Best week yet for the trip I think. We both absolutely love it here around Komodo. I had not heard much about it before arriving - an article every now and then - but it really is a fantastic destination with quite a bit to offer especially if aquatic activities are your bag.
Nik and I joined our Phinisi called Elrora on
Friday morning. Elrora is 32m long and
about 2years old. The range of phinisis
which can be chartered runs from older and/or simpler vessels with fewer
comforts and amenities to super yacht type luxury phinisi. As we figured we were due a bit of comfort Nik
had booked Elrora which was towards the later end of the spectrum.
The vessel tender came and picked us up from
Sea Otter, took us to the port for registration and check in and then onto
Elrora. There are berths for 16 onboard however
for this trip there were only five passengers including us. Nik had booked us a
lux cabin on the top deck at the stern – it was great and a real change from
Sea Otter i.e. full size double bed, aircon, bath, balcony etc.
Our other passengers were a lady from Malaysia called
Ayisha travelling on her own and an expat couple living in Thailand, Meghan from
Minnesota and Gareth from the UK.
We all got on almost immediately which resulted in a really amiable
trip. There were around ten staff
onboard taking care of us who were exceptional from start to finish.
The climate in this area is just about as perfect as it can get – a temperature range of 22 to 26 degrees, constant 5 to 15kt winds from the SE and little rain. So we set off mid morning on a beautiful day with a slight breeze and headed into the national park. First stop was a snorkelling spot called manta point. Although no mantas were spotted the coral gardens were spectacular and full of fish and turtles. There was a noticeable current so you could just drift and the tender from Elrora would follow and pick you up. Next we headed to Makassar island which is really just a huge sandbank in the middle of nowhere – probably quite interesting to anybody not living on a boat. We ended the day off with a trip to a pink sand beach for a beer on one of the main islands called Padar and then anchored for the night in another bay.
One of the only negatives to the trip was that many of the phinisi follow the same itinerary so the popular spots become very crowded. Next morning was a prime example. We had an early start to go onshore and walk a short way to a viewpoint to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately the large number of other Phinisi with the same idea meant that there were a huge number of passengers crowding the trail. Given our solitude for the last three months this was a bit overwhelming and I did not even make it off the boat. Nik got part way up with the others. I stayed and watched the sunrise from Elrora.
Next we visited the island of Komodo and spent
a couple of hours with a guide who led us on a trail out of the village to see
the famous dragons. The village itself
is nothing much to see – just a typical Indonesian village with rudimentary
housing and trash lying around however this quickly gives way to scrub land and
forest areas where the dragons live. We saw four or five of them all quite
inactive given the time of day. Very
impressive and powerful animals though.
The terrain throughout the park is similar – the islands are volcanic so very rugged and imposing with high steep hills covered to a large extent with trees and scrub. The hills fall straight into the water or end in narrow coastal strip with a fringing beach. It is very spectacular and has a certain Jurrasic Park feel to it. The park consists of the three main islands of Rinca, Komodo and Padar plus a host of smaller islands, islets and cays. The dragons are found on about four of the islands so you need to understand which and get a guide where necessary.
After seeing the dragons, we departed Komodo and headed for another manta spot and this time were lucky enough to see a huge manta ray. The water was quite shallow – maybe 5m and the visibility was perfect. The manta came along and at first we thought it was just passing through but it turned around and played underneath us for 20mins and you could dive down and get right up close. A truly memorable experience.
Sundown found us anchored off the North side of Rinca Island near mangrove island called Kaba famous for the flying foxes or fruit
bats. At sunset we sat on the roof of
the boat and watched thousands of the bats depart the mangroves headed for the
main land presumably to feed. There are
a few sea eagles also and they hang around and try and pick off an easy
meal. It’s a fantastic show.
For our final day we visited a couple of snorkelling spots and then motored back into the harbour in Labuan Bajo. We left Elrora on their tender and were relieved to find Sea Otter on the mooring where we had left her three days earlier. We gave the Elrora crew a quick look at Sea Otter which they found amazing and then said our goodbyes. The whole trip was three days and two nights but it was packed with things to do. I had two books with me envisaging relaxing on deck and reading but we were always busy with activities or eating or chatting with the other guests.
One reason for doing the Phinisi trip was to get an overview of the park to give us some ideas when we headed out in Sea Otter. We wanted to hit some of the more remote places not covered by the commercial trips and even revisit a couple of the places we had been to when they will not be so crowded. So a couple of days later on Monday after getting the provisions onboard and having a final sunset beer followed by a seafood market dinner we sailed out of the anchorage and back into the park area which was only a mater of 10Nm.
First stop was overnight at Palau Kaba to see the sunset bat migration again. The following day we moved down to the south of Rinca island to a very quiet spot where we anchored of a beach and where we are still. There is only one other private yacht about a mile away and yesterday we had a superyacht called Sharlou anchor just near us for the day. Its a great spot - there are three dragons here that wander along the beach and were swimming after the Sharlou tender when it got too close to shore.
There are also wild pigs, monkeys and dear wandering around and magnificent sea eagles patrolling the skies. This has been home for the past three days and we will probably head off tomorrow towards Padar and Komodo.
No comments:
Post a Comment