Thurs 12th - Sat 14th June (Week 38)

Thurs 12th - Left Gili Air on the 7:30am boat across to Bangsal Harbour, then a minibus transfer to Senggigi. Met up with the rest of the 25 people on the Perama 3 day cruise, and headed off across Lombok towards the East coast. Made a short stop at a pottery place and watched how they make the items, and the finished results. Some lovely pieces, but just too difficult to carry home. Arrived at Labuan Lombok at 12:30 and boarded our boat. There were 5 cabins, but we'd opted for the cheaper option and will be sleeping on the upper deck, with 10 others ! Sailed to a little island owned by Perama, and spent from 3-9pm sunbathing, snorkelling, playing volleyball and wandering around the paradise island. There was some beautiful, colourful coral, all formed by the re-plantation project - basically tying a broken piece of coral to a tube on a concrete slab, and placing it back in the sea, and it seems to work really well. Brandon and I dived down and placed our own pieces of coral, and hope they do well. Sat around a fire in the evening for dinner, and listened to the crew sing Indonesian songs. Learnt a few line dancing moves which was hilarious to watch some peoples lack of co-ordination ! Back on the boat at 9 and set sail for our overnight cruise. Everyone was pretty tired after getting up at 6am, so all lay down on our rubber mats, all next to each other, and tried to sleep with the wind blowing through, the noisy engine, and the rocking boat !

Fri 13th - Did get a little sleep, then woke at 6am as the sky was getting light. Arrived at Satonda Island at 8am and walked to the beautifully clear inland salt lake and all had a swim. It is an old volcanic crater so the water was quite warm. There were natural "pedicure fish" in there, and if you sat still on the rocks, they would come and nibble your legs and feet ! Did a bit of snorkelling from the beach and saw some good coral, lots of clown fish and a turtle. Back on the boat at 10:30, then had a long 6hr sail to Kilo beach. Spent the time sunbathing on deck, reading, and having a nap in the shade. Arrived a little too late at Kilo beach, and it was very low tide so couldn't swim. Watched a nice sunset behind the boat, then back on board for dinner at 6pm. Set sail again at 9 for another over-nighter.

Sat 14th - Up at 6 to watch a lovely dawn over the Komodo islands - all isolated and barren and quiet. Arrived at Komodo Island at 8:30, had a briefing from the park rangers, and set off in groups of 12, with 2 rangers per group carrying long sticks. Headed off on a 2hr circular trek and were lucky enough to see 4 dragons. One just at the start of the walk, just sauntering around, then the 2nd was at the watering hole and did a long, slow loop all around us so we got really good photos and got as close as the rangers would allow us. Really lucky to see them so close, drinking, climbing a tree, and flicking its tongue out to smell the air. They seem so big, docile and slow, but the presence of the rangers keeping us back at a safe distance makes you appreciate they are wild animals, and how dangerous they can be. We also saw a wild boar and some wild deer - one of which was limping, and a ranger said it had been bitten by a dragon and only had a few days to live. Poor thing.
There was still a coating of grey ash all over the island from the volcanic eruption a few weeks ago. The island had been covered in 1" of ash which made the dragons go into hiding so a few groups didn't get to see any. Our feet were grey and filthy by the end of the walk !
Back on the boat at 11, and sailed around the corner to Pink Beach. The sand is a lovely pink hue from all the red coral mixed with the white sand. Did some good snorkelling, seeing some lovely colourful coral and some big fish, but the water was surprisingly cold ! Left at 1pm, and sailed the remaining distance to our final destination - Labuan Bajo on Flores. Arrived into the harbour at 4:30pm, and admired some beautiful wooden boats and yachts. Both felt pretty shattered and like we were still on a rocking boat, so found our accommodation, and took a much needed shower - first fresh water shower in 2 weeks (as the Gili islands only had salt water showers) ! Really enjoyable 3 days, with a much better boat, crew, food, and fellow passengers than we expected, but it is really nice to be back on solid, unmoving ground with a proper shower and bed !