Lombok - Pelabuhan

We had a short trip back to Lombok, this time mooring further south at Pelbuhan, to collect the new motor for the Dinghy. We arrived on Monday afternoon. The bay is at the base of the mountains, and it really is quite stunning. There is a surprising amount of agriculture on the steep hills - not grazing, tilled fields. I was gazing, pondering how dangerous it would be driving a tractor on such steep slopes (I had a very close call driving a tractor on a hill over 30 yrs ago), when it dawned on me that these farmers wouldn’t have a tractor - they would have turned that soil
over using a hoe! Respect!

In the morning, Dale tethered the dinghy behind the kayak and towed it to the harbour where the dealer was meeting him with his new outboard. They helped him lift it onto position, then he towed it back! Silly me had assumed they’d fill it with enough fuel to at least get back to the boat!

We had a ‘quiet’ evening on the boat - as quiet as it can be when no less than 4 mosques were calling the faithful to prayer. Sound travels over water, so we had our own private concert!

In the morning Dale got up extra early to read over all the instructions, and fueled it up ready for action.
The new motor is a 15 HP, so considerably more powerful than the old 6HP one. I think he was just playing with his new toy when he told me he had to ‘run it in’. It certainly goes much faster than the old one!

Nearby was yet another ‘fish farm’ so he had a closer look while out on the water. He couldn’t tell quite what they were farming, but we found out later than it is actually a pearl farm. Methinks I need to go visit!

We stayed at the mooring til the mechanic came to check over the starboard boat (as opposed to dinghy) engine. It had been a bit moody of late. He fiddled with it for a 1/2 hour and decided it needed a new throttle cable, which has to be ordered. Surprisingly he didn’t want to charge for his visit, and protested when Dale gave him money. It’s a strange place. One minute you feel like the locals are definitely charging you ‘tourist prices’ or ripping you off, and then the next you encounter absolute generosity!

We then sailed to Gili Meno which is the next island after Gili Air. We wanted to explore, snorkel and dive the Jason de Cairnes (same guy who did MOUA at John Brewer Reef off Townsville).

Unfortunately a storm cell came through and it was too exposed to moor safely. Back to Gili Air we went! This mooring was at the North West side of the island that we hadn’t seen, so we put the new motor to work and went ashore.

We had to pull the dinghy up the beach - hard work before, but with a larger motor, it was a struggle. A group of Muslim women were sitting on the beach and watched us come in. While I was carrying our gear up to the trees, Dale decided to haul the boat further. One of the women said ‘need help?’ And the group leapt to their feet and helped him haul it up the beach making it seem effortless. I confess than instead of helping too, I took photos! Many hands make light work!

This part of the island ‘Turtle Point’ was even nicer than the rest. The street was just sand, with laid back restaurants and bars, and really cute bungalows.

After a walk we picked a restaurant to eat at. The whole area was very quiet - very few tourists - with Xmas and New Year over, and this being the ‘wet’ (we are longing for rain!) season, the crowds have gone. Bliss!

We were the only people in the restaurant, so had the undivided attention of the waiter and barman. And of course it was happy hour (again 😜)Read more