Next morning we went
ashore and wandered around Serengan. A once small relatively isolated
fishing village , has now been connected by road and bridge to the
rest of Bali, much to the distaste of some of the older residents we
spoke to.
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| Balanese street decorations Serengan |
The villagers still
collect seaweed, for eating and cosmetics and this can be seen drying
in great spread out piles, along the roadside.
Made enquiries about
fuel availability ,and was assured it was “good quality,clean ,best
quality Singapore diesel”. Mande could also organise water ,
laundry etc.
I had made a tentative
booking at Bali Marina, which upon enquiry was still available, and
as K'Gari was still salt encrusted after the bashing in the Java Sea
, we decided to take the option and later in the day shifted to Bali
Marina, an hour away.
The web
page that existed in September ,talked about a world class marina offering , all facilities,wifi, laundry service, fuel,water, restaurant- the standard deal .
Well not exactly. I may
be relatively new to this game but …....
Yes its a small marina,
30 boats, booking essential, so I had been surprised that it seemed
easy to obtain a berth at relatively short notice.
I think perhaps, it has
(had) aspirations of grandeur,but these are yet to be achieved.
The staff, were
incredibly helpful,the omelette at breakfast definitely ranking
amongst the best I have had, the coffee was good, however some of
the reasons for going to a marina, are electricity, (couldn't quite
reach the power source from our berth,and the small print does say
that if marina is full,please not to use it for air-conditioning as
supply might not manage all boats), shore bathroom facilities, yes-
but once I saw them, I preferred to shower etc. on board, Wi-Fi, they
were “working on it”, laundry, yes but the overnight service took
three days, fresh water- yes a winner here, we could actually wash
the boat down, and the pressure was good. However had we wanted
potable water, that was not available, nor was fuel, unless we had a
minimum requirement for 500litres- nope , my max is 400!
We spent the first two
days getting ashore via the dinghy as we were head in at a berth
which was about 4 feet shorter in length than we were. Another reason
for being in a marina is ease of boarding access. Instead we were
into the dinghy, hauling ourselves across the 4 foot gap and
alighting onto a not particularly stable “finger”.
So next on the agenda,
having dismissed fuel, water and electricity as options, was to ask
around and see if there was any possibility of getting the clew on
the mainsail repaired. A week or so ago, one morning the clew ring
webbing had failed and we had been continuing to use the mainsail, by
hoisting it only as far as the first reef point, meaning we were
about a 1/3rd of the sail area short, but at least we had
the option of still using it. Two sail makers names were produced ,
one with a slightly higher recommendation and conveniently closer
than the other. Armed with photos we went to visit to see if the job
was possible. The main man wasn't in when we arrived, so phone
numbers were exchanged and he would ring us when he returned. Still
waiting! I didn't push for it as we appeared to be in the premises of
a canvas awning repairer. Removing the mainsail is going to be a
major undertaking ,and I wasn't going to do that until there was
confirmation that the job could be ,done,competently!
So one task down , next
anyone who deals with ICOM HF radios. From ICOM themselves via email
from Australia, “no”, however word of mouth came up with a name,
a phone call was made , and you guessed it, still waiting for that
call, tomorrow, on Bali time!
Ok , so two down one
mission to go. Visa extension. Just down the road was the Harbour
master ,Immigration and Customs. Armed with all the papers I could
think we might need, we went to the Immigration Office. No , wrong
one! This was for big ships only. Visa applications need to be done
in Denpassar itself. So put that of until the next day.
We were the next day
just heading off to Immigration, when I mentioned to a chap on
another yacht that we were going if he wanted to come with us.
Literally just before we departed we were given information that a
visa renewal in Bali could take up to 7 days , requiring fingerprints
etc etc. Up to seven days- no thanks, not after Vietnam. I don't like
being passport less in a foreign country. Getting the initial visa
to get in only took two days, back in Johor Bahru !
Reassessment of option
time! We have exactly a month left on the visas. We should be able to
cover the distance, seeing what we want to see and make Kupang within
the 30 days. From there wind dependent we either exit for Oz or exit
Indonesia, enter East Timor, (visa on arrival) ,again wind dependent,
to Oz from there or onto the Tambelan Islands (Indonesia again , but
re-enter on a one month, visa on arrival) then down to Oz.
What we did actually
achieve whilst in the marina, were the major wash down to remove the
salt we had collected everywhere, which we did almost as soon as we
arrived and an oil change on both engines, and inspection of the salt
water impellers- which seemed to occupy an entire day.
Jiggled all the fuel
from the gerry cans into the fuel tanks with an a plan to return to
Serengan and top up fuel and gerry cans there, so that we leave Bali
full of fuel.
A visit to the Benoa
Pilot station, which was just up the road, where we talked to the on
duty pilot. An interesting pilot station. Three floors up, in what
appears to be an otherwise empty building on the waterfront, the
front room is occupied by the radio operator, 2 x 12 hour shifts, the
back room appeared to be the pilots and from whence the radio
operator produced two coffees. 2 pilots on duty out of 4. (Two weeks
on /off)
Oh, not forgetting a
genius in a small roadside vendors establishment, managed to return
our personal hotspots to the phones, which had disappeared when we
started using Telkomsel sim cards. Interestingly the Telkomsel
salesman hadn't been able to!
Restocked the supplies,
at the relatively handy Macro store, including bacon and ham- hooray!
 |
| https://youtu.be/b3mvL98vIQE |
Shifted back to
Serengan and spent a night on the mooring there. In total 300lts of
fuel in two hits. 175 into the fuel tanks and gerry cans back ashore
to be refilled. When they were returned to us later in the afternoon
we departed for Lembongan Island, east of Bali, with the news that Mt
Agung the volcano at the northern end of Bali was getting seriously
active for the first time in 54 years- locals were in fact being
evacuated.
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| Mt Agung -looking peaceful on the morning of the 10th August 2017 |
The adventure continues
along the northern (lee side) of the Indonesian Archipelago, with the
next major planned stop ,being Komodo.
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