An Australian tourist talks about his ferry ride from Hell in Bali

An Australian tourist has described a chilling ferry ride between a popular tourist spot in Bali and the mainland.

Ian Cragg and his girlfriend Natalie boarded a ferry from the island of Gili Trawangan off the northwest coast of Lombok last Friday.

The Gold Coast tourists spent three nights on “Gili T” and called the booking company in the morning to confirm their return trip to Sanur Port near Denpasar.

Ian Cragg with his partner Natalie Bogdanski the day before they leave for Gili T. Image: Delivered

Mr Cragg described the jetty scenes as chaos and said no one was in control of the operation. Image: Included

A friend of his had taken the same ferry the day before and said they “floated at sea for an hour” with choppy water making it impossible to proceed without taking water.

After being told the first ferry of the day had been cancelled, he arrived at the port at 11am only to wait another three hours for the boat to arrive.

“It’s chaos and confusion as hell down the jetty with no one taking control,” Mr Cragg said, describing the hundreds of people who piled up on the tiny jetty.

‘An absolute shit show.’

He said when the boat finally arrived its passengers looked “gaunt and pale” and one Australian said as they disembarked: “This boat should never have left”.

But without a chance to return to the mainland, Mr Cragg boarded the ferry with around 60 other passengers – many of whom were Australians.

“Everything was fine initially until we got to the main course – that’s when it started to get really hairy,” he said.

“This big wave hit the side of the boat and the windows blew in, drenching the tourists.

“The windows must have been plastic because luckily they didn’t shatter.”

Mr Cragg said people panicked and went to the rear of the boat when two crew members rushed to the window and were busily working to fit a piece of plywood in the window.

A crew member seals a broken window with plywood. Image: Included

Hundreds of people waited to board the ferry back to the mainland. Image: Included

“I definitely felt in danger, but we were close enough to land to know that if the worst came to the worst, hopefully help wouldn’t be too far away,” he said.

Mr Cragg said that once they were safely back on the mainland his taxi driver told him it “happens all the time” during the rainy season.

“The water is fine for most of the year, but it gets bad between December and February during the rainy season,” Mr Cragg said.

His comments come after multiple reports of wild boat trips from Bali to island destinations.

Shocking video surfaced earlier this week of a speedboat capsizing off the coast of Nusa Penida while carrying 28 passengers to the same port Mr Cragg was en route to.

Choppy gray waves lapped the Kebo Iwa Express ferry when several people wearing life jackets jumped into the water Tuesday afternoon.

Two Australian tourists were among the tourists forced to jump in the water two nautical miles from shore, ABC reported.

A boat capsized off the coast of Nusa Penida on Tuesday. Image: Included

One of the passengers said the waves quickly overwhelmed the boat and caused it to sink.

He said all passengers are now safe and there were no injuries.

“If I went again I would pay the money to fly to Lombok instead,” Mr Cragg said.

He said he would “definitely come back” and even recommended visiting the island, which he described as “so beautiful”.

“The locals there were amazing and so accommodating; They were so happy to welcome the tourists back,” he said.

“They just need better and safer inter-island ferry infrastructure.”

“I would say avoid taking children at times when bad weather is expected, keep in touch with your ferry operator before departure, sit as close to an exit as possible, have a fully charged phone and make sure you are a confident swimmer…’