The Komodo Islands

Labuan Bajo is a small ramshackle town with dive shops, crumbling roads and sidewalks but a great selection of restaurants.
We had a wonderful dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant and had the best home made ravioli I had ever had. We went with a crowd of 16 people and all had fantastic meals. The Treetops restaurant also was reputed to have wonderful food but other than a delicious mango milkshake we did not eat there.
There is also a wholesaler who supplies hotels and dive boats and we were able to buy bacon, pork, beef and tonic—wow!!--we stocked up. The Italian restaurant sold bread and I ordered a loaf of ciabatto which I paid for by weight—it was heavy but prices in this part of the world are so cheap that it is not an issue.
We got internet here and were able to catch up with banking but were not able to get a signal strong enough to skype the grandchildren which we had hoped to do.
After a couple of days in the heat—the towns are always dirty and hot here—we were ready to move on.
We elected to head to the top of Komodo with the boats we had been travelling with in Wakatobi as we understood the diving to be excellent there—once again we will follow the compressors—we are grateful that they are so generous and will readily replace our air.
We arrived in the bay with a white sandy beach and surrounded by dry grassy hills. We tried to time the currents for a dive on the pinnacle of Crystal Rock. The currents are difficult in this region and we found it necessary to stay on the lee side of the pinnacle to avoid being swept away. The dive was great and we saw several lion fish and many other colourful fish. The coral was pretty and as is often the case the top 30 feet had the most colour and life. The seas here teem with fish and it was lovely to see schools of moorish idols as well as vast numbers of other varieties.
The next morning we went out to the other main dive here on Castle Rock but upon arriving we realised we had missed the tide. Rather than battle the current we went back intending to dive the wall close to the anchorage.
As we arrived we saw two manta rays swimming in the area so donned our snorkel gear and jumped in. We swam with the two 8 foot wide mantas for several hours. They were wonderful as they swam around us. They swam just under the surface and would gracefully turn and swim deeper.. I did photograph one as he swum towards me with his big mouth open, they are plankton eaters so not interested in eating us, and as he neared he just swum under me and I was able to touch him. They were just amazing and we felt very privileged to be able to swim with them for such a long time. I did take a video clip which is great and if I can overcome the challenge may post it on U tube—will give the site if I am successful.
In the afternoon Ken did a drift dive through a pass with many pelagic fish, I drove the pick up boat. I snorkelled afterwards and was once again treated to a first class snorkel.
A beach party with all of the boats on the anchorage ended an amazing day.
The next morning Ken and I decided to leave the group and head south in search of Komodo Dragons. With advice from Cloud Nine, a boat we have been with off and on since Mexico we timed the current perfectly and were doing over 10 knots as we travelled.
Atlantia had recommended anchorage 45 from the 101 anchorage book and it turned out to be a wonderful place.
We anchored close to the beach and just after we had arrived the first Komodo dragon was walking along the beach. As they have killed people in the past and even a cruiser’s terrier dog this season we were happy to watch from the boat. Shortly after he left three monkeys came down and feasted on what they could find as the tide went out.
After they left the next arrival was a Timor deer with large antlers—luckily we have no rifle aboard as Ken had the perfect shot.
Our next visitor was a larger komodo walking down the beach and was shortly joined by another large dragon. The biggest one chased down the other one and they stood on their hind legs wrestling. Once the largest one had won he proceeded to lie atop the other one. While this was happening a smaller one arrived. He apparently was not important enough to interrupt the fighting which resumed once again when the top one got off. Finally the second dragon ran up into the bush followed by the other two. We had thought they may be mating but apparently the season is over and they fight for dominance and food.
Our last entertainer was a large tusked pig who foraged down the beach.
What an amazing display and we had had ringside seats from our cockpit!! Our last few days have shown us a new side of this remarkable country and we feel so privileged to have the opportunity to see such displays.
The snorkelling is meant to be good here but we were too concerned we would miss our beach show if we went in the water.
The next morning we set off to the ranger station on Rinca Island to do the two hour walk to find dragons in the wild. We had been told that as we were walking in the afternoon we may not see any dragons as the most active hunting time was the morning but we would take our chances.
Raymond our guide was a lovely young man who comes from the village on the island. Both his grandfather and father had been fishermen here and his grandfather had told him tales of hunting the buffalo. After they had killed a buffalo they would feed the guts to the dragons so they would not be attacked.
The area is now a national park and the animals are wild and can be dangerous. They will kill goats from the village if they roam.
We saw two dragons in the wild and several water buffalo. The guide was very careful to keep us a safe distance from both but it was thrilling to see them. We also saw another Timor deer and a lot of long tailed maquaques. (the local variety of monkeys)
The dragons have a poison in their saliva and after they bite a buffalo it will die in a few weeks. As they only need to eat every few weeks their meal planning seems simple.
When we returned to the ranger station we saw a lot of dragons sleeping near the camp kitchen—the guide had carefully led us in another direction to do our walk or we may have decided to forgo the hot two hour walk as we could see many dragons with no effort. It is always wonderful to see those in their natural surrounds so we would have opted for the walk anyway.
As it happened the morning hike had found four dragons but no buffalo so we were happy with our afternoon hike.
After returning to the boat we gathered up some clothes and gifts for Raymond’s wife and four children and took them back to him. He was delighted as I think their meagre income does not allow for a lot of luxury for a family of 6. He had told us his children go to primary school but as there is no further education on this island they would not be to afford secondary schooling.
We set off the next morning back to the north and around to join Atlantia in a southern bay on Pulau Banta as we make our way to the festivities in Lombok.
We are sorry to leave this amazing area and if we were to recommend anything to future Sail Indonesia participants it would be to move faster in the first third of the country and have more time in this area. The wildlife, snorkelling and diving are superb.
We snorkelled in the anchorage and although the coral and fish were good the visibility was poor due to the prevailing wind blowing in and we realised how spoilt we have become.
We will do an overnight trip and arrive in Lombok to join the festivities.
The first day is an island tour with one of the stops described as a craft village the next a poetry village—I am not sure that Indonesian poetry will be appreciated by a bunch of foreign sailors and I am hoping it is a misprint—common here—and is a pottery village—will update later!!