Sumbawa, Indonesia

Sumbawa Island is just East of Lombok and poses an interesting intersection between the encroaching tourist ideals that are so prevalent in Bali and Lombok, and the traditional lifestyle that is the back bone of Eastern Inodnesia. We have had many days of travel along the protected north shore of the Sumbawanese coast. We enjoyed a stop at Moyo island where we treated ourselves to a five star dinner with matching service at the great Amanwana resort. The people and place are an idyllic oasis in the middle of nowhere.

The diving here was very good too and we had many sightings of nudibranches, lionfish, hawkfish, turtles, hard and soft corals and clear waters, albeit cold waters. We certainly have had a tough time of adjusting to what is to our sensitive souls, cold water. Having been at the eqautor or within its immediate proximity and having been in waters well protected by offshore oceanic currents Jim and Dylan have been used to diving in 80-85 degree waters and the drastic 10 degree drop has been something of a shock and wetsuits are now the order of the day.

After a short pilgrimage into the bustling Sumbawa Besar city, we ducked around the Western side of the island of Sumbawa for our first exposure to the full strength of the interisland currents here in Indonesia. We had a 'tailcurrent' of 4 knots pushing us along nicely at close to 12 knots. We arrived at our destination which was selected primarily for its proximity to a surf spot known as Scar Reef! No prizes for guessing why it is so named but let it be said that if one is not careful and well prepared, including of a somewhat fir disposition, one is likely to end up as a statistic in the Scar Reef annals!

We moved from Sumbawa over to Lombok and made for a calm, well protected cul-de-sac to shorten the list of 'things to do' by performing a few tasks. On our way across the southern end of the passage between Sumbawa and Lombok, we encountered boisterous seas and gusty winds interspersed with very big Indian Ocean swells. Within the hour though we were out of the conflicting current zone and on our merry way to lovely Lombok.