One Life

Bali, the Enchanting Island of the Gods

The anchorage at Jimbaran, on the west coast, can be a bit rolly but the low swell is great for surfers. Lacking good shelter, the bay isn’t really suited to long-term stays.

One Life

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Published 31/01/2025

By Gilles Ruffet

Issue: 200

Published: mar. / may 2025

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Who: Stéphane & Leena
Where: Along The Javan Coast, Indonesia
Multihull : Lagoon 440
Facebook : @onelifecatamaran

There are very few anchorages in Bali. The next day, we set off again for the large Serangan Bay, on the east coast, where we should meet many more sailboats. We entered the very brown water, before weaving in and out of the mooring balls and finding one to rent. Arif and Putu guided us with their dinghy. The lines seemed to be in good condition, and we had a bit of leeway to avoid them - even though we had to set a stern anchor to face into the swell. We would be staying here long enough to stock up on fuel, food and a few odds and ends to maintain the catamaran. We were also on a mission: to fill the gas bottles. It’s not necessarily such a simple operation, as the fittings are sometimes different in different countries. Then we set off again for Nusa Lembogan, some fifteen miles away. The sailing turned out to be complicated: we had to contend with a strong counter-current in the Badung Channel - in the end it took us four hours to reach Lembogan, in translucent turquoise water. As night fell, the mooring buoy banging against one of the hulls disturbed our sleep, and the buoy turned out to be too light, causing us to pitch slightly with each wave. Not to mention the noise of the motorboats that rocked our multihull in the early hours. This small island, just a few square miles in size, is steeped in Balinese culture, with its temples and a very pleasant island village atmosphere. There are no cars, only scooters or bemos (local vans). At dawn, at slack tide, we set course for the south-western tip of Lombok, a good twenty miles away. The current was again against us, and we had to start the second engine before the breeze finally picked up. With around fifteen knots of wind, we were hitting 8 knots. We arrived at our destination: the setting was simply magnificent, with a few hamlets and traditional boats in translucent water. A real picture postcard. Unfortunately, we couldn’t anchor in the shallows. After all these adventures with anchorages and currents, we found a little hidden gem to the south-west of Lombok: Gili Asahan, an islet just one kilometer square. The villagers had installed mooring buoys. The hamlet was peaceful, bordered by white sand and coconut palms, with about fifty inhabitants who live mainly from the activities of the few hotels on the island. It was wonderful to be here at last, in such peace and quiet and in such a sumptuous setting! Dawn is synonymous with peace and contemplation, and the calm is hardly disturbed by the mooing of the cows and the bleating of the goats, whose stable is what used to be a magnificent wood house, now partly in ruins. Unusually in Indonesia, the rubbish is collected before being sent to the main island. We are happy to pay a tax for our rubbish. The sea is not always very clean in Asia. We had changed the seals on the saildrives at the boatyard in Thailand, and a few days later we were having problems again. Also, we decided to switch to folding propellers, despite the cost. After exploring the surrounding area in the dinghy, looking for a good spot to go beaching at low tide, we finally opted for Gili Gedé. After dropping anchor, we waited for the tide to go out. But the boat sank a little into the mud and at low tide, the propellers were still 8 inches short of being completely out of the water. Installation was tricky, as the chosen model involved first fixing the hub, followed by the three blades, then the zinc, all the while handling the eleven screws without dropping them into the mud. Fortunately, all went well!

We then headed back to the island of Sumbawa. But that’s another story...

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