Lovina Beach, North Bali Lat. 8 degrees 09.1' S Long. 115 degrees 01.0' E

We had another change of mind after a phone call from Jan on "Avanta" and decided to come to Lovina after all. We arrived here at 0800 on Saturday after another variable sail from Medana on Lombok. But again, we are getting ahead of ourselves.....
"Settlement" and "Pedoja" arrived before we left Medana and one day we all hired a car and driver (IDR 400,000 for the day) and went first to Senggigi where we had a pleasant lunch and then after finding some engine oil for "Pedoja" we returned to Medana via the Monkey Forest. We had done it before but it was fun to do it again in good company.
We all had dinner on "Settlement" (roast pork!!) and once again were treated to Sue's great cullinary skills. The next day (Friday 20th.) we slipped our mooring at 0800 and sadly waved goodbye to Medana after a great and peaceful time there. Jean in particular was very popular with the staff and had a tearful farewell. We had come to know Peter and his wife Ace (pronounced Acher), Wulan who has an electrical engineering degree and virtually runs the place, Sas who runs all the "outside" functions, and Sam the cafe chef together with all the other staff very well. As we've often said, this is the biggest downside of boat cruising. Every so often you meet wonderful and friendly people and it is always a wrench saying goodbye.
We must be very indecisive because we had changed our minds yet again and decided to skip Lovina as we would see it when returning to Malaysia from NZ early next year. However, soon after we left Medana we had a phone call from Jan on the Dutch boat "Avanta" to say that the anchorage was very good and a reasonable depth so we altered course for Lovina - only a 20 degree course change!! The passage began somewhat fraught because with the chartplotter being considerably "out", we miscalculated the position of a couple of reefs just outside Medana and were jolted somewhat to observe the depth sounder go from over 100' to under 20' in about 15 seconds. Hard astern was the order of the day and when we looked over the side we could clearly see the bottom very close. We gingerly backed away and eventually by trial and error managed to extricate ourselves without actually contacting anything hard and unyielding. Stressful though and not really what we wanted at the start of a passage. As we headed out on a slightly north of west course across the northern end of Selat Lombok the wind picked up to over 20 knots on the port beam so we had a very good sail across - about 30 miles. Somewhat rough though and we saw many ships. The Selat is a major shipping route from Western Australia to Asia and is used by anything from nuclear submarines to supertankers. We picked up 6 ships on our AIS and saw 3 of them. We spoke to one and they re-assured us that they had seen us as they passed ahead at less than 2 miles distance.
As we came abeam of the eastern end of Bali we came more into the lee which caused the wind and sea to abate somewhat. The high mountains of Bali were clearly visible with the tops wreathed in cloud and the whole appearing to float above the sea. Very mystical and beautiful. The wind continued to abate until we were forced to start the engine to maintain progress. Then another hazard presented itself. We came past a number of what appeared to be rafts with artificial trees on top. Couldn't understand the purpose of the "trees", except that maybe they were to aid visibility to other vessels. We couldn't see that they were anchored because the water depth was over 1000 metres but something was keeping them more or less in one place. It turned out from discussions later that they are fish aggregation devices. The idea is that fish are attracted to them much as they are around a reef and then some form of netting (presumably) is used to catch the fish. However, they are unlit and were to pose quite a risk after dark. We altered course and headed well away from the coast before dark in the hope that we would avoid them but had one close call as the light was fading passing within 10 metres from one of these floating hazards. After that though we appeared to be free of them and continued on around the Bali north coast, albeit at a safe distance. As we came closer to Lovina the wind picked up again at around 2200, but this time on the nose! Not what we wanted but that's sailing. We came to about 7 miles from the anchorage at midnight so hove to, our old standby, and as usual it worked a treat. Changed tack 3 times during the hove to period to avoid being taken too far away again and in the process we both got some much needed sleep while the other stayed on watch. Got going again at 0700 on Saturday and hooned along in wind which had risen again. A local boat with outriggers ("Yani") came across to meet us and guide us in to the anchorage. These boats are amazing. They are generally about 20' long with outriggers each side. Their motive power which gives them quite a turn of speed comes from a beefy petrol air cooled single cylinder engine mounted above deck level amidships. The drive is then taken from the engine down from deck level over the side of the boat in the form of a long exposed drive shaft into the water with the prop at the end of it. Ingenious and very effective. And no through hull bearings or water pumps to worry about.
Anyway, we anchored at 0800 near "Avanta" in 6.5 metres on sand pleased to be here. Lovina is a big wide bay with calm water (for now!!) and fringed with shops, restaurants and nightclubs. A real tourist spot but very pretty and welcoming. And with our visa extensions all done on lombok, no pressure to take part in the usual Sail Indonesia razmattaz. These few days are the official Sail Indonesia dates for Lovina with about 40 yachts anchored here. When going ashore, one is always pressured to buy this and that and it does get somewhat wearisome, especially when one is tired and only looking for somewhere to relax with a Bintang and a meal.
Yesterday, "our" boatboy Coco on "Yani" organised his uncle to drive us up to a lake in a volanic crater about 1 hour from Lovina. Coco also has connections for laundry and Solar (Diesel) too as well as going to the local market for fresh produce. All at reasonable prices, although no doubt there is a profit involved but of course one doesn't mind that when the service is so good.
The drive up was very scenic but very windy and because it is part of the main road from here to Denpasar, lots of traffic. Some hair raising overtaking manouevers were experienced! We arrived there for lunch and it was quite cold as we were 2,000 metres above sea level. There was a very picturesque Hindu temple on the shore of the lake and attractive gardens with many plants you would find in NZ. Because it is cold, they even grow crops in plastic houses - took Jim back to his days as a glasshouse grower in NZ!!
We returned by way of the city of Singaraja just north of Lovina and visited the local Carrefours Supermarket. Stocked up on a few essential items and then back to the boat. Since then we've just been going ashore and eating and shopping for Christmas presents for children and grandchildren. Very difficult when buying clothes as we have to guess sizes but hopefully we have got it right. Unfortunately the quality of most things here is very mediocre and, while cheap after the haggling, they are only worth about a third of what they ask. They always look so comically affronted when we tell them what we are going to pay - and not a penny more! The retailers shoot themselves in the foot all the time with their incessant pressuring to the point where we are starting to say that if there is any more pressure we will leave - no arguments.
This morning we went ashore simply looking forward to breakfast and were constantly harassed from the moment we stepped out of the dinghy.
We are hoping to get a free rig inspection courtesy of sail Malaysia who have a presence here to make sure that the damage we had at Kupang had not also damaged the standing rigging. It will be worth it just for peace of mind.
Then we are hoping to leave here for points north on Wed or Thurs so continue to watch this space!!
With love from us............
Jim and Jean
s.v. Tiare Taporo III
Lovina Beach
Pulau Bali.

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