Hey guys,

When we left you, we had just set sail for Labuanbajo which we arrived at late afternoon on our 3rd day on the boat. Labuanbajo is the main gateway for tourists visiting Flores or the Komodo national park and is known as a good base for diving in the area, although it is really not much more than a port town with an airport close by.

We all left the boat for a few hours saying goodbye to some of the guests who opted to do a one-way trip and spent a few hours wandering around town. Well that's a lie in fact we wandered up the main street past the dive shops, realised that there was not much there and went for some food and beer; anything that was not tofu and rice, which the boat kept proving us with. After a couple of beers and a pizza between us in a lovely western style bar we headed back to the boat for what was supposedly a goodbye party for departing guests and a welcome party for joining ones. The two French girls came back to say bye/get a free meal but everyone else had left earlier on in the day to find accommodation (it did seem a strange idea). Anyway although the crew insisted it was a party it was not much more than a standard night on the boat chatting to the other guests (of which half were new) for a few hours before going to bed for a half past 6 start to go see some more dragons on Rinca.

We managed to get a pretty good night's sleep despite been in port and having an early start. By the time Manwell (see last blog) came to shout us for breakfast we had already sailed most of the way back to Rinca. Rinca is the second biggest island in the Komodo national park and is known to be much better for seeing the dragons in the wild. When we got there we were a bit surprised to see the landscape was completely different form Komodo Island the day before, resembling more of a savannah than a jungle. Most of the island was grass and there was considerably less trees. We docked at the edge of the island and then were taken ashore and handed over to the guides to lead us on our trek.

It was a bit heavier going than the day before but nothing to ridiculous (although the guide thought he was Linford Christie with the pace he set out at) and it didn't take us long before we came across two dragons in quick succession in the grass. Both were hiding under trees and as they weren't too many of them it did make it easy for the guides; however the dragons blended in so well with the grass it was hard for us to see them at first. After encountering the first two they led us down to a watering hole where it is quite common for them to be spotted but we only managed to see a big buffalo! We eventually came across our last dragon on the walk, just outside the rangers' camp.

It was only once we returned to the rangers' camp that we came across a total of 9 of them hanging around the camp restaurant. These ranged from small ones that they said were about 3 or 4 years old to some really big males about 3 meters long and around 20 years old. They said that they were attracted by the smell, hence the large number, however we managed to hang around long enough to see the kitchen throw fish scraps out for them to eat which was clearly why they hung around. Even though it ruined the magic of them being truly wild, it did allow for us to see them in action and they did move pretty quickly once food was on offer and I would still defiantly not want to be in the way when they are hungry. How the rangers sleep knowing they are hanging around amazes me!While we were on the trek one of the rangers was telling us about some of the attacks they've had in the past - a guide who went to sit in the office and unfortunately found one under his desk a little too late and lost a hand and then the ever popular story of the Swiss tourist that went wandering off from the group - they only found his camera and his sunglasses! (We hoped he's got a good shot at least).

Once the tour was over (thankfully no gift shops forced on us this time) we headed back to the boat for a morning sailing to another snorkelling sight further back along the archipelago on the island of Gili Laba. We had lunch on board we then got taken over to the beach to enjoy ourselves. Although the coral was not quite as nice as at 'Red Beach' the day before, the water here was so incredibly clear and you could see long distances under the water allowing you to really appreciate the views around you. It also helped the fantastic colours of the coral to stand out (again wishing we had an underwater camera). Once we had exhausted ourselves snorkelling we then chilled out drying on the beach and had a crab race between the 3 of us. Gemma won, only just tho! We had clearly been on the boat too long that we were now making our own entertainment.

The next leg was mainly chilled out as the boat had a lot of distance to cover so we left the beach mid afternoon and sailed 'til dinner before a rest for a few hours. This took us past the island of Pulau Sangeang which we had missed on the way over because we sailed this stretch at night. The towering Gunung Api (1950m) is located on the island and looks like is rising straight out of the sea. It is also one of the more active volcanos in the region so quite happy to just sail past!

Tonight we sail most of the way across Sumbawa towards an island called Moyo, which we shall visit in the morning - no dragons tomorrow but we have been promised waterfalls (plus a decent bed at the end of it!)

Love Martin, Katie and Gem