Cruising Bali, Lombok and the Gili Islands

From Bali to Komodo

From the air, the Lesser Sunda Islands look like stepping stones. They run roughly west to east; Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores. Along the southern edge of the Indonesian archipelago, each is separated from the next by a deep, current-fed strait. This chain is the spine of the region and the natural line a yacht follows when cruising east.

Two volcanoes frame its western end. On Bali, Mount Agung rises to just over 3,000 metres, a near-perfect cone and the island’s most sacred peak. Across the Lombok Strait, Mount Rinjani climbs to 3,726 metres. Mount Rinjani is the second-highest volcano in Indonesia, with a wide caldera and the crater lake of Segara Anak (lit. Child of the Sea) at its heart. Both are active, and on a clear day, each is visible from the other. They set the tone for what lies east: a landscape shaped by fire and water, where dry savannah hills sit above some of the richest reefs in the world.

Bali’s eastern edge and the Nusa Islands

Private charters through the region usually set out from Serangan Harbour, on the south coast of Bali, near Benoa. From there, a voyage tends to begin along the island’s eastern and south-eastern shores, where the cruising is at its best. Off the south-east coast lie Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida — three islands known for clear water, dramatic cliffs and the seaweed farms that still shape daily life on Lembongan. Crystal Bay and the channels around Penida are among the better-known snorkelling and diving spots, and the wider area is one of the more reliable places in Bali to encounter manta rays.

Further north-east, the coast around Amed and Tulamben is quieter and more volcanic, with black-sand beaches and great opportunities for diving. Tulamben is the site of the USAT Liberty, a wartime wreck lying close to shore in shallow water. It is one of the most accessible wreck dives in Indonesia, and an easy snorkel as well. From here the route turns east, across the strait towards Lombok.

Crossing the Wallace Line

The short hop from Bali to Lombok seems like any other short stretch, but is, in fact, one of the most significant crossings in the natural world. The two islands lie only about 35 kilometres apart, yet the strait between them marks the Wallace Line. The boundary named after the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, who travelled these islands in the 1850s and saw that the wildlife changed abruptly from one shore to the other.

West of the line — Bali, Java, Borneo — the fauna is broadly Asian. East of it, the character shifts towards Australasia. Wallace noticed that the barbets and woodpeckers of Bali simply disappear on Lombok, replaced by cockatoos and brush-turkeys. The reason lies underwater: the strait is deep, and stayed deep even through the ice ages, when lower seas joined other islands by land bridges. Animals could spread across the western islands, and across the eastern ones, but the deep channel here kept the two worlds apart.

This is why sailing east is also a passage between two natural realms. The islands from Lombok to Komodo lie in the transitional zone known as Wallacea. And the Komodo dragon, waiting at journey’s end, is its most famous residen

The Gili Islands

The three Gili Islands; Trawangan, Meno and Air lie just off Lombok’s north-west coast, on the eastern side of that strait. “Gili” simply means “small island” in Sasak, the language of Lombok, which is why the name recurs all along this coast. The islands are car-free; you travel by bicycle, on foot, or by cidomo, the small pony carts that carry luggage along the sandy lanes. Over the last couple of years, electric bikes have found their way onto the small islands..

Each has its own character. Gili Trawangan is the largest and liveliest, with the widest choice of places to eat and the island’s nightlife. Gili Meno is the smallest and quietest — the one couples tend to choose. Gili Air sits between the two in size and mood, and is closest to the Lombok mainland. All three are ringed by shallow reefs where green and hawksbill turtles are a common sight, and Gili Meno has a small turtle hatchery.

They are easy to reach. Fast boats run daily from several Bali ports, taking somewhere between ninety minutes and three hours depending on where you leave from and the state of the sea. You can also fly from Bali to Lombok and continue by road and a short boat transfer. Because the islands are small and close together, they suit a few unhurried days rather than a long charter in themselves.

Lombok and the Secret Gili Islands

Lombok is larger, greener and (still) quieter than Bali. Shaped more by the Sasak way of life than by tourism. Rinjani dominates the north; in the south, around Kuta Lombok and the Mandalika coast, long surf beaches and the pink-tinged sand of Tangsi draw a slower, more independent kind of traveller.

Away from the busy northern Gilis, Lombok’s south-west coast holds a quieter archipelago: the Secret Gili Islands of Sekotong Bay. Gili Gede, Gili Nanggu and a scattering of smaller islands sit close together in calm, shallow water, largely unpopulated and well off the main tourist routes. Traditional jukung fishing boats work the bays, the reefs are good for easy snorkelling, and the beaches are mostly empty. For anyone who finds the northern Gilis too busy, this is the counterpoint.

East across Sumbawa — Moyo and Satonda

East of Lombok, the islands grow drier and more remote. Between Lombok and Sumbawa lie the little-visited Alas Islands, a scatter of coral-fringed islets with quiet bays and empty beaches. Beyond them, off Sumbawa’s north coast, is Moyo. The island features lush jungles laced with waterfalls, the best known of which, Mata Jitu, falls in clear limestone tiers into pools you can swim in.

A little further east lies Satonda, a small island formed by a flooded volcanic crater. Its centrepiece is a saltwater crater lake, ringed by trees from which visitors hang stones as wishes, following a local tradition. Satonda sits in the shadow of Mount Tambora, the Sumbawa volcano whose 1815 eruption was the largest in recorded history — the event behind the “year without a summer” that followed across the northern hemisphere. The crossings here are long and open, and often bring dolphins, and occasionally whales, alongside the boat.

Journey’s end — Komodo National Park

The eastward arc ends in the Komodo National Park, and this is where many yacht charters are centred between April and October. The park is a cluster of dry, rugged islands set in fast, plankton-rich water, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991.

The first sign of it, coming from the west, is Banta — an uninhabited, partly submerged volcano at the top of the Sape Strait, the channel that divides Sumbawa from Komodo. Beyond it lie the park’s headline sites: the ridgeline viewpoints of Gili Lawa, the manta aggregations at Karang Makassar (Manta Point), the layered hills of Padar, and the quiet anchorages off Komodo and Rinca where the dragons live.

Above the water the landscape of the national Park is dry savannah (changes during monsoon season) and Jurassic-looking ridgelines; below it, some of the richest reefs in Indonesia. Most voyages through the park finish at Labuan Bajo, the bustling harbour town on Flores that has become the eastern gateway to this part of Indonesia.

Planning a voyage through these waters

The logic of the region is simple: it runs west to east. A yacht works its way from Bali, Lombok or the Gili Islands, across Sumbawa, to Komodo, finishing in Labuan Bajo. Or makes the same journey in reverse. The distances are far, and the open crossings between island groups are what turn a string of day trips into a proper voyage with many nautical miles to navigate.

Getting there

At the western end, Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport (Denpasar) and Lombok’s international airport are the main arrival points, with frequent fast boats linking Bali to the Gilis. Private charters generally depart from Serangan Harbour in southern Bali, a short drive from the airport; other departure points around Bali can sometimes be arranged, depending on the yacht and the trip. At the eastern end, Labuan Bajo has its own airport (Komodo Airport), with direct flights from Bali. A one-way voyage lets you fly in at one end and out at the other.

When to go

The drier months, roughly April to October or November, are the most settled for the long eastern crossings and generally the best window for voyages through to Komodo. The wet season, from around December to March, brings more rain and harsh ocean conditions.

What duration

As a rough guide, sailing from Lombok or the Gili Islands through to Komodo takes in around eight days one way, allowing time for the islands in between rather than simply crossing them. However, it also depends on the size of the yacht and conditions along the way.

A note from Barefoot

We no longer run scheduled cruises or day trips around Bali, Lombok or the Gili Islands. Our focus has moved east, to Komodo and other regions of Indonesia. A private charter that starts in Bali, Lombok or the Gili Islands and sails east to Komodo can, however, be arranged on request. Since most of the yachts in our portfolio move locations with the Tradewinds, finding a suitable yacht and date requires careful planning and in some cases relocation fees are charged.