Sunday 9th.
Day 12
Feelin Alright - Joe Cocker
A new day dawned at Bayshore and it was blue skies and barely a ripple on the water. Fantastic forecast for our day in the boat.
How awesome that we didn't need to check on the web to discover this. It was just a short stumble and scratch from the bed and the information was on our doorstep. Love it.
What I didn't love were the cold/flu like symptoms I awoke with...bugga.
I was going to soldier on though, no throbbing head, high temp, sore throat or copious amounts of mucous were going to get in the way of me having a good time..No Siree!
We were having breakfast at the hotel prior to our early morning pick up. I was doing ok for a while with my herbal tea and fruit platter , that is until Rob's big brekky with those poached eggs bobbling around on top arrived. I did a quick exit stage left and a 'sorry you'll have to excuse me'.
The guys making up our room took one look at my pastie face and didn't need any explanation, they were coming back later.
Goddam I'm assuming and hoping that the lady next door on her porch, couldn't hear my retching but I was certainly updated on her grandkids sports day via skype!
A little while later Rob arrived and I had got myself together a bit. Made had apparently walked across the beachfront again and spotted Rob at breakfast and he was bringing the motorbike around (motorbike, bloody hell). He was going to do 2 trips to the boat, I was up first.
With my beach bag (oh how I love thee) cram packed with everything a girl needs for a beach/boating day slung over my shoulder. We were off with a wave and a smile in Rob's concerned direction , then it was a "get me to the nearest Apotek please Made and step on it".
What a guy we didn't even need to hit the main road and we were there, savage looking scarey barking dog pfffft out the way I'm a blood shot, drippy, nauseous woman in need of drugs.
More than a bit of a communication breakdown here and I'm no nurse but I spotted some familiar ingredients that would do the trick and they took care of most of my syptoms ( I was careful with them don't worry).
Made delivered me to his boat mooring down a grassy lane and instructed me to stay put whilst he went and got the Mr. I did feel a little better after the bike ride, with the wind in my hair or was that just the drugs kicking in?
I spotted someone laying down on the sand at the bottom of the stairs that had been fashioned into the wall and gave her a little wave. She turned out to be Made's wife Wayan and we had a really nice chat after me and my overstuffed beach bag made our way down the wall.
She's a lovely girl and one of the tallest, stockiest Balinese women I've met. She turned out to be the saving grace actually when it came to launching the boat..
The high arches in the outriggers are there for a good reason. That's where you put your back into it and walk it into the water ( I cheered from the side lines after I had attempted to help, then quickly hopped out of the way when it was obvious I wasn't up to the task...bloody hell it was heavy!) .
Made's boat is as narrow as a canoe but versatile so you can move the little planks that are your well worn seats to any configuration you'd like.
I plonked myself down in the perfect spot as it turned out in the stern (well it could of been dryer) with my back to our destination as we had some breakers to get over and 'I Don't Do Waves'. I'm so much better off if I can't see what's coming.
I got absolutely soaked but Made knew what he was doing and timed it right and we were up and over the waves in no time ( praise the Lord, all the Bali gods and Neptune).
Rob had a bit of a snorkel around Beer Island but didn't stay in for long as the water was pretty deep with everything of interest way below and the swell around the islands was a bit of a worry. I was glad he didn't stay in for long cos' it all felt a little unsafe to me too.
We trawled around the island and then took off for White Sandy Beach.
One day I will get a good shot of Mt Agung I just know it.
I have never seen it unobscured by cloud.
Made's friend Wayan met us at the beach to escort us to his warung along with about 6 helpers to get the boat out of the water. Some of these guys literally had their arses hanging out of their pants and I kicked myself afterward for not giving them something extra on top of what Made paid them.
Wayan is a very enterprising young man with excellent English and the Iced lime squash and a Bintang for Rob that he delivered to us within 5 minutes of our laying down on one of his blue loungers under his yellow umbrella's on this amazing beach was just what the doctor ordered.
A very old man with a gamelan set himself up in front of us straight away and though we appreciated his musicianship it was a little bit too 'jangly' for my state of mind unfortunately. I hadn't bought any money with me and Rob's wallet had ended up in the puddle at the bottom of Made's jukung at some point so we offered the smiling musician some wet notes and he obliged us by spreading out the notes to dry on the sand and didn't play anymore until the notes were dry and more people had arrived further up the beach.
A couple of friendly beach sellers came along with the usual knotted bracelets/necklaces etc. and I bought a lovely shell hair 'spike' that's just lovely and I wear it often. It always transports me back to that beautiful beach.
A young (gorgeous) Canadian couple arrived at the loungers next to us and I chatted with them for a while until Rob came back and we ordered another round of drinks and some lunch from Wayan. We went for a swim whilst our fish was barbequed ....and people ask why I keep returning to Bali!
The barbequed lunch with Balinese side dishes was a stand out and one that Rob kept craving for days after. We shared one meal between the 2 of us but we should of gone one each.
Made and his Jukung on the beach.
The trip back was a little choppier but quite short and it was obvious Made had negotiated the reef at lowish tide on the way back in at Candidasa on plenty of occasions.
I did busy myself with looking into the crystal clear waters and the gorgeous corals below instead of the timing of the breakers (for anxieties sake).
Wayan was waiting for us to help with the re-entry in between massages at the hotel next to Made's mooring where she works. These guys are quite a team and invited us to a ceremony that was taking place the next day which we appreciated very much but it was an hours walk up a hill and I'm pretty sure they both understood why we opted out.
There were a lot of ceremonies taking place the next day due to the full moon.
We had a wonderful day and will definitely be spending more time at White Sand Beach next time we are around these parts. We got back to Bayshore at around 2 where we chilled in the pool , read, chatted, napped, tried to order some mixers from a passing staff member (there's no room service...no phone) but ended up getting them ourselves when they didn't arrive.
We met a nice Victorian couple that were veteran Bali travelers and were loving their stay at Bayshore.
They shared a few of their contacts with us which was great. They also answered the puzzle of the unsafe safe in our room that was just sitting on the floor under the rail of the wardrobe that maybe never was.
Apparently the safes keep rusting so they don't bother bolting them down anymore (too much of a hassle).
We went to dinner at Vincent's that night and enjoyed it very much .It has a lovely atmosphere in the garden and also inside on the couches for drinks. Service is great and food was pretty good. The tables are too close together for my liking though as it is a really romantic setting and the last thing you need is to be oh so aware of the people and their conversations an arms length away from you.
Front of house bar/lounge area at 'Vincents'
Whilst waiting for the cab home we met some people that had invested in the timeshare across the road and were loving it , I'm glad that's worked out for them.
Sleep came easy that night after a great day doing all we had hoped for from Candidasa.
My condition was definitely on the improve but little did we know that Rob was to be struck down with the chronic version of it the next day ...the dreaded Man Flu! :0}
Selamat Malam
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