Komodo Island Boat Trip

29 August 2024

This Komodo Island 3-day cruise has been the best travel experience of my life to date. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of companies that will take you on this trip. I think any of them will be fine. The location is so spectacular that it’s hard to go wrong. We ended up booking a private charter because I was having a hard time deciding on a company. We had an amazing experience with Lingko Flores. But, like I said before, I don’t know that the company matters all that much. I would be happy to do this trip again on a worn-down ship full of people I don’t know. Still, it was nice to have the boat to ourselves, and the crew was great. If you’re traveling as a group and you’re willing to splurge, consider a private tour. We went as a group of five and paid $475.00/pax. If you choose to do an “open trip” (not private), this same tour will likely cost between $250 and $400 depending on the boat, room, and company. I have no regrets about my experience but if I go back, I’d opt for an “open trip” and choose a longer tour. If you are looking for an open trip, aquí is one suggestion.

Día 1

Labuan Bajo

We arrived in Labuan Bajo after a 1 hour 15 min flight from Bali. We were picked up from the airport by Julianus, the man with whom I had been arranging the Komodo trip over WhatsApp. He rode a motorcycle, and the rest of us threw our gear in a van and got driven to our hotel. Our hotel turned out to be a few tiny rooms partioned out of a shipping container behind a restaurant. The rooms were scarcely big enough to hold a queen-size mattress. Indi and I took one, Brandon and Audrey another, and Pheobe the last. We were briefed by Julianus on what to expect from the tour and afterwards got a ride into the city.

We went to an Italian place in town. The homemade noodles I got were good, but the pesto pizza was not. We went to a gelato shop where ⅔ of the flavors I got I did not like. I just chose poorly, there were some good flavors. From there, Brandon took a Grab bike to the hotel, the girls went to do some shopping, and I walked to the hotel. Google Maps took me up a steep concrete path through a neighborhood on a hill looking out on the ocean. The bay was full of ships to take people like us on tours of the area. It was a tiring but nice walk. Walking around, I saw signs all over the place for tours. From day trips, to 3 days like ours, all the way up to 12 days. If I ever get the chance to come back, I will do the longest trip I can afford. I booked our tour weeks in advance, but I bet you could just show up in Labuan Bajo and find someone to take you where you want to go. I stopped by a store on the way back for water and Coke Zero.

When I made it back, I decided to shower. This was the weirdest shower experience of the trip so far. The place we were staying at was called the Container. The kitchen was made from a shipping container and the bathrooms as well. They sat parallel about 30 feet apart. In between them is a concrete area full of tables and chairs covered by a tin roof where diners sit to eat. Behind each of these containers is a small garden area, maybe 10 feet wide by 20 feet long, and behind that is another container perpendicular to the other two, the three of them making a sort of “U” shape. That container is where guests stay in 6 subdivided tiny rooms. So, when I walked into the bathroom to go shower, it was the same place that diners go to take a dump. When you walk into the bathroom, you’ll see a sink with no faucet, a toilet with no lid on the upper tank, and a shower head 1 foot away from the toilet. You turn on the shower, and instead of the water running into a drain, it falls on the tile floor, then spills into a kind of gutter on the far side of the room where it runs into a single drain all three bathroom showers share.

Unfortunately, both Audrey and Brandon got food poisoning from the Italian restaurant. They had a rough night.

Día 2

Boarding the Ship
Kelor Island
Manjarite Reef
Kalong Island

Boarding the Ship

The driver was on time to pick us up in the morning. The girls were not on time being ready to leave. This was the start of a pattern that would repeat itself each time we had to go anywhere. When we finally left, the driver was fidgeting in frustration, apparently impatient to leave and nervous about being late. We stopped by a store close to the dock, and again, we took too long. We showed up at the dock and walked into a big room where we waited for the go-ahead from Julianus that we could board the ship. There was some paperwork that coud only be done once we arrived, I guess.

After a 30-minute wait, we put on life jackets and hopped in a dinghy, which took us to the ship we would be living in for the next 3 days – the La’Tansa. When we arrived, we met our tour guide, Pius (sounds like Pierce). We got a tour of the ship, which was nice enough. Everyone (besides Indi and I) got their own room. They had told us the room on the top floor was the master, so Indi and I took that one. We later learned it was the smallest, which was slightly inconvenient for two people. It was mainly annoying that I had to hunch my head to walk around because of the low ceiling. The other three got rooms next to each other on the main floor. Having the entire boat for ourselves (plus the 5 man crew) was so nice.

When we introduced ourselves to Pius, he was looking at our names on paper and was trying to pronounce them. He called Pheobe “Poobie”, which is a great nickname and is what I called her the rest of the trip and what I will call her forever. After another rather long briefing, Yulianus was dropped off at the marina, the captain came back in the dinghy, it was tied to the back of the ship, and we set off for our first destination – Kelor Island.

Kelor Island

Kelor Island is a small island with a few primitive structures meant to offer shade for tour groups. We started by trekking up the hill to the top of the island, which took 5 minutes. Although I cannot see anything special about this particular island (there are dozens more just like it), the view from the top is nice. The water’s changing color depending on depth is a lovely sight.

We walked back down the dusty hill, down to the sand. There are juvenile sharks in the shallows. I caught a few glimpses but didn’t manage to get a video. There were a lot of territorial fish in the water. It sounds weird, but it’s true! There were small, white, angry fish that would swim fast right towards your face and change course at the last second. They were so distracting I couldn’t enjoy the shallow. If you go out further to where the water depth drops, you’re safe from the small bullies.

Manjarite Reef

We returned to the La’Tansa to prepare for our next destination. I had been looking forward to jumping off the ship, and we all went for it as soon as we got the chance. We climbed up to the top deck and took turns jumping the 15-20 feet into the water. Pius let us know that we’d be snorkeling next. Indi and I brought masks with us because we knew we’d be snorkeling frequently, but the ship was equipped with snorkel gear for us to use. We were fitted for fins and given masks and snorkels. We left the ship anchored next to Kelor Island. We hopped in the dinghy with Pius and the captain and set off. The reef was located nearby, just off shore from the main island of Flores – somewhere close to Manjarite Beach.

I had snorkeled a little at Kelor Island, but that was mostly sandy shallows shark spotting (say that three times fast). This was the first reef I saw in the Komodo National Park area (East Flores – Komodo Island). From the moment I dipped my head underwater, it was like entering a different world. I knew in that moment what a reef should look like. The seafloor was entirely covered with coral. Hard corals, soft corals, different species, different shapes, and different colors. Fish of all descriptions swam above, below, and between the coral. Everywhere I looked, I saw something new and wonderful. In my halting attempt to describe the splendor of the sight, I am resigned to fall back on the well-worn cliche: “Words don’t do it justice.”

Kalong Island

Our final destination of the day was Kalong Island. We sailed all the way to Komodo Island before dark. Kalong Island is an islet inside a bay of the larger island. As we approached, we saw what appeared to be a small mangrove island surrounded by the brown, scrabby hills characteristic of the area.

Pius led us to the top deck of the ship and threw five bean bags on the roof. We climbed up, and the five of us sat down to watch the sun set. The sunset was beautiful. As the sun got lower, flying foxes began to leave the island in a silent stream. What was at first hundreds became thousands. Although fairly high above us, each bat was clearly visible because of their size. Pius said 1 million bats leave the island for Labuan Bajo to find fruit every day. I’m not sure how accurate that number is, but it was truly an incredible sight. One I hope never to forget because none of the videos or photos I took do it justice. The bat species in question is the Large Flying Fox, which has a wingspan of up to five feet (1.5 meters).

What struck me at the moment was the silence. I had watched bats take to the sky in Puerto Rico. I stood right next to the mouth of a cave where thousands of bats streamed out of the darkness. The thrumming, airy noise of thousands of bats all beating their wings was hypnotic and gave the dark forest in which we stood a strong presence. This was very different. Where that was intense, this was calm. Where that was loud, this was utterly silent. The sky grew pink, then purple, and the stream of bats grew thinner. I think we were all in awe of what we witnessed.

We went to hop down from the roof, and Audrey attempted to get back down to the deck first. She lowered herself off the edge, and her arms gave out. Her head thrashed in the air when she made contact with the guardrail, and her nest of braids flew crazily in the air, which gave me the impression for a moment that she was going over the side. It was hilarious, and she wasn’t hurt.

We gathered for dinner, which was quite the spread. The presentation of food, I was to learn, was always impressive, and there was always more than enough. The food wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad either.

When the light of the sun faded to darkness, we traveled to a spot near Padar Island, where we anchored for the night. As we sailed through the dark, the stars stood out brilliantly in the night sky. The Milky Way was clearly visible. I hadn’t seen stars like that in some time. I managed to get one decent photo with my phone despite the rocking of the boat. As we continued on, we could see bioluminscent light in the water that appeared to come from something like a jellyfish.

Día 3

Padar Island
Pink Beach
Komodo Island
Manta Point
Taka Massar Island

The second day of the tour was definitely the best day. It was the only full day, and it was a long day at that. We set our alarms for 4:30 am to leave in the dinghy for Padar Island at 5:00 am.

We all got up and were more or less ready by 5:00 (Audrey wasn’t ready, as usual). There was no sign of Pius, though. Eventually, I knew he must still be asleep, so at around 5:10 am, I woke up a crew member sleeping outside and asked where Pius was. He pointed to the cabin behind him. I went into his cabin and shined my light toward him and spoke his name, and he jerked awake. By a stroke of luck, the man I originally woke was the captain. We all hopped in the dinghy after a short wait and were off to the island. By the time we left, the light was growing on one side of the horizon.

Padar Island

As we got closer to Pulau Padar, we could see there were A LOT of people. We hurriedly got off the dinghy and started walking. Pius took our money for the National Park entrance fee, we got a quick brief from some park rangers, and started up the stairs. We walked quickly and tried to pass as many people as we could. The stairs were not wide, so it was hard to do so. After hiking for a while, I looked back and saw the view – majestic. We kept going until we were up pretty high. The group chose a spot, but I thought there might be something better up higher, so I continued up to a rocky section.

I found an empty rock with a sharp overhang, and sitting on it, I had an unobstructed view. The view was great, among the best I have seen. Hundreds upon hundreds of tourists continued to stream up the stairs to join the hundreds already present. The sun continued to get closer to the horizon. The ocean to the right of me lit up and changed colors with the passing minutes.

Finally, the sun peeked over the horizon and began to light up the hills on the island. I set my GoPro down to get a time-lapse, so I just sat and watched from my uncomfortable perch. Soon, I began to hear Indonesian tour guides trying to clear the area to get photos of people. That eventually included me as well. I knew that I had as much authority to tell them to move as they had to tell me, but the sun had mostly risen, and I wanted to fly my drone anyway.

The drone permit costs 1M IDR – a massive cash grab. You need to buy the permit in advance, your tour company can help you get the permit before you even arrive. I launched my drone and got some spectacular shots of the island. After a while, it felt like I was just getting the same shot again and again, so I landed it, and Pius and I began down the trail. We found Indi waiting for us, and we descended the stairs to the beach, where we found the rest of the crew next to some local deer that appeared to be foraging for trash. As usual, a dumb tourist went to try and pet the wild animal. I was hoping it would gore him, but it walked away instead.

Pink Beach

We got in the dinghy and returned to the boat where breakfast awaited. After breakfast, we took off in the La’Tansa around Padar island, keeping it on our right side. I sat in one of the bean bag chairs and took in the view. The boat ride lasted around 40 minutes. We anchored near the shore of a pink sand beach. The water was a color of blue I don’t think I have ever seen before or since. Vibrant, light, beautiful, and ever shifting with the rays of light on the surface of the moving water.

We got in the dinghy with our snorkeling gear so the captain could take us to an offshore reef. We hopped in the water to snorkel the reef and eventually swim all the way to shore. It was beautiful. We swam closer to shore, and I could see in the water that the sand below me was definitely pink. I walked onto shore and took off my snorkel gear, which Pius collected.

I expected the sand to be only faintly pink. I was wrong. It was obviously, visibly pink. It was beautiful, one of the most beautiful beaches I have seen. I flew my drone around, and we got some pictures before returning to the ship. There were a lot of people at the beach, but it was amazing despite the crowd.

Komodo Island

We went back to the boat and jumped off a couple of times. We then sailed to what is probably considered the main attraction – Komodo Island. Pius gave us the option of going to the National Park or a local village. I could tell he wanted us to go to the village, and none of us had a strong opinion, so that’s where we went.

We docked at a bridge painted in a kind of rainbow pastel fashion, which led to an office where tons of guides waited to be chosen to give a tour. Pius arranged it, and we set off with a young guy with amber eyes. We walked through a small town, past a school. The guide told me that there were two schools there, but for high school, students need to travel to Labuan Bajo to go to school there for three years. The town was surprisingly charming.

We saw Komodo dragons as soon as we had left the town. Immediately, I realized that Komodo dragons were much bigger than I had thought. We took photos with the dragons, and the guide used my phone to take close-ups while Pius used Brandon’s phone to do the same. I could see the animals were accustomed to humans being around them. They mostly laid in the shade, seldom bothering to lift their heads up; sometimes, they did not open their eyes. But on the whole, the guide and Pius gave us the impression we were seeing way more komodo dragons than the norm and that they were quite active.

We chased one down that was walking, and the guide got some good photos. The dragon was surrounded by a couple of guides from another group, and I heard it growl, almost croak, and saw its neck bulge. It was salivating their famous bacteria-infested saliva. That was the only time I felt like one of them may actually charge. Luckily, it wasn’t annoyed enough to do that. At this point, we barely had enough cash to give the guide a tip. We had no cash between us to buy souvenirs from the many stands at the end of the tour.

Manta Point

We set off again for a snorkeling location – Manta Point. We anchored the boat near a small island – more of a sandbar. We got in the dinghy and drove 5 minutes along a coral reef to a deeper spot to look for manta rays. We never saw any, but the snorkeling was still great.

I saw a Brownbanded bamboo shark, a cool and strange shark I’d never seen before. It was like a small nurse shark but with brown and grey stripes. At some point, we got mixed with another snorkeling group. I saw Pius far away waving like maybe he had seen a manta. I swam hard for a long time until I got there. There was no manta, but I did see a turtle in the distance. I have little interest in turtles as I saw them all the time in Puerto Rico.

After a while, I realized that the Indonesian man in black I had taken for Pius was, in fact, not Pius. I scanned each member of the group to find I was the only one of our group there. In the distance, I saw our dinghy and people from our group beginning to climb onto it. I again put my head down and swam. On the way, I saw a white spotted eagle ray, which was cool.

Makasar Island

We rode in the dinghy until we made it back to Makasar Island – the sandbar island with the reef around it. We hopped back in the water to snorkel the reef. It was stunning. The water was crystal clear, the reef vibrant and healthy, astounding in its biodiversity. Reefs really are the most wondrous ecosystem. This reef I noticed some kind of soft coral or algae that has colonized areas of the reef – one of the first signs I had seen of serious damage. It could be a natural inhabitant of the reef but something about it gave me the impression it’s no bueno.

We swam along the reef for quite a while until we swam all the way to the sandbar. Some territorial fish barred the way through the shallows, but I just swam fast behind Poobie, and they stayed away. The sandbar was pretty boring, in my opinion, but I flew the drone up for some photos anyway. We didn’t stay for too long before we got in the dinghy and returned to the ship.

Día 4

Bidadari Island Reef
Kanawa Island

I woke up on the La’Tansa for the third and final day of the tour. We had breakfast at 7:30 am. Then, we got ready for snorkeling and piled into the dinghy at 8:30 am.

Bidadari Island Reef

We went to another amazing reef off the coast of Bidadari Island. The current was quite strong at this one, so not much swimming was required. Many of the reefs in the area start to look the same after a while, but they’re all gorgeous. There are so many different species of tropical fish that it was impossible for me to make a mental catalogue of all the ones I had seen.

There was a section of this reef that was much deeper than the ones we had snorkeled before. There were large coral structures that were cool to see, but it took some work to get down close to see them. There was one pretty large school of fish, and besides them, the usual suspects.

Kanawa Island

We returned to the boat and drove another 20 minutes to Kanawa Island. We got back into the dinghy to be dropped off at a section of the reef. We snorkeled the reef around the island. One of my favorite things to see was different species of clownfish living in their preferred species of anemone. Pius brought some fish food and pulled it out by the dock. Tons of fish came out to join a feeding frenzy. The coolest was a yellow parrotfish I hadn’t seen much of previously.

Kanawa island is ringed by a white sand beach. The shallow water around the shore is an incredible shade of blue. There isn’t much in the way of facilities on the island. I flew my drone around for a bit and then left to find Indi, Brando, and Audrey. Poobie was laying on the beach near me, apparently sleeping. I found them further down the beach, lying on the sand. They had found one side of a giant clamshell, it was huge.

When we got back to the boat we climbed to the roof where we all jumped off together a couple times. Pius got videos of us from the dinghy. I took a quick shower and joined the crew for our last meal together. The chicken wings we ate were possibly the best food the crew served the whole trip. They were covered in spicy asian sauce. We all split up to pack our things to be ready for when the boat arrived in Labuan Bajo.

This concluded the best travel experience of my life to date.

Next time

On our next adventure, we change plans and take a flight to Malaysia.