Benoa Marina, Bali

Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Fri 29 Oct 2010 13:31
08:44.432S 115:12.814E
 
Friday 29th October
 
Skipper woke us up just before 05:00 to drop the mooring and follow Fai Tira out of the reef strewn anchorage as they had a track from where they came in. Of course, we didn't because we don't even have a fully functioning plotter! Anyhow, they were out before we could even drop the mooring so we missed our chance and instead had to pick our way through ourselves in the dark as the sun was only just rising! We were sad to leave Gilli Aer as it was a beautiful place with a fantastic atmosphere, at least a week would have been perfect. Nevermind, onwards and upwards!
 
Once clear of the reefs we had another problem...........fishing boats! We were now in the Lombok Strait, a stretch of sea running between Bali and Lombok with strong currents ripping through. There were hundreds of these tiny boats and all we could think was thank goodness we weren't doing this at night as we'd no doubt get tangled in at least one net. The fishermen would sit and wave their arms to the right or left, directing us as to where there nets were, not the side for us to pass, a very important distinction! Lucy Alice ended up driving in circles trying to avoid the nets when they ran the gauntlet. It was a fascinating sight nonetheless.
 
 
Fishing boat
 
  
 
Look right............Look left
 
 
View of Mt. Agung, the eastern volcano
 
Luckily for us we had 3 knots of tide with us so we flew down the centre of the strait, to take full advantage of the current, at 9.5 knots, and we arrived sooner than we'd expected. Not that we were too pleased when we arrived. Luckily for the marina we had the last spot for a monohull, rafted up to Talismano and Moonbeam. I say lucky as we had actually called over a week earlier and reserved a spot! Anyhow we were in and my goodness is the marina grotty, dirty, smelly and full of corrupt men. We can see that we need to escape and go and explore. Inland preferably, as this is what the beaches are like..............
 
  
 
So far, so much evidence of the tourism
 
  
 
 
This was stupidity! The fishing boat to the left was ploughing out of the marina and this banana boat cut in between us with only a few metres to spare. Had anyone have fallen off they'd have been mince meat!