Anchored underneath Mount Agung, Bali

We spent last night anchored underneath Mount Agung, Bali, as it was erupting. Are we crazy??? Not really. We were outside the 12 km exclusion zone and not at risk should it erupt. The only thing we had to watch out for was the ash cloud which can cause trouble breathing. Luckily, the wind was blowing the ash away from us. We were ready to lift anchor and leave as soon as the situation changed but there was no need. No fireworks last night, no eruption. This morning the volcano started producing more smoke and ash and it feels like a massive eruption is very imminent. We decided to lift anchor at the crack of dawn and are now sailing away from Mount Agung, heading west ⛵️.

We’ve posted a short video on YouTube:

Pictures from yesterday evening and this morning:

Front row seats 🌋🌋🌋

We spent the last few days in the Gili Islands, Lombok. It meant we’ve had front row seats to watch Mount Agung erupt from a safe distance. But … we need to head west and get past that smoking giant. So, today we bit the bullet and sailed towards it. Don’t worry, we’re safe (we think) and still outside the 12 km exclusion zone, in Amed, north Bali.

The short hop from Lombok to the north of Bali was busy to say the least: tankers left and right, a huge approaching squall and an erupting volcano right ahead of us. Now the weather has calmed down and we’re safely at anchor. Hopefully get some good shots of Mount Agung tonight. It’s very exciting and also a little bit scary.

The Gili Islands were super cool. They call it the “Ibiza of Indonesia” and I can see why. There are plenty of stylish restaurants and cool bars, the atmosphere is very relaxed and it’s heaving with young trendy people. You can circumnavigate the island by bike or by foot easily and there are no motorized vehicles, only bikes and horses with carts.

Yesterday, we took a day-trip by car into Mataram, Lombok to renew our visas. The usual monthly bureaucratic hit. Forms, stamps,  more stamps, queues, etc. We were told we could pick up our passports in 3 days and nearly choked. After much begging and pleading, explaining our dependency on the weather and our need to continue west asap, we were allowed a brief meeting with the immigration chief who authorised a same day delivery. Everything is possible in this country as long as you keep smiling, have patience and follow the rules.

Now what about that volcano? We will see what tonight brings, if it erupts, we will just lift anchor and keep sailing west and if it doesn’t we’ll have a good night’s sleep and hopefully some great photos to share! Right now we feel very privileged to be here.

Mount Agung this evening

Gili Air

the colourful jetty at Gili Air

bikes and horses on Gili Air

off on a 3-hour tour (RIP Gilligan)

trendy restaurants everywhere

Mount Agung, seen from our cockpit in Gili Air

at the immigration office in Mataram, Lombok

the huge mosque in Mataram

The mosque can hold 5,000 men and 3,000 women

view from the observatory on the 9th floor

view over Lombok this morning

Lombok

Mount Agung this morning

tanker and approaching squall

tanker on one side, nasty approaching squall on the other and a volcano right ahead

anchored in Amed, Bali under Mount Agung

A rough ride and an erupting volcano.

We sailed 300 NM or so in the last few days to Gili Air, Lombok. We can see Mount Agung smoking and puffing from our cockpit and just found out this afternoon that it erupted yesterday and the highest level 4 alert is now in place; expectations are that a massive eruption could happen any minute. Whoops. Perhaps we shouldn’t have stopped here.

We’re still 60 km away from Mount Agung on Bali, but, the wind is blowing this direction and we would get covered in volcanic ash if it violently erupted. So, we could leave and head for the north-west of Bali, but, did I mention the wind is blowing in this direction? Yep. We would rather wait a few days for more favourable sailing conditions before we continue our trek west.

The ride here was up and down. Day one was very calm and pleasant with just enough wind to keep the sails full. We stopped just before nightfall, had a good night’s sleep at anchor and then continued early the next day. The wind kept increasing and the waves got bigger. By midday we had a steady 30 to 40 knots and, I can tell you, it wasn’t very pleasant. We’re not used to such rough sailing conditions anymore! In fact, most of our sailing in Indonesia has been “champagne sailing” with flat seas and a decent breeze.

So, day 2 was very rough with nowhere to stop for the night and we had no choice but to keep going. Fortunately, the wind died down during the night and we sailed into a calm anchorage the next afternoon. After that, we did two more day hops which were very pleasant. And now we are in Gili Air, a small island just off the coast of Lombok. But … there is this huge volcano threatening to erupt !! Life is never boring on a sailing boat.

Sailing past an active volcano near Sumbawa Island

Volcano Sangeang, 1930 metres high

Approaching a calm anchorage, just before nightfall

Local fishermen in the sunset

Local fishing boat under sail

Dolphins!

Mount Agung on Bali, which erupted yesterday. View from our cockpit!

The Komodo Islands

The Komodo Islands didn’t disappoint. We stopped in a few stunning anchorages: great snorkelling, beautiful rugged landscape to admire and plenty of wildlife. We were joined by our friends on Impetuous Too, whom we had last seen in Fiji and now have a third crew member onboard: one-year old Ravi!

After a few days in the Komodos it was time to move on (change of season means we need to get our skates on). Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to s/v Rampetamper, our sailing buddies since the Solomon Islands. Such is life… I’m sure we will meet again soon!

And what about those famous dragons? We looked and looked and looked … but unfortunately failed to spot one. They must have all been hiding. 🐉

rugged and beautiful: the Komodo Islands

anchored next to Impetuous Too and Rampetamper

view from the cockpit

calm weather

turtle next to the boat

approaching our next anchorage

with Impetuous Too and Rampetamper

rugged landscape

where are those dragons?

keep looking …

evening light

sunrise over Pink Beach

morning walk on Pink Beach, before all the tourists arrive

with Duncan, Ruth and Ravi

Pink Beach

hike to the top of the hill

view from the top

who needs flip-flops?

Pink Beach seen from above

Rehua anchored across the bay

our dinghy

a lonely tree

and then, a refreshing swim!

Ravi is keen to splash too

crazy currents and whirlpools on the way to our next anchorage

stunning underwater life

healthy corals

colourful

I love watching clown fish!

so much going on

hanging in the cool shade under Rehua

beautiful snorkelling and diving in the Komodo Islands

what about this crazy bowl?

Rehua’s last anchorage in Komodo

Waiting for the Postman…

Mr Postman, where is our parcel? It should have arrived in Labuan Bajo a week ago … For some reason it was sent to Kupang instead. Many phone calls later and, yes!, it finally made its way here this morning. The parcel contains some essential replacement parts for our broken down watermaker, without it we couldn’t go anywhere.

And then there was also the broken anemometer… Seathan had to climb up and down the mast twice and managed to fix it. Phew. We still need to re-calibrate it when we are back at sea but that should be easy enough to do.

Labuan Bajo has been a pleasant stop. It’s a delightful small town with lots of shops, restaurants and a decent farmer’s market. All stocked up again and we’re off to see those famous Komodo dragons!

fixing the anemometer

view over Labuan Bajo

waterfront and town centre

mr fix-it

hello!

Bad things always happen in threes!

We have been day-hopping along the coast of Flores. The reason we don’t sail at night? Fishing nets! They are everywhere and hardly visible, even in daylight. Small fishing vessels are dotted along the coastline until quite a long way offshore and their miles-long nets are set up between tiny invisible buoys. It meant extra concentration and both of us being on watch, looking out for nets.

The landscape of Flores is stunning and somehow reminds us of the Med … It’s been a pleasant few days cruising along the coast. Although, we’ve had a few problems crop up recently. First of all, our watermaker broke. It was fully serviced and fitted with a new pump only 1.5 years ago, when we were in NZ, and should have lasted much longer. New parts are ordered and should hopefully arrive in Labuan Bajo in the next few days. We can’t live without our watermaker so it’s critical we get this fixed. Meanwhile, we have been performing a daily rain-dance, without much success.

Then, our anemometer gave up. Not as critical as the watermaker, but still a nuisance when you are a cruiser and don’t have windspeed and direction information at your fingertips… We now have some woolly thread hanging off the shrouds until that problem is solved. Of course, all problems come in threes so next up was our depth sounder. Luckily, that one was fixed easily… We do have a portable version as a back up but going through the many reef systems here with those inaccurate charts would not have made for a happy skipper.

So here we are, in Labuan Bajo, on the western tip of Flores. It is the gateway to the Komodo Islands, home to the famous Komodo dragon and an area which is very popular with divers because of its underwater beauty. The main bay in front of the town centre is packed with local Phinisi boats, beautiful traditional Indonesian two-masted sailing ships which have been converted to take tourists diving and sailing around the Komodo Islands. The bay is so busy we couldn’t find a spot to anchor in but friendly locals pointed us to a free mooring and we are now sitting amongst 100s of Phinisi, a beautiful sight.

The Flores coastline, reminds us of the Med!

sunset at anchor

local fisherman

crazy looking fishing boat

another day, another anchorage, view from the cockpit

hopping along the coast

fishing boats heading home

FAD, hardly visible until you get closer

fishing boats dotted along the horizon with miles-long nets between them

pulling in the nets

Sabibi island

monkeys on the beach

monkeys in the tree

listening to some music while sailing

approaching Labuan Bajo

Phinisi, traditional Indonesian 2-masted sailing ships

view from cockpit, surrounded by Phinisi

Labuan Bajo waterfront

parking the dinghy, setting the stern anchor 

local fishing boats in Labuan Bajo

the jetty

pizza!

 

Volcanoes and FADs

We’re in Flores, a long stretched-out island east of Java and northwest of Timor. It is dry and arid featuring no less than 16 active volcanoes (and plenty more dormant and extinct ones). The 3-day crossing from Wakatobi was relaxing and enjoyable with a full moon, calm seas and just enough wind to keep the boat moving sans engine. We sailed past Komba island, an impressive active volcano spewing steam and smoke as we approached. Now that we are closer to land, we will avoid night-time sailing as much as possible; the coast here is littered with FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) which are hardly visible in the dark.

Flores is predominantly Christian (yes, one can buy pork here!) and we visited an 82-year old Flemish development worker affectionately known by the locals as ‘Mama Belgium’. After spending 5 years in Congo she arrived in Flores in 1973 and until today she continues to work for underprivileged children. She founded a boarding school for girls and runs 6 children’s homes, one for children with disabilities. An inspirational lady and I very much enjoyed chatting with her in West-Flemish 🙂.

approaching Komba volcano

getting closer

it’s huge and impressive

getting as close as we can

rocks are sliding off into the water

under the volcano

Komba towers over Rehua (photo credit: S/V Rampetamper)

the crew on Rehua admiring the volcano (photo credit: S/V Rampetamper)

Flores

the view from our anchorage in Maumere, Flores

local canoe offering shells 

what a beautiful collection!

Rehua anchored in Maumere

the beach, with grey volcanic sand

in town

at the market, plenty of onion and garlic

a local Christmas tree, last time we saw one was in the Solomons!

plenty of fruit and veg available

with ‘Mama Belgium’

selfie with the birthday boy who turned 8, his 4th birthday celebration onboard Rehua!