cans to complete the process. Hats off to the local guys who did all that heavy lifting in the blazing heat.  Casamara waiting for the refuelling process to begin We were joined in Lombok by Ian Lillington (a friend from university) and Chris Brooks. Ian crews for Chris on his J109 racing yacht in the UK so we were looking forward to getting some sail trimming tips from them both. We were taking part in one of the Sail 2 Indonesia Rally events when Ian and Chris arrived having flown from the UK. They must have wondered what on earth they had let themselves in for as they got out of their taxi to see a procession of local ladies balancing brightly coloured baskets on their heads walking towards a group of yachties sitting cross legged on a mat in the marina garden. This was dinner being served. Each basket covered a plate of local delicacies such as chicken satay, fried fish, fried chicken, beef rendang, spicy fried rice. It was lovely food but there was no cutlery and very difficult to eat with your hands.  Dinner is served, Indonesian style Lombok is surrounded by a number of smaller islands, or Gili. The trio of islands on Lombok’s north west corner, Gili Trawangan, Gil Meno and Gili Air, attract hordes of tourists who arrive from neighbouring Bali in a constant stream of ferry boats of all shapes, sizes and speed. Colourfully decorated horse-drawn carts gather around the ferry terminal to transport the visitors to their accommodation around the islands. We spent a couple of days on Gili Air and loved its quaint narrow, sandy streets. Walled gardens surround the properties and it was lovely to get the occasional glimpse of flower-filled gardens around ornate buildings through open gates. The reef-lined harbour on Gili Air has a few mooring balls for visiting yachts and we were lucky enough to find one available when we arrived. Often in this situation, the owner of the mooring will pop by to ask for a mooring fee so we weren’t surprised when a local boatman approached just before sunset and asked us to pay. How much for one night, we asked? 50,000 rupiah, he said, and if you’re staying two nights it’s 150,000 rupiah!! In that case we’ll stay one night, we said, thinking that we’d pay again the following day if we decided to stay. He never came back, and as he didn’t have the usual receipt ticket to give us it probably wasn’t even his mooring anyway! You can’t blame the guy for trying!  Gili Air arrival area  Casamara on a Gili Air mooring  Gili Air street scene We visited a couple more of the Gilis later on, this time off the south west corner of Lombok. Gili Asahan had been recommended as ’the most beautiful anchorage in Indonesia’ and we had a contact (Anti) there for booking a mooring ball off one of the holiday resorts. As luck would have it, Anti said, another boat had just left so he would keep that mooring ball free for us. We duly turned up to find no sign of Anti, nor any indication as to where the mooring ball would be. We did a little tour of the anchorage and identified two possible moorings so we took one of those and dinghied ashore. We asked a couple of people where we could find Anti and eventually one of his neighbours knocked loudly on the door of a little wooden house, shouting his name. After a few minutes a sleepy young man came out, buttoning up his shirt. Clearly he’d been having an afternoon siesta so that explained why he’d stopped answering messages. John pointed to Casamara just off the beach and said we’d taken that mooring ball. Yes, said Anti, that’s the one I was keeping for you. We do love the Indonesian people; they’re so keen to help but sometimes their methods are puzzling to say the least! Gili Asahan was lovely, though not THE most beautiful in my opinion. We had a stroll along the beach taking in the view and in the evening we went ashore to one of the small hotels to eat. There’s something special about pitching up in your dinghy and walking up the beach straight into a smart restaurant for dinner. Our waiter could not comprehend that we’d sailed there in our own boat from England. He kept repeating it, as if saying it more often might make it seem more real.  Casamara at Gili Asahan Gili Gede was my favourite of all the Gilis we visited. There was just something tranquil and timeless about it. We took a short walk to try to find a French restaurant that had been recommended to us. That there was such a thing was a complete surprise as Gili Gede is tiny and the village has no more than 20 houses. The fishing fleet had recently landed its catch and the women were processing the fish through a series of smoking boxes. ‘Look out, look out, a tourist!’, they called to each other as I approached to see what they were doing.  Processing fish on Gili Gede We found the French restaurant and later had a lovely meal there. When we first arrived the restaurant was completely lit by candlelight, which we thought was for romantic effect until they explained they were having a power cut. Fortunately, cooking is all on bottled gas in these parts and Chris and Ian were able to enjoy the steaks they’d pre-ordered earlier in the day. Steaks had to be ordered at least four hours in advance - presumably to give them time to defrost. Ecotourism is a big thing in these islands and we loved the Ecogym we saw at the marina resort on Gili Gede. The gym is outdoor, shaded under a roof of bamboo thatch and every piece of equipment in it is made of wood or bamboo. What a great idea!  Gili Gede Ecogym |