We decided to leave Bali for a few days and visit the Gili Islands
but these stupid little islands are so hard to get to. One must choose to take a speed boat for two hours at about $40 per ticket or take the slow, local ferry at 9 hours for about $5. We, considering the length of our vacation, opted for the speed boat. It was a largely uneventful trip. It was nice weather but a long and hot ride. Lots of people puked but I guess that's to be expected.
The trip back, however, was not so pleasant. After 5 days, we had gotten used to the daily thunderstorm that would pound the island in the evening but it was always clear by morning. On this day in particular, it wasn't so clear. In fact, it was still quite dark and the waves were pounding the beach pretty hard. But we had already purchased our ticket and figured we would see what happened. We were leaving Gili Air to go back to Bali but it first required a transfer to Gili Trawangan and we figured that if the sea looked too rough during that time then we would just spend another night on the island (we had cleverly factored in bad weather to our travel plans just in case and had two more days before we needed to be at the airport).
The ride over to Gili T wasn't bad and after waiting three hours for the speed boat ferry to arrive, the weather had cleared up nicely and we were quickly getting sunburned, which in my book is good enough. Of course it helped that out boat was about two hours late arriving which gave us a bit more time to wait for better weather. Of course, in all this time we never noticed that no boats were leaving the island...
After our boat came, unloaded it's passengers (who all seemed fine), we got on and headed to Lombok to pick up some more people before crossing the sea back to Bali. The water was pretty choppy but not terrible so we all just tried to relax and get comfortable. And then the boat unexpectedly ran over a log which hit the engines and caused a very loud bang accompanied by a panic-y yelp from one of the Indonesian crew men. It sounded like an explosion. At that point, I was almost certain we would be spending the night in Lombok. The guys quickly turned off the engines and pulled the out of the water for an inspection which apparently was fine, and then put them back in the water so we could carry on our way.
We arrived in Lombok a few minutes later to pick up about 5 more foreigners. The sky was getting darker and again, we failed to register that the harbour was full and no boats were leaving except us.
Of course, it all made perfect sense why about 10 minutes later when we hit the open water and mass puking commenced. It quickly became obvious that I would not be riding home with my window open in the boat (it had indoor seating). However, closing the window did very little to keep the water out as it was sealed so poorly and ever freaking wave that hit our boat dumped about a quart of water on my lap--yay!
But of course, that wasn't the main problem. The main problem was that the wavers were BIG and that the farther out we got, the bigger they grew. At one point, I estimate that they must have been about 8 or 9 meters tall (that's 24-27 ft) because they would completely cover my window as our boat rolled up the side of them in a rather splashy fashion. But they could have been bigger--I have no idea. My window was constantly covered in spray and running water so it was hard to see. I would say though that they were at least that tall. To give you an idea of what a wave of this size looks like:
(They weren't breaking waves though so while the height was like that there wasn't any tumbling water off the top. It was definitely big but not as menacing.)
But you could definitely feel the size! Our boat was constantly listing from side to side and at several times it really did seem like we were going to flip. Our course was in an east-west direction and the waves were running north-south which meant that we had to roll up and down them in a right angle--which any thinking person should know is not a good idea. That is how boats flip and capsize.
But like I said, Indonesians are not known to be sea-going people.
It was a hellish two hours where we all gripped the seats and hoped the engine didn't fall off the back after that log incident. The motors were whining at an alarming frequency (obviously the captain was trying to get us through as quickly as possible), the cabin was full of boat fumes, people were puking left and right, I had pulled a muscle in my back that made it hard to breathe, I was being soaked by waves splashing through my window about ever 10 seconds, I was sicker than a dog (though I managed not to puke) and the stress, adrenaline and heightened awareness of the whole debacle had exhausted me within the hour to the point where I could hardly keep my head up or my eyes open (which isn't good when you're seasick in the middle of a storm).
I really mean it when I say that I was surprised we made it through. We finally saw Bali's largest volcano through the clouds and within a few minutes we were out of the open water and in to relatively calmer seas. It was at this point that Jeremy got the message that this was no ordinary trip for our captain and crew--they broke out some beers and started toasting each other (I was too busy trying to hold down my breakfast to notice).
And again, when we rolled into the harbour, we found it full. No boats were leaving and only we were coming in. Solid ground never felt or meant so much to me until that day.
Then, yesterday, on our way home, we met a girl who was also trying to get back to Bali from the Gili Islands that very same day and she said that her ticket was cancelled and all boats had been prohibited from leaving the islands. Huh, imagine that? She ended up spending the next night in Lombok and then having to fly back to Bali. Someone had told her while she waited for her flight that every year, though it goes unreported, unscrupulous and greedy speed boat operators take tourists across the sea during storms of which about three or four each year result in rescue operations when their boats eventually capsize and people are left stranded in the ocean. Thank god our boat had life jackets! The first one we took didn't have any! Jeremy later told me that he had considered putting his on just in case...
So, anyway, yes, it was a vacation full of excitement and adventure! And to think that I met a girl who wanted to take a three day boat ride all the way from Bali to Komodo... Thank god I convinced her out of it! Some tourists are so stupid and some locals are so greedy that they will let people risk their lives--and will risk their own for that matter!--just to make another couple hundred dollars! I should have seen the signs. We should never have gotten on that boat.
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