Today we arrived at Slawi Bay, on Komodo Island. We'd arranged a private off HAL tour that included a tour of the park along with a boat trip out to Pink Beach for a snorkeling adventure.

The heat continues to be a killer. It was 29 deg F today, but the humidity was off the scale. Based on some of the heat that we experienced in Darwin, Renetta decided to pass on today’s tour and stay on the ship so it was just the three of us. The Komodo dragon is a remnant of a once widespread ancient order of monitor lizards that today survives on only a handful of these Indonesian islands. It is a carnivore, a good swimmer and, for short distances can be quite swift on land averaging 18 kilometers per hour if traveling in a straight line.

On the tour we had a Park Ranger and a "catcher" with a long, pronged stick to fend off any attacking Komodo’s. I stayed real close to him, albeit I knew that I could out run so many of the people on our tour that it was likely not to be a problem.

It was a tough walk for some of them, the heat, the humidity took it’s toll on so many of the walkers. We saw some deer (the main diet for the Komodo), some boar and pigs that are also considered tasty morsels for these huge lizards. It was only when we arrived at the water hole that we saw quite of few of these beasts. They lay there in wait, hoping for some of the island inhabitants to drop by for a drink when they pounce. There are approximately 1,100 dragons that can weigh up to 300 lbs that are resident on this particular island. The pictures attached tell the true story about just how close we got to these pre-historic lizards.

Now it was time to board the “trawler” for our snorkeling trip. This is where the title comes from. I must have said to myself –

“Bob you know you’re too old when”

- You get nervous about jumping off the top of the trawler with fins and a snorkel on;

· You can’t get to the beach through the tiny surf without falling over back into the water;

· Despite kicking, kicking and more kicking you can’t make any movement against the
current and the trawler seems to get further away;

· You’ve likely cracked a rib trying to climb up this archaic wooden ladder;

· You finally make it up the ladder and you don’t have enough wind to flip you legs over the
ledge to the boat.

All-in-all, it was the best tour that I was on so far, but it takes it’s toll. The scenery, the coral blue sea, and nice Indonesian lunch aboard a scenic trawler – sometimes life is just amazing and I’m glad to be living it.

It’s the evening of Tuesday, November 1st (watching final table of the World Poker Championship) and we’ve traveled some 3,440 nautical miles since leaving Sydney ten days ago. We’re heading to Bali on our stop tomorrow and we’ve got a car, driver and guide rented for eight (8) hours so we’re hopeful that we can squeeze in quite a bit of the sites before we head out at 7:00 p.m.

I hope you enjoy the few shots that I’ve added – stay tuned for some amazing sites that are sure to be on the menu tomorrow.