VISA RENEWAL AND TOILET MISHAPS

18 February 2024

Life continues nicely in South Lombok.  I am happy anchored at Gili Asahan, a wonderful relaxing place, there are no roads on the island and the constant invasive noise of motorbikes is absent.  I have taken to early morning walks on the beach before the sun gets too high and then a Lombok coffee in the shade of the trees, and chat with the locals, very relaxing.  I was reflecting a couple of days ago that this is the first time in my life that I don’t have somewhere to be or a schedule to keep.  An unusual feeling and for a while I felt guilty, its hard to dismiss a lifetime of arrivals, departures, ETA’s, appointments, meetings, deadlines and commitments.  Now, I am adapting to a manana state of mind, just need to be careful not to slip too far onto the easy side – although if I do, how will I know?

Where I am anchored there are many fish and paddle crabs living under the boat.  I am quite happy for them to be there if they are keeping the hull clean by eating anything that tries to attach itself to the bottom.  Unfortunately, when I flush the toilet, some of them get sucked into the toilet bowl where they swim around unaware of the nasty fate that awaits.  A couple of days ago a paddle crab got sucked in.  Being crab shaped and not streamlined like a fish he had a hard time in the narrow salt water inlet hose and arrived at the toilet with atomic force,  a completely decimated mess.  The destructive suction power of a Lavac toilet is truly amazing.

Anyway, with paddle crab splattered everywhere, I decided that it was time to give the toilet and surrounding area a deep clean.  I removed the toilet seat and lid to the cockpit for further attention.  As I put the toilet seat onto the side deck it caught on a rope and the little plastic seat hinge thing pinged out and flew in a graceful arc over the side.  Desperately I looked over the side to see the small plastic fitting disappearing out of sight, in 22m water depth, it was gone forever. 

The emotional distress suffered when something valuable goes over the side (nothing of inconsequence or low value is ever attracted over the side) can only be understood by other sailors.  It is a feeling like no other human emotion, complete helplessness as experienced in an earthquake, coupled with this are the emotions of futility, incredulity, disbelief, frustration, dismay, shock and anger.  Anything destined to go over the side can defy the laws of physics and gravity in finding a path to Davy Jones locker down in Bikini Bottom.  In my early days at sea anything lost over the side was said to be ‘in the Bendix’ by the knowledgeable seaman, a reference to both the ocean and early Bendix washing machines that had the mythical ability to disappear clothes without trace.

Anyway, I had a cup of tea to steady my nerves and considered my toilet plight.  I then turned the boat upside down looking for spare toilet parts. I found many things I had forgotten about but no toilet seat hinge.  The Lavac toilet works by creating a vacuum when the seat and lid are closed to suck nasty stuff out of the boat and replace it with fresh sea water which is sucked in.  Without the hinges the lid and seat will not align to creat the required vacuum.  All I had to do was get some metal worker to make up some new hinge supports from some threaded rod, should be easy and work until I can get replacement parts.  It’s a work in progress.

To make getting ashore easier I have moved Truce around to Gili Gede and anchored off the Marina.  Taking care of course to anchor outside the mooring field and avoid the anchoring charges that the marina apply.  There is easy dinghy access to the shore and a floating boat dock at Tembowong Harbour.  Where I am anchored is also close by Palmyra Indah Bungalows.  This is a great place to chill out and take breakfast.  They also have bikes available free of charge, very handy to use as transport into the local village for the market.  It’s a nice ride into the village, mostly flat, all the kids greet me with ‘hey Mister’ and some of the older ones have learnt to ask for money.

Its visa renewal time again, I made the trip into Mataram to the immigration office and handed in my passport, a sheaf of paperwork and two million Rp.  The process of giving me a new stamp will take a few days.  Then its another trip into Mataram to pick up the passport.  The visa thing is a real chore and expensive to boot.  Everyone complains about the onerous, tedious and expensive visa process.   The only people who seem to benefit from this rigmarole are the agents and sponsors, no doubt the money they receive also helps others as well.  Hopefully the Indonesian Government will listen to the complaints and make the process more transparent, simpler and ideally online.

With the Immigration out the way it was shopping time.  Hardware stores, engineering workshops, food markets, chemist and phone shop were all on the list.  To my delight I was also introduced to the Bintang Beer warehouse, trade price for beer, what a win!  It was a long day but successful, I got everything I needed, the toilet seat hinge support should be fabricated in a week or so.   

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