We'd all discussed, at dinner the night before, the fact that we were on a sailing boat that had, up to this point, not sailed yet. Edd was used to being on sailing boats that only used their sails really, so he was a bit disappointed.

It was announced after breakfast that the sails would be put up in the afternoon, while we were on our way to one of the Komodo Islands - we'd noticed that things we discussed suddenly happened the next day; the walls obviously had ears.

We went for a snorkel soon after the announcement, the final one for the trip. We were all sad to be coming to the end of our boat expedition, even though my ankles were probably quite relieved to have a few days off - the 2 snorkels a day were far more than they were used to, or could handle. We were back in manta territory and on the hunt for one; our guide was excited and we were concerned he'd swim off; being a fast swimmer, we found it difficult to keep up with him.

We speed boated around for a bit and he got in and out, sussing out potential manta areas. We swam for what seemed like miles and came up with nothing, so got back in the boat and motored around a bit more. Suddenly our guide got worked up and shouted 'manta, manta, yeeha!' He'd put all our snorkelling gear back into the bags though, so by the time we managed to get everything out and jump in the water, it was gone. Edd's dad had spotted it from the boat, Edd and I were sitting on the other side though, so were not as fortunate to have caught a glimpse. It was a pity, but we climbed back in the speed boat and were taken back to the Tiger Blue for some lunch.

It turned out the divers had spotted the manta, the honeymooning husband had managed to get a video of it as it swam past them, which he was happy to show us. It would have been amazing to have seen, at least some people were lucky enough to have caught sight of it for a while.

We had a lovely lunch together and the crew dropped the sails; the wind had picked up and moved the boat along at a rate of knots. Literally. We were on our way to Komodo National Park, so sailed there instead of motoring, which made Edd quite happy. You could see him want to get involved as they dropped the sails, resisting the urge to get involved like his life depended on it.
The sails were up and we went on to the top deck for a sun bathe and G&T; Edd's mum had run around taking pics of the action and worked up a quite a thirst. We sat up there for almost 2 hours; it had become incredibly windy and the sails were luffing (apparently it's when the sails aren't trimmed correctly, so they bang a lot).

We were taken to Komodo National Park in a fast boat and dropped off by the pier. There was a sign cautioning people to not swim in the water as there were crocodiles in the area; Edd and I wondered if this was true or if it was a fake sign to stop people going in the water as they could not swim (like in Vietnam). The other possibility was that they meant the dragons, not crocodiles, so many possibilities.

One of our boats crew saw us puzzling over the sign and explained that it was correct, there were in fact crocodiles in the mangroves and occasionally near the islands close by, therefore people couldn't dive near the National Park as it was too dangerous. Apparently the dragons could also swim, which is how they got to the park in the first place, in theory. They do also make their way back to Flores Island when necessary, for various reasons.

We walked along a path to the reception area and Edd and I wondered if the dragons couldn't climb stairs, as the houses were all built up on stilts - it turned out it was because of flooding in the area during rainy season; the dragons could indeed climb stairs, they could also run at between 20kph and 30kph, being most active in the early morning and late evening. I double checked the time, we were safe. Apparently the last person to die by Komodo dragon was 18 months ago - a park ranger and another man were attacked, the park ranger died as the dragons apparently knock you over with their strong tails and then eat your organs while you're still alive. The other man was sill in hospital, in critical condition: if the dragons are not successful in the hung drawn and quartered method, they have 50 different strains of bacteria in their mouths that cause the victim to peutrify; they then hunt down the dead carcus, by scent and eat it later. They only eat once a month as well, so at least it's not like they hunt a deer a day or something. Horrendous.

We walked to where the dragons hung out - the kitchen, and took a few snaps of them lazying around. There were 6 of them and they weren't particularly interested in us. It may have been a decoy; we stood behind the rangers just in case. They all carried sticks with them with a 'y' shape on the end. I personally did not feel that this was an adequate weapon in case of attack, what could you do with it anyway? Smack them on the head?!

We stopped at a nesting area and our guide talked to us about the process: apparently they lay eggs much like turtles do, but they don't abandon their eggs like turtles. They lay between 20 - 30 eggs at a time, in a hole and that is then covered up; they also dig other holes around the immediate area, as fake nests, to ward off predators - komodo dragons are cannibals and the mothers do also eat their own babies, so it really is a survival of the fittest kind of situation. The mothers then stay with the nest for 3 months and don't eat the entire time, which is why the females are smaller than the males. They leave their nests in the rainy season, when the area becomes muddy and there is a low risk of predators, as the nest entrance(s) are washed away. The incubation period is 8 - 9 months, like humans, and the gender of the dragon depends on temperature mainly; only about 5 - 6 dragons out of the nest survive (sometimes none at all) and the hatched babies eat the unhatched babies (much like bees do, when queens are made).
We then did the medium walk around the island that took about an hour; it wasn't a difficult 'trek,' but there were some bits that went up, which I wasn't that stoked about, at least we got to take some lovely pictures at the top of the hill/mountain of the beautiful bay. I found the walk down quite tricky, as the gravel was loose and quite slippery; I was pleased to be back at the beginning and sitting down under a sheltered area. I had been fine on the boat in terms of motion sickness, but found being on land a bit nauseating, which was quite funny.

We walked back to the pier and waited for our speed boat to come and pick us up. Some monkeys were playing across the way amongst dried tree stumps; a beautiful blue king fisher swooped down across the water and Edd's mum wanted to take a picture - it was too far though and the speed boat was moving, so there wasn't enough time to get a good shot of it; she was disappointed, being an avid bird watcher and not being able to watch many birds up to this point.
We got back to the main boat and the sails had been tied back up; we motored back in the direction of Flores, sipping G&T's on the top deck. We were told to stay there to watch the sun set, apparently there was a migration of bats every evening from an island of mangrove trees, to other nearby islands to feed on the fruit trees (they were fruit bats). The sunset was spectacular and the bats appeared within minutes of it's disappearance: millions of them, for over half an hour; it really was a sight to behold.

The American daughter and I stayed upstairs and did some star gazing before dinner, spotting shooting stars and satellites, until we were called down, which was at 7.30pm. We joined everyone else for one last meal together, a bittersweet ending to a fabulous few days; we had the most amazing New Zealand steaks for our main meal, one of the best steaks in my life. Cooked to perfection and accompanied with what looked like cous cous potatoes and veg.

They had run out of rose wine and red wine (there was only one bottle of that anyway) so everyone was on the white wine after dinner; Edd and I went upstairs to do some more star gazing again, but had trouble as the captain had put his cabin light on and we had dropped anchor near Flores island, which emitted a lot of light. His dad came up about 15 minutes later and said that the cruise director was having drinks with us to say thank you and good bye, so we went down stairs to join everyone again.

The cruise director finished his wine and then announced that the crew had a surprise for us: a little local entertainment where they say Indonesian songs and played various instruments, with painted faces and big smiles. The music was lovely and a fabulsou way to end our trip; our snorkel guide lead the singing, clearly a man of many talents and few inhibitions; his off-key notes were endearing and he danced around, completely stealing the show.

After about 6 songs, they all said good night, in high spirits and laughing all the way to the back of the boat. We in turn started turning in for the night; it had been another fabulous day and we were exhausted.