L’Austral arrives in Bali

Early morning start today as L’Austral approaches the port of Benoa in Bali. A massive LNG tanker berthed in the port is visible from miles away. L’Austral has some difficulty contacting the harbor pilot, so we are waiting in the bay for a while until the pilot responds and arrives on the ship.

This delays our arrival by about 45 minutes, but the crew works hard to have the ship alongside the wharf by 8 am. Watching Captain Marchesseau ‘reverse parking’ L’Austral also provides the opportunity to see the ceremonial greeting on the wharf. 

Benoa port is surprisingly well organised, and finding my driver for my hotel transfer is no issue – all of the taxis, hotel buses, etc are in the parking lot to the right of the arrival terminal. Departing the ship at 8:20 am, I’m at the Intercontinental Bali by 8:50 am, and in my room by 9:15 am. The Intercontinental is a huge resort, with one wing of the hotel still under renovation. The grounds are highly manicured, and there are 6 swimming pools of various sizes to choose from. 

The resort also has absolute beach frontage onto Jimbaran Bay, ringed by a popular bay beach. 

The resort faces west, which makes for the final spectacular sunset of this Indonesian part of the trip.

Jimbaran Bay is famous for its seafood – there is a range of cafes along the beach of varying quality, but universally popular at night.