Boat Day
Day 8
So today was boat day! This was the random part of the tour where the trip notes were a bit vague so we weren't quite sure what the full experience would be like. A bit like the homestay in Peru, where it sounds a bit odd but turned out well.
We had a decent start to the day. We didn't have to be up really early today and we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. No country music for breakfast though. We headed back to the harbour to board and found our boat. It's a sizeable boat. Where the description made it sound like we were all sleeping on the decks under the stars it was actually a mix of cabins and mattresses on deck. There were 5 cabins so it ended up being a choice between the 3 single male travellers on who slept on the twin beds in the cabin and who ended up on deck. We managed to snag the larger room and there are really only a few people sleeping up on deck.
We do have a fair amount of people on the boat. It's the 10 of us from the tour group, our guide Wira, our local guide Mikhail, the 4 crew and captain and a trainee guide. We never did catch her actual name. It was Putria or something similar to that. But it seemed that she would be taking a group out on a boat in the future so they send them out without a group to get an idea of what to expect instead of being brand new along with all the tourists.
Mikhail stayed with us on our entire trip to Labuan Bajo. He was an extra guide to keep an eye out on the Komodo's during our treks and was our snorkelling man. He was the lucky one to go out in the water with us as Wira had to watch us from the beach or stay on the boat, depending on how many people went out.
We are out on the water for the next 3 days and 2 nights. Previous trips only did one night on the boat and after having done it I am glad we got the extra night and day to explore. We are in the Flores sea around the Komodo archipelago. It's also the Komodo national park. It's a collection of about 80 islands of varying sizes. With about 3-5 of them having Komodo dragons. And this is the only place in the entire world you will find them in the wild. We will get to visit 3 of the big islands along with stops on smaller ones that I have no idea if they are officially named.
We did become pros by the end of the trip, but the one catch with the boat is that it is too big to dock at a lot of the piers. So we got to the take smaller motorboat to the various piers or beaches. And the crew was really used to getting newbies on and off so we were all good there.
Our first stop is Rinca island. Which has the most Komodo dragons of all the islands with around 1500 of them living on the island. It was a good couple hours on the water to get there but it is relaxing to watch all the islands go by. You really do feel like you are in the tropics with all these tiny uninhabited islands with beaches and small hills covered with trees.
Rinca island involved a hike through the jungle looking for Komodo. We did see a multitude of them. Funnily enough mostly at the beginning in the village where you arrive. They can smell the food and tend to linger around the kitchen where the food it. Although we did see one small one running across the sandy area when we were first walking up to the ranger stations.
Komodo are a very solitary creature. You don't tend to see a lot of them together in the wild. Around the kitchens is another story. There must have been 10 or so laying around. And then all of a sudden one jumped up and climbed up on top of the other one to show his dominance. But it was funny as that little movement tired him out and he just laid there. Slowly sliding off.
They can be a dangerous animal. They like to hide and then attack the prey by biting. They don't like fresh meat so after they bite they just follow it around until the prey eventually dies. One special I watched on tv says that they have anti-coagulants so the animals tend to bleed out. And then the bigger ones feed first and the smaller ones take what is left. And like crocodiles and alligators they don't need to eat daily. And they are also cannibals and will eat each other. The babies have instincts to climb trees to hide so don't try to escape a komodo by climbing a tree.
Our only bit of safety was 2 rangers carrying forked sticks. Seriously. But the rangers have all grown up on the islands so they are familiar with the komodo. And there was an attack the first couple days of us arriving in Indonesia. A Singaporean photographer was attacked. But he broke every single rule. He went by himself. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. And he didn't look behind him while he took pictures and another komodo snuck up behind him and attacked. Last I heard he was recovering in a military hospital but would most likely be okay.
Along with the komodo we saw deer, which were all chilling around the entrance to the village, and monkeys as we were getting off the boat before we even started our hiking! During the hike we kept finding buffalo poo. And what I've learned where there is poo there are animals. And sure enough a water buffalo soon wandered by.
I won't lie. The islands get really hot during the day. So it's making sure you drink lots of water to keep hydrated. But I still felt really sweaty and horrible most of the time on the boat. The island is a fair size and you don't see too much of it in only a couple hours. Happily it's a far easier trail than the previous one in Sumatra. It's flat and dry here.
Our time on the boat was mainly hiking and snorkeling. So after lunch we did get our first time out in the water. Which is such a nice way to cool off after feeling so hot and sweaty.
I have gone snorkeling before but it's always a bit of a panic for the first few moments of sticking my head in. But once I adjust I do really well. And it was Terry's first time snorkeling so we took it slow. He's a man of the water now! We did end up seeing quite a bit. Lots of crazy looking coral and all sorts of fish to swim by. The only catch is that you have to get through the garbage layer before you get to the coral reefs. That was the one sad thing that we did see here. Certain coves would be full of garbage depending on the direction of the currents.
After we finished up snorkelling we headed back to the same beach to climb the hill up to the peak to see the sunset. Another intense hike for us. The trails were very steep and ungroomed so it was a tough climb up and even tougher coming down. They were also covered with this really fine and slippery dirt to make it hard to come down. We only made it part of the way up and headed down before the sunset to beat the crowds when they came back down. And to also get to hike with some light. We did get to see it go down as we descended and it was lovely.
Afterwards it was a night to chill on the boat. Or more realistically drop in bed from all the walking and swimming. Swimming is a deceptive activity as you feel like you haven't done much but you have used a lot of energy than you realize.
So today was boat day! This was the random part of the tour where the trip notes were a bit vague so we weren't quite sure what the full experience would be like. A bit like the homestay in Peru, where it sounds a bit odd but turned out well.
We had a decent start to the day. We didn't have to be up really early today and we had a lovely breakfast at the hotel. No country music for breakfast though. We headed back to the harbour to board and found our boat. It's a sizeable boat. Where the description made it sound like we were all sleeping on the decks under the stars it was actually a mix of cabins and mattresses on deck. There were 5 cabins so it ended up being a choice between the 3 single male travellers on who slept on the twin beds in the cabin and who ended up on deck. We managed to snag the larger room and there are really only a few people sleeping up on deck.
We do have a fair amount of people on the boat. It's the 10 of us from the tour group, our guide Wira, our local guide Mikhail, the 4 crew and captain and a trainee guide. We never did catch her actual name. It was Putria or something similar to that. But it seemed that she would be taking a group out on a boat in the future so they send them out without a group to get an idea of what to expect instead of being brand new along with all the tourists.
Mikhail stayed with us on our entire trip to Labuan Bajo. He was an extra guide to keep an eye out on the Komodo's during our treks and was our snorkelling man. He was the lucky one to go out in the water with us as Wira had to watch us from the beach or stay on the boat, depending on how many people went out.
 |
| our boat for the next 3 days |
We did become pros by the end of the trip, but the one catch with the boat is that it is too big to dock at a lot of the piers. So we got to the take smaller motorboat to the various piers or beaches. And the crew was really used to getting newbies on and off so we were all good there.
 |
| monkey! |
Rinca island involved a hike through the jungle looking for Komodo. We did see a multitude of them. Funnily enough mostly at the beginning in the village where you arrive. They can smell the food and tend to linger around the kitchen where the food it. Although we did see one small one running across the sandy area when we were first walking up to the ranger stations.
 |
| our first komodo spotting |
They can be a dangerous animal. They like to hide and then attack the prey by biting. They don't like fresh meat so after they bite they just follow it around until the prey eventually dies. One special I watched on tv says that they have anti-coagulants so the animals tend to bleed out. And then the bigger ones feed first and the smaller ones take what is left. And like crocodiles and alligators they don't need to eat daily. And they are also cannibals and will eat each other. The babies have instincts to climb trees to hide so don't try to escape a komodo by climbing a tree.
Our only bit of safety was 2 rangers carrying forked sticks. Seriously. But the rangers have all grown up on the islands so they are familiar with the komodo. And there was an attack the first couple days of us arriving in Indonesia. A Singaporean photographer was attacked. But he broke every single rule. He went by himself. He didn't tell anyone where he was going. And he didn't look behind him while he took pictures and another komodo snuck up behind him and attacked. Last I heard he was recovering in a military hospital but would most likely be okay.Along with the komodo we saw deer, which were all chilling around the entrance to the village, and monkeys as we were getting off the boat before we even started our hiking! During the hike we kept finding buffalo poo. And what I've learned where there is poo there are animals. And sure enough a water buffalo soon wandered by.
I won't lie. The islands get really hot during the day. So it's making sure you drink lots of water to keep hydrated. But I still felt really sweaty and horrible most of the time on the boat. The island is a fair size and you don't see too much of it in only a couple hours. Happily it's a far easier trail than the previous one in Sumatra. It's flat and dry here. Our time on the boat was mainly hiking and snorkeling. So after lunch we did get our first time out in the water. Which is such a nice way to cool off after feeling so hot and sweaty.
 |
| out looking for komodo |
After we finished up snorkelling we headed back to the same beach to climb the hill up to the peak to see the sunset. Another intense hike for us. The trails were very steep and ungroomed so it was a tough climb up and even tougher coming down. They were also covered with this really fine and slippery dirt to make it hard to come down. We only made it part of the way up and headed down before the sunset to beat the crowds when they came back down. And to also get to hike with some light. We did get to see it go down as we descended and it was lovely.
 |
| sunset hike |
Comments
Post a Comment