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Starblazer - 12/09/2015 - Lombok



The last 27 miles could have been worse, the wind came up to help us through the straight though the tide against us was up to 3 knots, rather more than the tidal data suggested. The slowest part was the last 5 miles to the anchorage which was straight in to the wind which was a healthy 17 knots and current. Where was this wind when we needed it? We certainly didn't need it for this section of the trip as it slowed the boat down and we could only make about 1.5 knots! Once in the anchorage we were directed to the refuelling point, took on only 400 litres having motored for 165 hours in total, then anchored in the mooring field. In places the mud is very soft so to prevent any chance of dragging John attached the Fortress on mud setting 5 metres ahead of the Delta. We have held firm.

There was only time for a quick shower before a water taxi came to take us to a beach BBQ on the other side of Gili Gide. It was an eventful trip, we ran out of fuel, no VHF, no torch and only one oar. Ray's phone was running out of charge and he was having difficulty getting anybody to answer! John paddled strongly for a while, heading us towards the shore and eventually another boat came out and towed us in. For me it was a very long day because I came on watch at 0500 Darwin time which is 1hr 30min ahead of Lombok time.

At 0830 Thursday morning we were collected by water taxi to go ashore for a tour of Lombok. The minibus had 16 passenger seats but they were designed for slim Indonesians not rather beamier Europeans! Fortunately there were only 12 of us plus a guide. The first stop was a local market where the guide introduced us to a number of local fruits. The place was heaving and the locals were adept at pushing their way past obstructions such as tourists looking at the array of unknown produce. One highlight was a horse and cart ride to a village where almost all the women make pottery and the ladies in the group were encouraged to have a go. My coil pot turned out rather better than my effort at school (a triangular ash tray on a circular base) though the manual wheel helped. Next stop was at a pottery shop in the next village. From there we went for lunch, a traditional local meal of rice with assorted side dishes, mainly spicy though they toned down the chilli pepper content for us. From there we visited a temple complex built several hundred years ago where Hindus, Moslems and Christians can all worship. The final stop was at the Water Palace, a collection of buildings set in a 10 acre plot of amazing lakes and gardens fed by natural springs. It was very peaceful and beautiful. We finally got back to the boat at about 1900.

Friday was 'boat work' day. John spent 2 hours diving under the boat to remove the damaged prop and replace it with an old fixed three bladed prop. I pulled our bed apart to excavate the prop and subsequently refilled the locker and remade the bed. I also made another banana bread and did the washing. In the evening we had the rally prize giving and buffet at the Secret Island Resort. To our surprise we won a prize for motoring for 157 hours with only 2 blades on our prop! When we got back to Starblazer I spent several hours sorting photos to go with an article I was asked to write for World Cruising Club. A late night!

Saturday morning I completed the article and we delivered the memory stick to Rally Control. The major problem on our travels has been the lack of easily accessible wi-fi, we don't mind paying so long as it is reliable. In the afternoon we took the dinghy to the island just north of Gili Gede where the snorkelling was reputed to be excellent, it was! The soft corals were amazing, varied, numerous, colourful and really healthy. There was a good assortment of hard corals as well and thousands of fish, I am not exaggerating. They weren't the biggest fish we have seen on our travels but there were several types not seen before and lots of juveniles.

The Rally Briefing completed the afternoon, now all we have to do is prepare Stablazer for the next leg to Christmas Island starting at 0900 local tomorrow. It's about 620 nautical miles and the winds are forecast to be light, at least we have a complete propellor which should allow us to motor faster.

Joyce

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