Living in The Midst of Flores Sea for Komodo Dragons

If you are a nature lover traveler who likes a challenge, you must read my blog  
Not long ago, I tried to live on board for 3 days and 2 nights starting from Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. I rent private phinisi boat for 6 people for 3D2N. The price offered is also very affordable only IDR 550,000/person including meals 3 times a day, snack, mineral water, and mask for snorkeling. The ticket for the tourist attraction and fin for snorkeling were excluded.

          For your information, Indonesia is an archipelago with very beautiful nature, one of which is in Flores. I'll tell you my journey towards the komodo dragons. Below is the itinerary of the tour package that I chose.

Day 1

Kanawa island – Kelor island – Seture island – Kalong island

          At 8 o’clock the journey began by heading to Kanawa island. Kanawa island is quite famous because its beautiful coral, white sand and crystal clear sea water. This island has a resort with affordable price, but since I have rented a phinisi boat, I stayed on board the boat.

Kanawa island. Source: Raja Kamar

          Next, Kelor and Seture island which were as beautiful as Kanawa Island. Be careful when snorkeling in Seture Island because the current is quite strong that we had to walk first at the coast line away from the boat carrying our snorkeling gear, then jump into the water. No need to swim just relax while enjoying the view of the bottom of the sea because the current will take us back close to our boat. In the afternoon towards sunset, the boat stops in the middle of the sea near Kalong Island (Kalong means bat). Here travelers can watch thousands of bats flying out to feed. Don’t forget to prepare your camera because the view is a real winner!

Colorful sky

Can you see the kalongs there?

Day 2

Rinca island – Kambing island – Pink Beach

I and friends :)

          After breakfast, we went to Rinca island or Loh Buaya to see komodo dragons which became one of the seven wonders of nature. Rinca island is one of the included 3 major islands in Komodo National Park. The other islands are Komodo Island and Padar Island. After paying the entrance fees and ranger fees, we were accompanied by one ranger on duty to guide us and we can choose short, medium or long paths. Because we’re all lazy tracking too far, we chose short path. It wasn’t a waste of time to walk for almost  an hour, we saw Komodo dragons and took pictures together (even the Komodo wasn’t too big only about 2 metres). After we passed a hill we saw the view of crocodile bay from above and all were so green like the setting for the movie Lord of The Ring.

Blue and green!!!

Loh means bay

          Next, we head to Kambing Island (Kambing means goat). The name was a little weird as there were no goats at all on the island. Kambing Island was not bad at all compared to Kawana Island. From afar the gradation of color from the beach to the sea was clearly seen. White, turquoise, light blue and dark blue. So cool! Because this is a small island, my friends and I had the time to snorkel around the island.

Kambing island

          Well the most I've been waiting for is Pink Beach! Pink beach is very famous for its beautiful beaches that have red sand. But from afar it looks just like ordinary  beach. The sand wasn’t red or pink at all. Just white! Uniquely, boats aren’t allowed to stop near the beach, it has to stop in the middle of the sea so that the sea corals won’t be damaged. So we swam to the coast line. From all the islands I’ve visited in Flores, Pink Beach is the winner! The sea corals are still very very beautiful and there were various fishes. The sea corals were so colorful and the distance is very near to us while we snorkel. When we reach the beach we just saw the sand was very soft with redness and it turns pink when there were waves. Wow, I really fell in love with Pink Beach! No wonder this has become one of the best diving spot in Indonesia.

Pink Beach. Source: www.findingindonesia.com

Day 3

Komodo island – Manta point – Bidadari island – Labuan Bajo

          On the last day we went for another tracking to Komodo National Park Heritage Site in Komodo Island (Loh Liang).  And again, we took the short path/route. Here the view is not as beautiful as in Loh Buaya, but we saw bigger komodos about 3 metres long! Komodo dragons are not fed, they look for their own food because there are many wild animals such as buffalo, deer, monkeys, wild boar, etc. For women who are having their period don’t ever try to come near. Komodo dragons can smell the smell of blood from afar. It turns out that even a wild boar passing in front of the komodo is fine. I thought the komodo will chase the boar to eat it, but the ranger said that if the boar bleed even just a little bit, the komodo will chase the boar until it gets it!

          After satisfied seeing komodo, we continued our journey to manta point. Manta rays are really big! Usually manta will appear at 12:00 noon when the sun is at the peak. The captain of the boat will stand at the front of the boat to see where the manta is. If he sees one, he just point to it and says “There’s the manta!” Then we would just jump into the sea “splash!” wooow!!! mantas are really, really big! At the beginning it was quite scary to snorkel above the manta that was well known that the long tail is sharp and poisonous. But the captain said that it was okay, manta won’t swim to the surface of the sea, so just relax.  It was thrilling to see a real manta 6 metres beneath us! After being satisfied seeing mantas, we continued to snorkel at Bidadari Island and back to Labuan Bajo. By the way, Bidadari means angel. You can call it angel island. Then I was done with my sea adventure.

Bidadari island. Source: www.tripadvisor.com

          To join live on board tour, the travelers can find travel agents in Labuan Bajo. There are many kinds of tour package options are available in Labuan Bajo.

Many travel agents offer cheap packages to live on board. There are also packages that offer "daily cruises" for travelers who do not have much time but want to try to see the dragons and snorkeling experience using Phinisi.

*Cost estimates

Boat rental	IDR 550.000,-/person
Entrance fees Loh Buaya & Loh Liang	IDR 2500,-(local)
	IDR 20.000,- (foreign tourist)
	IDR 50.000/ranger
Fin rental	IDR 45.000,-/person (3 days)

* Price in april 2013 and I USD = IDR 9920,-

Come and see for yourself the beauty of Indonesia! 



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