Benoa Marina, Bali
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Fri 29 Oct 2010 13:31
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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!
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