Moyo Island Sumbawa to Lombok
Gaviota
Sun 28 Aug 2016 05:02
008:21.70S 116:07.78E
We headed
out and there was enough wind to get the mainsail and both genoas out and we
headed out of the bay on a reach at 6+ knots but soon the wind started to die
so the spinnaker was hoisted and we carried on with the spinnaker set as a
genoa at a very respectable speed until the wind completely died and the motor
went on.
We had
decided to break the journey at Gili Lawang to avoid doing an overnight sail to
Medana Bay (the next Rally stop) on the West side of Lombok, the anchorage at
Gili Lawang was right in front of the prison!
Nice but at least there was no people hassling you so we had a peaceful
night then set off early next day for Medana Bay. The sea was glassy so on went the motor –
again! We did manage to sail the last
bit when the afternoon wind picked up and we arrived in Medana Bay about 4.00pm
and picked up a mooring ball. After a
trip ashore we realised that glossy web sites do not always tell the
truth! The ‘Marina’ was little more than
a broken metal floating pontoon which had a definite slant. Yachts were expected to back onto this
contraption and pay for the privilege of potential having your expensive boat
smashed against it when the wind blew in.
The moorings were not a lot better and we were told by the owner that
the one we had picked up was not secure – great! The next day was windless so we felt
confident enough to leave Gaviota on the dodgy ball and go and discover what
‘delights’ were on offer in Lombok. We
decided to combine a few temple visits with some food shopping. Overall impression of Lombok not great! The temples were moderately interesting as
was seeing the rice being harvested using water bufaloos. The shopping was a bit of a disaster as the
huge hypermarket we were taken to actually had very little food in it but we
did visit a great veggie market at Cakranegara.
The main issue once again is the escalating ‘rubbish’ problem and simply
too many people. The dried river beds
are used as a ‘tip’ so I guess when the rains arrive all the garbage floats out
to sea and joins the rest of it that is already there!
After our
exciting sightseeing tour we got back to our diesel delivery all 220 litres of
it which had been transported in gerry cans on the back of a motor bike from
the local filling staion. Unfortunately
the cans they had used had no rubber seals inside the lids and there was diesel
everywhere. After taking the cans in the
dinghy back to the boat we had a dinghy full of diesel and unfortunately in
pouring it into the tanks a lot spilt on Gaviota’s lovely teak deck (Syd very
much not happy!!!!). But with full fuel
tanks we could leave.
Sail Indonesia’s
planned schedule once again had been ‘cocked up’ and the welcome party on the
26th had (without anyone being told) been moved to 3rd
September!
We
decided to sail all 5 miles over to Gili Air and try to enjoy ourselves
(isn’t that what this is supposed to be about???)
