A Touch of the Gillis
Serendipity
David Caukill
Wed 9 Oct 2013 08:17
Today's Blog by David (Time zone BST +7.00; UTC +8.0)
We sailed from Komodo Island along the north of Sumbawa. Bound for Gilli
Aer, one of three islands off the north west tip of Lombok, we left towards
sunset expecting to be at sea for two nights. For the first time in some
weeks, we had good wind and so we got off to a flying start. By the morning
it was already clear that we needed to slow up a great deal or, better,
stop for a few hours.
We identified a couple of towns as candidates. The favourite was Karanga,
on Sumbawa but this turned out to be a very basic settlement and a boat
yard. We did try to anchor about half a mile from the village, far enough
to deter too many visitors (chancers) but it was steep to. We would have
had to anchor in 15-20 metres of water only three or four boat lengths from
the shore. We prospected elsewhere in that bay but without success and so
headed for Brenti, just round the corner. It was by now early afternoon and
a stiff sea breeze had emerged making the Brenti anchorage a bit of an ask,
but we did find a find a little bay with adequate shelter. We were joined
there by Sulana who kindly invited us to dinner and, later, by Babe.
Sometime after dark we set off again for Gilli Aer.
Gilli Ae is a tourist destination. A tropical parallel to Sark, in the
Channel islands on which no vehicles are allowed - although it is about
there that the similarity ends! There was a single track round the island,
which could be circumnavigated in a little over 2 hours, passing by a
succession of bars, restaurants (many of which could not provide food when
asked), bars, dive shops, tourist agents, bars, massage parlours and
.....did I mention... bars? .... all organised along either side of the
single 'road' running alongside the white sandy beach
There were paths off on the landward side to accommodation of various
standards: backpacker and up, (although I am not too sure how far up!). It
is more a destination for 25 year old blonde Adonis suffers/divers than
grumpy fifty/sixty somethings although the taxis were quite cute.
>From the Gillis we headed straight for Bali, playing Chicken with the local
fishermen down the Selat Lombok (Lombok Strait). This proved to be quite
exciting.
Now, the more traditional Indonesian fishing boats comprise a single hull
with two out riggers. They are remarkable craft from which they pursue all
manner of fishing methods. At its simplest:
But we also saw them setting drift nets up to 500 metres long, trolling and
lifting pots etc. At night, they fish with bright lights and literally
filled the horizon to seaward of our anchorage at Gillie Aer. They are also
a means of transport and have both a small engine and a sail.
Under sail, they are quite daunting. They seem to be going very quickly, and
they sail much further off the wind than they seem. As we headed down the
Lombok Strait we were besieged by them, and had a happy couple of hours
playing dodgems.
We arrived in Bali in the early afternoon, cleared into the port and
repaired to the bar for dinner.
<<attachment: winmail.dat>>