Ocean voyage part 2...
After spending the morning at Moyo, we motored for a couple hours to Satonda Island where we took a brief walk inland where we got to see the Salt Water lake. The lake island is basically the top of a volcano whose crater is now filled with salt water. It is said that if you make a wish and hang a rock by a string from a tree by the lake, that when the string breaks, your wish will come true when you come back and find the string holding your rock has broken.
After Satonda, we had dinner and headed for Gili Banta, an 18 hour trip away. We awoke in the morning, had breakfast, and arrived about 10am to Gili Banta, where we hiked up to the top of a good size hill for a great panarama view of Komodo, Rinca and Flores. After making our way down, we went snorkeling briefly then had lunch before setting sail for Komodo, about 3 hours away. Once we arrived at Komodo, we stopped at Red Beach (it wasn't really red though...) where we went snorkeling. It was definitely the best snorkeling of the trip. After snorkeling, we made our way to a smaller island across from Komodo where we had dinner on the beach complete with bonfire, (warm) beer, and cocktails (sprite and vodka, served warm of course). After dinner, we hung out until after midnight before heading back to the boat for the night.
The next morning, we went back to Komodo to go ashore and spend a couple hours looking for the famed Komodo Dragons. It turned out to be Mating Season and we were warned that we may not see any. So we set off on our search and were lucky enough to spot one 15 minutes later (along with a wild deer and boar not far away). It was maybe 8-10 feet long, simply lying in the sun. So we took some pictures not wanting to rouse it, but of course our guide had to poke it to get it to move ;-) We walked around for another 30 minutes where we came to a platform built for viewing Komodo Dragons in the days when they use to feed them (by hanging deer etc. from trees). Since there were no more dragons, we made our way back (passing the same dragon on the way out).
Next we sailed for Rinca, where we went ashore looking form dragons. We walked the length of the pier and were greeted by 3 Komodo Dragons (ok, they didn't say hello, they were just sunning themselves off to the side. After taking pictures, we headed in to the park "huts" where we hired a guide to take us on a 5 kilometer trail loop. We headed for the trail head and maybe made it 100 meters or so before we came across a couple young Komodos, only a few feet long and 1 large one. The younger ones were probably 3-5 years old, since when they are babies, they spend their first few years in the trees. We then made our way onto the trail, were we spent the next hour or so seeing a few more Komodo Dragons, some water buffalos, and some monkeys, and some nice views from the hills. After our hike, we made our way to the boat. We then spent the last 3 hours traversing to Labuhan Bajo (which we nicknamed "La Bamba Joe")where we got off the boat and found accommodation as our boat trip ended.
After Satonda, we had dinner and headed for Gili Banta, an 18 hour trip away. We awoke in the morning, had breakfast, and arrived about 10am to Gili Banta, where we hiked up to the top of a good size hill for a great panarama view of Komodo, Rinca and Flores. After making our way down, we went snorkeling briefly then had lunch before setting sail for Komodo, about 3 hours away. Once we arrived at Komodo, we stopped at Red Beach (it wasn't really red though...) where we went snorkeling. It was definitely the best snorkeling of the trip. After snorkeling, we made our way to a smaller island across from Komodo where we had dinner on the beach complete with bonfire, (warm) beer, and cocktails (sprite and vodka, served warm of course). After dinner, we hung out until after midnight before heading back to the boat for the night.
The next morning, we went back to Komodo to go ashore and spend a couple hours looking for the famed Komodo Dragons. It turned out to be Mating Season and we were warned that we may not see any. So we set off on our search and were lucky enough to spot one 15 minutes later (along with a wild deer and boar not far away). It was maybe 8-10 feet long, simply lying in the sun. So we took some pictures not wanting to rouse it, but of course our guide had to poke it to get it to move ;-) We walked around for another 30 minutes where we came to a platform built for viewing Komodo Dragons in the days when they use to feed them (by hanging deer etc. from trees). Since there were no more dragons, we made our way back (passing the same dragon on the way out).
Next we sailed for Rinca, where we went ashore looking form dragons. We walked the length of the pier and were greeted by 3 Komodo Dragons (ok, they didn't say hello, they were just sunning themselves off to the side. After taking pictures, we headed in to the park "huts" where we hired a guide to take us on a 5 kilometer trail loop. We headed for the trail head and maybe made it 100 meters or so before we came across a couple young Komodos, only a few feet long and 1 large one. The younger ones were probably 3-5 years old, since when they are babies, they spend their first few years in the trees. We then made our way onto the trail, were we spent the next hour or so seeing a few more Komodo Dragons, some water buffalos, and some monkeys, and some nice views from the hills. After our hike, we made our way to the boat. We then spent the last 3 hours traversing to Labuhan Bajo (which we nicknamed "La Bamba Joe")where we got off the boat and found accommodation as our boat trip ended.