08:43'.16s 115:14'.39e

Saturday 25th September 2010 - Towards Bali

0810hrs Left Gili Aer - a great stop to chill out nice beach bars etc. We had a 54 mile hop to Seranga Island where we have planned to officially check-in to Indonesia, re-fuel, re-provision and shoe Ollie some of the Island of Bali.  There is the most amazing current which must run at up to 4 knots the sea almost boils in places and large standing waves.  We only had 18 knots of wind, I hate to have to do this passage in a blow! Thanks to yacht Titania we had some good waypoints and a sketch of the river entrance.

1415hrs picked up a mooring belonging to Royal Bali Yacht Club

Distance run 55.3 miles average speed  9.2 knots!

Mooring outside Bali Yacht club at the Agus Bar and Restaurant, with its own dinghy dock

And crab like local trimara fishing boats on the beach

Olie’s Blog:

I thoroughly enjoyed Bali, from its lush green paddy fields to the ornate and colourful temples and architecture

Entrance door to temple at the Lotus garden at Ubud

Gilded shrines at one of the temples

Entrance to a temple

 It was hard to imagine Bali as a part of Indonesia as it is so different from its neighbouring islands. It was a real culture explosion when we reached Bali, they had so much more religious vibrancy with the huge festivals, which I was lucky enough to walk along with,

their incredible dancing that takes years of back breaking work

 and of course their artwork and sculptures where so beautiful, each one with its own personality.

 We had a really great tour up into the mainland, David acting as are taxi driver who did a really great job as the roads in Bali where crazy, there seems to be absolutely no rules and it’s just a free for all, it’s hard enough just watching where you’re going, but made doubly as hard as the people on the motor bikes zip in and out of you and seem to just come from nowhere.

 We went to the town of Ubud which was really beautiul.  I got my first great taste of Bali culture and was absolutely blown away by the temples, just so much time and effort and creativity goes into them a true labour of love for their religion,  showing how much this country values its beliefs.

Women making offerings at one of the temples whilst chatting

 Another show of how much they value their beliefs is the amount of festivals that happen, there is always one going on and sometimes two or three in the same village, all with offerings of mounted displays of fruits that where worthy of being in Harrods.

 They also have many different shrines  just next to the garden entrance to  their home where they make offerings to their gods every day

 After we had seen some great temples we went for lunch at Naughty Nuri’s and for some really nice spare ribs and a rest.  The strong Martini’s gave David the pep up he needed to drive uphill along a narrow road to see the Volcano called Mount Batur which errupted last in 1999.

Maybe not Indonesian, but pork ribs served by the pretty Indonesians are great!

The Volcano called Mount Batur with its spread of ash

The Volcanic lake at Mount Batur

   It  has the largest Volcanic lake next to it called Lake Batur, the scenery was breath taking and you could see the Volcanic ash that had scarred the land. As we where viewing the Volcano we were suddenly innundated with locals trying to sell us goods, and they really wouldn’t take no for an answer, they were so insistent we had to push them out the car, David even had to throw things out of  the car that they jammed in for us to buy! We then headed back for the boat after a really interesting and exciting day. I definately feel the Balinese people love to celebrate their religions and really try to keep their culture  alight, even if that does mean keeping out  any others which they are trying hard to do. But I thoroughly enjoyed Bali and would love to come back and visit again if I ever get the chance.

Captain’s Log:

Sunday 26th - Tuesday 28th September 2010 - Seranga Island Bali

Good moorings and facilities but water very dirty and full of rubbish.

Rented a car and spent Sunday re-provisioning and buying a new laptop - spent about 10 million! (Indonesian RP). 

Monday went for a drive to Ubud the drive is just as beautiful as we remember it from last year.  Had lunch at Naughty Nuri's best pork ribs ever and the most lethal Martini's! then went on to see the volcano Mount Batur - really hassled by hawkers at the volcano ended up getting back into the car and literally throwing things out of the car as the vendors were trying to push carvings, tee shirts, chess sets into the car for us to buy! Not a recommended stop!

Tuesday more shopping, returned car and had fuel delivered by barge, bought 500 litres of fuel - but think I got short measure by about 100 litres as my tank was not full at the end., c'est la vie!

Wednesday 29th September - towards Gili Aer

Left at first light, we were advised by Titana to hug the Balinese coast when going north, we first tried sailing the rhum line but boy was that current strong we were only making 2.1 knots over the ground so tacked back to the coast and got within about half a mile of the shore there we picked up a counter current our speed went from 2 knts to 4 knts then 6,7,8,9,10 knots over the ground at one point we saw 11.2 knots on the GPS!  Went north until we were on the same latitude as Gili Aer then we headed across the current for the island - finally picked up a mooring at 1630 hours.

Copy of the Navionics chart showing Bali on top and the Island beneath it, where the current was at least 5 knots taking us South, or against us going NE, hence the reason for hugging the coast!

We were so close to the coast, we got these pics of shell pickers on the beach!

And the Volcano as we left the East coast of Bali