Sail away to Lembongan

It was with very heavy hearts that we said goodbye to all our friends in Junjungan. Putting it simply, I goofed. I should have booked twice as long. There is so much of the real Bali to experience here and we gave it up in order to return to the Sanitised Beach!

A pleasant surprise awaited our arrival. I had upgraded to a middle range room for our last nine days. Sanur Beach went one better and gave us a free upgrade to the best room they had :o) Madam Gippy-Tum smiled broadly for the first time that day as she went round exploring all her new facilities. As always there has to be a compromise: Our new room is on the top floor at the farthest extremity of the hotel. Therefore one has the choice of lumbering up several flights of stairs in the tropical heat or else trudging miles of corridors back to the central lobby lift. Either way any calories taken on board in the restaurant are pretty much expended by the time you've trudged back to the room. But for the rest of that first day we were pretty much room-bound anyway, as the Casa Luna Curse meant Jan had lost all interest in food and developed an unhealthy relationship with the bathroom. So it was BBC World and a packet of Pringles for me and an early night for Madam.

Early next morning we were picked up at the stroke of eight and whipped away to Benoa harbour. There we joined around thirty others to board a catamaran for the trip to Lembongan. The two hour crossing was a pleasure. With plenty of people-watching to do (we had the United Nations on board again!) and drinks and snacks to keep us happy it slipped by and we were soon approaching Admiral’s Bay.

At Lembongan we transferred to small craft for the disembarkation and were shepherded straight up to our restaurant headquarters. Different people had arranged different activities for their stay. It turned out that Jan and I were the only ones to pick the longest and most demanding, so while everyone else relaxed with cold drinks we were whisked away and stuck in the back of a pick-up truck. Balancing on wooden benches we lurched along narrow rutted roads as we were transferred from Lembongan village to Jungutbatu. This was where we mounted bicycles (again!) for the ride to the mangrove swamps. And this was where I discovered that a small case, little bigger than two matchboxes, had bounced out of my waistbelt….taking £200 worth of batteries with it. I glumly told our guide what had happened but, given the rough terrain we had come through, I knew I would never see them again :o(

The ride was particularly pleasant and we passed along the coast to see Seaweed Farmers busily collecting and drying their crops. It’s quite an industry, with seaweed being exported all around the globe for cosmetic and iced cream manufacture. The island needs a sustainable income since it has no drinkable water supply. Deep wells are slightly salty and only usable for cooking, so all drinking water is imported from Bali.

The seaweed crops are grown attached to long lines in a shallow bay. These are pulled in and the harvest inspected. The very best of the crop is tied back onto the lines and put back out in the sea to generate the next harvest. The remainder is dried and sorted. The odour is “interesting”.

At the mangrove swamp we paused briefly for refreshment. This consisted of two deftly-lopped King Coconuts (the never-ending variety, with the sickly sour-tasting milk that induces spontaneous retching) and small bottles of water. Then we leaped deftly into our canoe and were propelled through the swamps for 15 minutes or so.
We saw many fishes, a few crabs and a very elegant bird that skittered along the twisted mangrove roots before being paddled back up to the pickup for the return to base.

At base we discovered that the United Nations had joined forces to completely obliterate the lunch barbecue. But our perfect hosts cooked fresh food just for the two of us and kept us well slaked with Bintang. Finally we just had time for a wonderful, wonderful Hawaiin massage, emerging dripping and slippery with scented massage oils just in time to be summoned for the return boat trip.

And a wonderful surprise: A youngster from the village had found my precious battery packs and brought them to the boat for me :o) That’s the Balinese for you!

The return boat trip was just as slick as before, with sandwiches and drinks to keep us happy and a dreadful pair of tuneless guitar players to keep us amused! The sun was setting as we arrived back at Benoa, after a thoroughly well organised and satisfying day.

Sail Sensations? Recommended.
Next Blog? Hello Suadi :o)

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