When we left Gili Air our plan had been to sail across the Lombok Strait to the NE corner of Bali, to Amed, and anchor in Ambat Bay. This would have been a relatively short sail, and we had planned to do some snorkelling there, as there are two wrecks: the USS Liberty and a Japanese shipwreck. However, the guide did state, and we could see on the charts, that the anchorage is not particularly protected, and in certain wind directions can be uncomfortable, or not even safe. We had to dodge multiple FADs (Fish Attracting Devices) along the north coast of Bali. We had read that there were many, but I was quite amazed at how many that actually turned out to be! Navigating here at night would be dangerous, as these devices are not lit, and if you hit one, you’d be in trouble! We were also amazed how the devices differed from island to island. We sailed to Lovina, where we anchored safely in a huge, calm bay. ‘Boat friends’ had given us the name of a local taxi driver in Lovina, whom they had used to get diesel, and to tour. His name is Nyomen. We called him, and he promptly helped us to load our 8 jerry cans into his car! Our expectation was that he would take us to get diesel, so what a nice surprise we got when he said he would take us on a bit of a tour! We drove through many villages and saw beautiful, green terraced rice fields. Then our driver took us to his home. The following Monday we had a long, full day of touring Bali. We were very grateful for his time and for sharing his local knowledge with us. Although we spent a lot of time in the car, I think we saw a side of Bali that not a lot a people see. We saw the villages and its people. We saw their family temples and farms and windy roads and crazy driving! We saw, we learned and we loved it!
Who: Dave, Guds, Ben, Gaby
Where: Bali, Indonésia
Boat: Lagoon 400
