So the plan was to sail from Kupang to the Komodo National Park and then move on to Lombok and stay there a while. Very soon we realized that our concerns about nightsailing in Indonesia proofed to be true… André had a quite scary encounter with a fishing boat in his shift. They had no lights at all and were just floating silently. It was quite a shock for him, when he discovered the boat so close! We tried to be as vigilant as possible but some of the fish attracting devices were almost impossible to see at night. So in the end it is also a bit a question of luck if you hit something or not.
After two nights we arrived in Rinca early morning and found a beautiful anchorage in a stunning scenery. We hoped to catch a glimpse of the famous Komodo dragon and were very lucky indeed. From our boat we could observe some monkeys on the beach. And later in the afternoon, when we were all on ALDIVI three Komodo dragons appeared on the beach. We jumped in our dinghies and could watch two of them from very close. This was more than we were hoping for.
Hans from ALKYONE had some information about a spectacular dive spot, so we wanted to have a look the following day. But as we arrived we quickly realized that neither the anchorage nor the dive spot were protected in the present conditions. So we had to find another anchorage. We anchored in a bay on the west side of Kepala and were invited on ALKYONE for coffee and delicious cinnamon rolls.
As we were already a bit late in the season we wanted to move on. Soon the season would start to change and we would end up sailing against the northwest monsoon. So we moved on to Lombok. We stayed in Medana Marina on a buoy and had a fantastic time there. There was a nice restaurant at the marina surrounded by huge green area where the kids could play hide and seek and other games. Jaël was very happy to celebrate her 8th birthday with all our cruising friends from ALDIVI, POLARWIND and ALKYONE.
We made a trip to beautiful Gilli Air, where we did some nice snorkeling & enjoyed a ride in a horse carriage taxi to the kids delight. Another day we hired two busses for all of us and made a lovely island tour. After a short stop at a local market and a tipical ancient local Sasak village we drove to the beautiful Strawberry Hill Gardens Ponds at the foot of Mt. Rinjani. On the way back we took a refreshing bath in the Sendang Gile waterfall just before sunset. It was a bit of a hurry as it was already late in the afternoon. So we decided to visit the waterfall again on another day and do a nice picknick there.
In close dinghy distance to the marina there was a small resort with a restaurant and a pool. We went there for lunch and they showed us a small covered basin with baby tortoises. Jaël and Amina were even allowed to hold them. They were just a few days old. The owner of the resort protect them until they are strong enough to have a good chance to survive in nature.
After 10 days we left Lombok and headed towards Batam, where we wanted to check out from Indonesia. In the distance accross the straits of Singapore we could already see the big city lights. The staff from Nongsa Point Marina was very efficient and helpful. Within half a day we were checked out and had all our documents ready for clearing into Singapore the following day.
Thank you Indonesia for this short but beautiful insight. Maybe one day we will be back to have a closer look. We will keep good memories of your friendly people, delicious food, colorful markets and stunning sunsets.
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