For the same price as a cup of coffee you can take a boat from Gili Meno to Lombok. It’s the slow boat that only has two outboard motors.
Just because it’s the slow boat it doesn’t mean that it’s the worst boat. Anything but. It’s a boat so rich in experience taking any other boat would be a mistake.
Having bought our tickets from a happy smiley woman on the pier, she indicates that the boat will leave from the beach. So we wander over to one of the warungs on the top of the beach to get a coffee. As we wait we try and work out which is our boat. One of the boat men pulls back one of the flat bottomed traditional boats by the ropes so that its stern is just about resting on the beach.
Our tickets checked we hop on, jumping the waves to keep our feet dry. Once on board we sit on long benches built into the hull of the boat.
It takes two people to operate the boat. One on the bow, the other on the stern operating the outboard motors and steering. The job of the person on the front watches out and drops anchor. The person at the back can’t see over the bow and is blind using the guide on the bow as his eyes.
We leave the shelter of the beach and round the bottom of the island, spray from the bow sparkling in the morning sunshine.
Half an hour later we are dropped off on Lombok island. After the leave of the boat we negotiate a way through all the locals wanting to help us. 5 minutes up the road we stop for breakfast. The morning already rich in experience.
Tonight we have nowhere to stay yet nor do we know how we will progress further. Another game of accommodation roulette looms.
All is good in the world as we take our journey step by step, boat by boat, day by day.
