Ferry-Schedule Padangbai-Lembar

Hi,
coming up with another question. If I can`t get a budget flight into Mataram upon arrival in Jakarta, I was thinking of taking the public ferry to Lembar and get a cab to Kuta, Lombok.

What about the frequency of the public ferry from P.Bai? Some say they leave every hour 24hrs, another portal provides me with the info that the last ferry in the morning leaves at 9am and the next one only in the evening. Does anyone have a clue..?
Thanks

The public ferry from Padangbai - Lembar runs round the clock 24 hours about every hour an a half. Almost as soon as one pulls out another pulls in offloads its passengers, boards the new ones. During rough seas it can be suspended for a day or two. But if I recall right that usually is around February time...

HI Nic, Gemma is right, the ferries operate 24/7. I believe the 'official' schedule is every 2 hours, but they often don't run on time exactly - it depends on how long it takes to load/unload. During the night the ferries tend to be large barges, the ferry that leaves around 9 or 10am is more ferry with top deck seating.

There are also 'fast boats' that operate on less frequent schedules so that might have been the confusion over times. The fast boats are generally more expensive than flying.

Thanks, you guys, that`s very helpful. So I have an alternative to reach Lombok from Bali, if not by flying or Perama.
However.. I did reach Lembar by ferry a few years back when the Perama boat broke down on the way to the gilis and it wasn`t nice. A herd of pushy touts tried to sell stuff to tourists, esp a totally overwhelmed japanese girl who sank under her seat and I tried to help her. Agressive atmosphere boiled up, but it luckily kept going on the verbal channel. Not the best experience, but I`ll keep this one as a flexible solution. Maybe this time will bring better memories :-)

Gemma is correct, but lookout for public holidays then it can be very busy at the ferry port.