Bali

14^th March 2012 

Right on time, at 7am the Sea Princess dropped anchor off Nusa Dua, a long way out from the Balinese Port of Benoa. We were advised it would be a 35 to 45 minute tender ride into the port, so it may take some time. They had enlisted the help of a local charter catamaran, that could carry 300 people, to speed up the process.  It is going to be warm, but fine day with the temp around 30 C and high humidity.

There was a reasonable swell from the outgoing tide and there was some delay in getting the tenders (and cat, alongside), but we managed to get away at around 8 am, and were at disembarking at the port, by 8.35am. The trip in to the port was interesting with lots of fishermen out, some standing up to their chests’  in water, other in outrigger canoes, and the odd large commercial fishing vessel. 

Fishermen

Benoa is a busy port, just not built for ships of the size of Sea Princess. There is very shallow the water visible either side of the marked channel, with waves breaking either side on the sand bars.

Before leaving Australia, I had prebooked a car and driver to meet us at the port for a private day tour. When we arrived the driver, Dean, was there waiting for us, and we were quickly on our way, heading initially for Ubud, before all of the tourist buses arrive. As it turned out, Dean was a real find, excellent driver, very knowledgeable and nothing was a problem, and it cost us 750,000 rupiah for the day ( approx. A$80), for a very comfortable, air conditioned car.

Benoa Port

Welcome to Benoa

Our Driver Dean

Much of our drive was through back roads and small villages, which along with Dean’s commentary, provided a great insight into Balinese life today.

When we arrived at Ubud, we went for a walk around the streets, went to the Ubud markets, wandered through the palace and surrounds, before heading off to the volcano an hour later.

Ubud Streetscape

Ubud Palace

After a very scenic drive and stop to take in the views of the rice terraces, we eventually ended up at a vantage point overlooking Lake Batur (a very large crater lake), with the tallest Volcano (Agung) behind the lake, and the most recently active volcano (Batur), bordering the lake. Lava flows from the most recent eruption (in the 90’s), still scar the landscape.

From there it was back in the direction of Ubud, where we stopped for lunch in a very scenic spot, sort of a boutique spa/hotel, perched high up on the side of a hill, overlooking the rice fields and forest. According to Dean, much of the building in and around this area is undertaken by expats, building villas or not so small houses. Not sure how the locals really view this, as a good deal of the bars, restaurants and tourism attractions, in Bali, are also owned and run by expats.

After a very good Indonesian lunch, and couple of cold Bintangs, we were back on the road, covering more of the countryside, and other villages famous for their handicrafts. Everyone in Bali seems to have a wood carver, stonemason or artist in the family. The scale of handicraft production throughout the countryside is amazing. It is apparently,  mainly for export , with many of the shopfronts merely showrooms for major buyers. There is obviously a lot more retail activity in the major tourist areas, like Kuta.

Lunch View

We eventually headed back to the port, via Sanur Beach, where not much has changed. We arrived back at Benoa at 3.45pm, and had only a short wait before boarding the catamaran back to the ship. It was a slow process, and by the time everyone had been offloaded onto the ship, it was now 5pm.

By the time all of the passengers were back on board, and the ship secured to sail , it was 7.30pm. We departed 90 minutes later than scheduled, so I can only imagine the Captain was displeased.

When we arrived back in our room, there was no animal on the bed, so we figured the steward had run out of ideas, until we looked up towards the balcony !!!

Our dining companions returned yesterday , it seems they decided to take a break from the formal dining and tried the buffet and pizza place for a change. We are just about ready to do the same.

By 10pm we were passing through the channel on the Eastern side of Bali, heading off to our next destination, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. It is very windy and there is a decent sea running, bouncing the ship around a bit.