Northstar

TRAVEL WEEKLY ASIA O F F I C I A L D A I L I E S www.travelweekly-asia.com 24 27 October 2017 O ur captain steered our tow boat away from shore into a quiet expanse of water. My partner jumped into the ocean and fumbled with his wakeboarding gear. I listened intently. The call to prayer was distant but audible, coming in with the breeze from the island in front of us. Earlier we had explored that island, the sixth and most touristy destination on Star Clippers' seven- night itinerary in Indonesia. Gili Trawangan (also known as "Gili T") has a reputation of being a "party island" thanks to the droves of young Westerners who frequent its casual hotels, scuba schools, beachfront bars and restaurants. It only took 10 minutes to reach peaceful Gili Meno, but it felt like a lifetime away. Similar to most of the other islands we visited, Gili Meno is only reachable by taking a tender to a small boat, making a water landing and trudging through a rocky sea floor to the shore. No one on our 170-passenger Star Clipper ship seemed to mind, though; water shoes and wet clothing are a reasonable trade-off for an itinerary that visits places other ships don't. Indonesia has more than 17,500 island choices, but several factors helped the line develop its 7-, 10-, 11- and 14-night tall ship sailings in the country. For example, the geographic range of the cruises was decided by a desire to visit Komodo National Park and to sail in and out of Benoa, Bali. At our first stop, Gili Bidara in eastern Lombok, we had the island to ourselves (save for a few groups which really looked like a latex glove blown up in five directions — are known to inhabit sunny and shallow parts of the reef, meaning even a mediocre swimmer with a fogged-up mask can spot them. More difficult to discover are Komodo dragons during mating season — but we tried anyway the next morning at Komodo National Park. The park walk was the itinerary's attraction highlight, but Pink Beach — located at another part of Komodo — was a favourite water stop for many. Instead of watching for deadly lizards, I became transfixed by the beach's white sand as it comingled By Mindy Poder Get off the beaten trail with a back-to-basics sail into Indonesia's Gili Islands, Komodo and more of locals coming in on jukungs or outrigger canoes). Our notes for the day spelled it out: "Island has no facilities, just sand and sea." Like most of the islands on the itinerary, Gili Bidara is great for snorkelling and is home to some of the most vibrant blue sea stars I've ever seen. The lapis-lazuli starfish — with fragments of coral, stained red from microscopic animals called foraminifera. Every time the glassy waves broke at the shore, the white sand rose to the top, clouding the water. But as the water settled, the sand once again mixed with the broken coral and created a rosy canvas. Jukung at Gili Trawangan Komodo Dragon PHOT0 CREDIT: IAN JARRETT PHOT0 CREDIT: USO/ISTOCK In search of the unknown "Indonesia has more than 17,500 island choices, but several factors helped the line develop its 7-, 10-, 11- and 14-night tall ship sailings."

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