I'm sure you are wondering why we went to the effort and expense to backtrack to Gili Aer when we could just have easily rendezvoused with Dedalus by taxi in Lovina Beach? Well, we just felt that if we were going to be responsible for this big boat for a whole week, we wanted to see how the engines and windlass worked -- just in case.
And I suppose we were curious about how this very different catamaran would feel underway.
The strait between Lombok (and the Gilis) and Bali is a major dividing line in this part of the world. Originally it was noticed by the English naturalist in Alfred Russell Wallace based on the very different animal life to be found to either side, Asian to the West, Australian to the East. His observations shared with Charles Darwin played a part in Darwin's developing theories.
What Wallace noted has been shown to be based on the islands' tectonic foundations, with I believe (sorry, don't have a reference here to check and my Internet is out!), a plate boundary plunging to great depths in this strait. More to the point for navigators, strong currents race predominantly northward during the southeast monsoon season that we are in now, so that crossing the strait can be quite lively depending on the tide.
Quite a few of the rally boats left at the same time we did, just before sunrise. At first the ride was very smooth as our big Cummins 450 Turbo diesels overtook the sailing fleet. Within 20 minutes, however, Dedalus was leaping and bucking around as the current hit us broadside! My goodness! Drawers jumped from their tracks and as we were thrown violently left and right, Don and I were thinking we had made a major miscalculation.
However, a slight course adjustment to the north put the seas on the quarter and the ride settled right down. We crossed the Strait on the backs of the engines smooth hum and arrived mid afternoon. (For you engineering types, the we ran these big engines at only 1100 rpms with fuel flow at 2.4 gph which, making 8 knots, generally averages 1mpg. With a 4000 gallon fuel capacity, that gives Dedalus a very big cruising range...not to mention a horrific fuel bill!) I must admit to feeling a pleasant nostalgia for my years on the dive ships in response to the engines' steady hum.
Dedalus is a very unusual vessel. It was designed by George's brother-in-law, whose wife put the kibosh on any cruising plan. So George ended up taking the plans and having the boat built in Chili. It may be 60' long, but it is only 24' wide (whereas Quantum Leap was 28'), so for its length, it is a bit narrow. Each hull is narrow, too, for the knifelike slice through the water, but that results in narrower accommodation space in the hulls. The master cabin, however, is forward and very spacious, sort of a split level space under a raised cabin deck, with, another split level above and aft of that -- a divine bridge deck which houses the nav station and a long banquette and table behind it to starboard and the all electric galley to port. Aft and down a level is a den-like cabin with a big flat screen TV and behind that is the aft deck with a table and chairs.
One of the nicest spots on the boat, especially in this climate, is the fly bridge which has a small C-shaped bench area around a raised captain's seat. Although George and Melinda say they rarely use the control station there (and why would you need to when the inside station is such an awesome setup), they use it more for morning coffee and evening sundowners. This eagle's nest of a spot provides the 360* view and breeze one misses on other catamarans. Although I'm sure I'm glad I wasn't up here during our rough half hour, for the rest of the trip it was my preferred perch.
Lovina turns out to big a big open roadstead of an anchorage along a coastline of black sand beaches. Behind the shoreline the mountains rise up more steeply to the east where the big volcanoes Agung, Batur and their buddies cluster, while the skyline slopes off more gradually to the west. Backlit at sunset the high profile of nearby Java emerges from the haze; otherwise you wouldn't have a clue it is there!
Quite a few of the Rally boats were already in Lovina and more have arrived since, resulting in a crowd of boats we haven't seen the likes of since Kupang and Darwin. The Rally schedule of events is due to start on Monday the 20th, with a ten-foot high poster on the beach detailing the sequence of activities, performances and dinners.
Ashore is a string of tourist restaurants along the shaded strand, and we've been surprised, actually, by how many land-based tourists seem to be about. Not enough, however, because the streets, beach and even the waters of the bay itself are populated with folk trying to find someway to make a rupiah (or two hundred thousand!) off of you. This high-pressure -- if polite -- salesmanship quickly becomes exhausting.
However, I have just picked up a book Melinda lent me called Fragrant Rice by Janet De Neefe. About Bali from an ex-pat's point of view (Aussie De Neefe and her Balinese husband have a famous restaurant/cooking school in Ubud called Casa Luna), the book begins with the October 13, 2002 bombing in Bali. The bombing not only sent shock waves around the world, but, easy for outsiders to overlook, shockwaves through the Balinese community and its economy.
Just this morning, Don's parents asked, with a tinge of concern, if Bali was Muslim. In fact, as I have detailed in our Ubud escapes, it most definitely is not (although much of where we have been traveling to this point is!) Bali is 95% Hindu. But the association between the evocative island name and the horrendous terrorist act still lingers. It is ironic to realize that this island that is so conscious of spiritual balance, of live-and-let-live, is still tarred with the bad aura of that one act.
So I will try to be more tolerant of the full-court-press of everyday people trying to get ahead rupiah by rupiah after enduring nearly a decade of oh-so-slow economic recovery.
Gwen Hamlin
Cafe Getaway
Sent from my iPad
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