Singapore and Indonesia Cruise 2025

  We approached Lembar harbour on Lombok about 10am. There were lots of little boats with an outrigger on both sides and small sails. The Captain had to sound the horn to clear a path. As we got into the harbour we could see some fish farms and ferries of all sizes. It's about 2 1/2 hours from Bali on a fast ferry. Karen, Aaron and I had booked a small group tour for today. It turned out to just be 5 people (2 didn't show) The usual gauntlet of venders to get through as you exit the terminal, but we soon found our guide. We had a delayed start because of waiting for the 2 no-shows, but then got underway in a comfortable van with A/C and lots of water provided. Today seems even more hot and humid, but no rain luckily.  Lombok is very lush and green as it's the rainy season, with rice paddies everywhere. Corn, coffee and cotton are also grown. The island is mainly rural, with many small villages. Its much less  developed than Bali, much quieter, and to my mind, much more ch...

 This was our furthest east point of our journey Komodo Island is remote, and unless you're on a cruise that's stopping there, it's not easy to get to. And it's a National Park, so entry is restricted and you must be with a guide. It's a lovely approach to the island group of volcanic islands with rugged terrain, and what looks like beautiful sandy beaches. We anchored sometime after 10am, and by 11am the tenders started taking groups to the island. The tender takes you to a very long pier with steep steps to get from the tender to the pier. There is a handrail, new this year. We walked to the Ranger station, and our group set off with a guide, a park ranger and several guards armed with forked sticks Komodo Dragons can move fast, and they have a venomous bite, so it's best to keep well clear. However they only eat about once a month, and the ones we saw looked pretty quiet, but alert We had about 2 hours walking through the forest, and saw about 6 Dragons of va...

 I had some work to catch up on, and had planned from the start to have this as the day I would do it. A lucky choice, as there was a tropical rainstorm today. Waves of rain blew through, sometimes so thick it obscured the harbour. Once I got my work done it was nice to relax a bit after 2 very busy days. In the afternoon Karen and I headed over to the little market near the cruise terminal. It seemed to be a very good market with lots of stalls and lots of variety. We both bought a few things, more than we had planned of course! As we sailed out of Benoa Harbour it started to clear up - of course! It was Dutch night in the dining room, but they still had Indonesian choices. I usually tend to go for these and they are usually good. The evening ended with the Orange party. Line dancing, orange drinks and lots of orange attire.

 Early this morning we were cruising along the coast of Bali. It's a nice day with a good view of the mountains and beaches. Quite a few surfers out this morning. The approach to Benoa Harbour is tricky, as there are lots of shoals and the entrance is narrow. It took some maneuvering! We were tied up to the dock earlier than our scheduled time of 10am.  I had been to Bali before about 30 years ago. A lot has changed, and not for the better in my opinion. The city of Denpasar keeps spreading, there are more and more hotels, restaurants, shops, and tourist attractions. And the infrastructure hasn't kept up.  We had arranged a private tour of the Ubud area today. Traffic was gridlocked for most of the way. It took over an 1 1/2 hours to drive the 40 km to our first stop, probably double the time of a good day. But looking at the traffic I wonder how often there is a good day! The roads are very narrow, no shoulder and not designed for the tour buses and amount of traffic. As...