On a hot, humid Monday we made our approach to the island of Bali, the very name conjures up the promise of tropical delights, turquoise waters and sun-drenched beaches. All of these are here, as are forests, rice paddy-fields, Royal temples and shopping.
The approach and docking in Bali is not a straightforward one, as readers of my blog will no doubt remember from previous posts. It requires a great deal of planning and execution, involving the entire Bridge team and if there is ever an occasion when someone has to “speak up if in doubt”, this is it.
An overview of the approach to Benoa
The approach, in a strong tidal current, sandbanks and anchored ships.
The western end of the channel, the dock and our turn next to the ‘storage’ LNG carrier.
A closer view. The LNG carrier is permanently moored here and replenished by others. You can see it at the south end of the dock, (a ‘ship’ shape with some dots on it. The track is from our sensors on the mast, which are 60m from the bow.
Moving the bow into the ‘trench’ past the adjacent LNG carrier. When sufficiently into the ‘trench’, one can swing the stern in sufficient depth and stay 50m or so from the sandbanks behind.
An electronic chart view. The ship’s outline can be seen alongside the dock. The red lines are ‘no go’ areas, (insufficient depth). The light blue by the bow, is a shallow harbour. The ‘trench’ is south of the LNG carrier at the south end of the dock. If you were to superimpose the ship outline, you can see why we had to swing there, to avoid the banks behind us. Notice also that the green triangles, which represent buoys, don’t actually mark where we can go, it is too shallow, hence the red lines, (which we put on the chart), to give us a visual warning.
As we turn into the channel, the pilot boat joins us and pilot onboard we make our approach. I am handling the Amsterdam today and the pilot advises. The channel meanders and the width, if would one just see the water, would appear quite wide. Not so for us, we need as much of the deeper water that we can get, drawing 8 metres, we get another 1 metre of water extra for the tide height. We have stay as near as we can to the centre of the channel, although there are ‘patches’ in the channel and these are to be avoided, so there’s several short alterations of course to go around them. Into the ‘turning area’ and a very gentle swing, keeping the bow where it is and moving the stern to the south until we have moved sufficiently round to allow the bow to ‘fall off’ and complete the swing; then it’s back towards the berth and a much-needed ‘docking coffee’ 😀
Finally parked
Here is the time lapse of the entire proceedings.
Thomas and I had planned for me to go off that day and he, his wife Linda and 1-year old daughter, to go off the next day, so K1 and I decided to go (back) to the lovely hotel we had visited before, near the town of Sanur. As we left the ship, hundreds of happy crew were meeting and greeting their families, bringing them on board for one great big reunion.
The traffic was heavy as we left the terminal, the road from the port intersects the road from Denpasar International airport, the result? One big jam. Nevertheless, after 30 minutes or so we reached Sanur, with its narrow streets and bustling shops, stalls, restaurants and bars, One immediately noticed the number of Europeans increased enormously, obviously a favourite spot for many holidaymakers. Into the hotel grounds and paradise awaits, lush greenery, flowers, waterfalls, tempting pools and, of course, a lovely, sandy beach.
Hindus have a small temple in the grounds of their houses, the hotel was no exception
I couldn’t resist a photo (or two) of our cuisine. The most delicious curry I have had in a long time.
A ‘Camur’ Satay
Grilled/spiced Red Snapper
Finally, my feet resting in the shade of the palm trees 😎 
So, today and onboard, I took the opportunity to take a few more photographs.
Taken last night upon our return, the Amsterdam on her berth.
The stylish Terminal building.
and the interior, (the wi fi seats to the right) 🙂
There are, of course, countless stalls nearby
family joining
The approach channel from the Bridge, full of tourists, paragliding, skiing…
Fishermen
We are under the final approach for Denpasar International
The runway is bottom-right .
This evening, at 8 p.m. we sail for Palawan and Puerto Princesa (sic), arriving there on (our) Saturday, March 3rd. Every day at sea is seen as an opportunity for social functions, another Captain’s dinner beckons tomorrow; I’ve lost count how many I’ve attended thus far and I haven’t counted how many more I will do, methinks I’m ‘eating’ my way around the World! After I had posted this, I took some video on my camera, had some difficulties transferring it to my Mac too, I was damned if it was going to beat me, eventually success. I realised however that I’m not cut out to be a movie maker, too fast ‘panning’ and wobbly hands 🙂 but never mind, here’s my very amateur result! It will at least give you some idea of what it looks like……….
