The Overseas Adventures of Annie and Steven Berger August 29th through December 18th, 2015: 9/30 Snorkeling with Manta Rays, Komodo Dragons & Flying Foxes

Got picked up from the hotel at 7:30 by a young man representing the Italian owned Flores XP Adventures we were taking a cruise with. We had learned the night before that the majority of LBJ’s dive centers are owned by foreigners.

Not in Hindu Bali any longer, that was for sure. Didn’t realize it til later that about 60% of the people are Catholic in LBJ and that there are 4 churches in town. We didn’t see any of them though.

Two lovely young Australian women - Jenny and Ruby, both originally from Brisbane but now living in Alice Springs in the Red Centre - joined us for the day which was great as there could have been 8 more passengers on the tiny boat – talking about cramped quarters!

Photos from the day:

Rules on this boat were far simpler than with Reef Experience in Cairns: namely no shoes on board, hold onto something or someone when moving about the boat and don’t touch the coral as it may be poisonous – easy enough to remember and follow!

There was 4 staff on board, an astonishing one-to-one ratio! One of them, Stephano, above, was our go-to man on board as spoke decent English.

He mentioned it would be a 2 hour trip til we reached our first stop so the four of us chatted and enjoyed life on the boat. Both Jenny and Ruby had traveled extensively even though they were just 24. They spent months traveling around just 4 countries in Africa and the same amount of time in a few places in S.A. Since their lives are centered on traveling, they work to safe enough to travel to some new and exotic locales. They already had several new trips planned or in the drawing stages after their 2 week jaunt to Indonesia and the area is done. Oh, to be young again and the world is your oyster!

Stephano mentioned that his company Flores XP, generally goes out 2-3 times a week now but that their busy season is July and August. They normally have lots of Italian and Spanish tourists as the owner is the former and manager the latter, and they heavily promote their cruises in those countries.

We were ringed by mountains for at least the first hour of the cruise.

Much rockier promontory all of a sudden.

Like a convoy of boats near us all were traveling in the same direction and roughly the same speed.

On the way to Manta Point, considered to be the cleaning station for the mantas. Once we reached the area, Stephano told another crew member to be a spotter/lookout for mantas as they’re not always in this area. He reminded us that this area is not a home for the mantas but they normally come in high water and that if we didn’t see them now, we’d return later. Our luck still held when the mantas were spotted – yeah! Stephano called this area Batu Bolong or hole stone and said we’d see lots of fish as well as the mantas if we snorkeled now.

Like a green oasis in the middle of the sea.Very calm waters on this part of the cruise, a pleasant change from the previous choppier waters.

The spectacular manta rays range in size from 1.5-3 meters in length.

Wow – what spectacular clear and green water. Again, very different from Australia’s Great Barrier Reed where the water is darker and thus more difficult to see the wonders of the sea.

It was breathtakingly beautiful, Keith, snorkeling for about 90 minutes in fairly shallow waters amid the mantas and other fish by the atoll at Manta Point. I’ve never enjoyed snorkeling so much as I did this time. The water was the clearest and greenest I can remember seeing – just like in the photos you see of tropical

Fiji

or some other exotic place.

People on the adjacent boat looked like they were also having a lot of fun -
they dove into the water from the bow.

Snack time; We were fed well on the boat, having breakfast, snacks all day including bottomless cups of tea and fruit, lunch and dinner later.

Returned to the boat where the captain delivered us to another magical spot near Pink Island above. We snorkeled there for another hour or so and then, instead of having to return to the boat which was moored offshore a ways, we snorkeled over to the tiny reef which had the most beautiful pink sand. We walked around the entire reef which took about 5 minutes! Saw some gorgeous coral as we snorkeled and also on the beach – what bliss as it almost felt like we’d been stranded on a deserted isle like Robinson Crusoe.

Funniest thing ever trying to walk with our fins on backwards in the water until we reached deeper water and could swim back to the boat!

Jenny and Ruby channeling the famous Titanic pose.

One of the crew acting as the spotter, both for the mantas and also so the boat didn't run aground.

Back on board, we enjoyed a filling and delicious lunch of fried chicken and rice before setting out for Mawan Island, a small tree filled island with the whitest of beaches. The four of us ended up deciding not to snorkel here again, preferring to head onto Komodo National Park, 90 minutes away, with the hope of having a longer time to trek there. After hopefully seeing the komodo dragons, we’d still need to factor in another 90 minutes to travel to see the flying foxes at sunset and then the 2 hour trip back to LBJ!

Siesta time after lunch!Think anyone I know and love might have gotten just a tad sunburned here?

Visit to Komodo National Park:

Once our feet hit shore at Loh Buaya (or Crocdile Bay) on Rinca Island, a native man, Tino, immediately joined us saying he would be our guide while we were on the island. I don’t think any of us realized that we had to hire a guide and then had no choice in whom we hired. The price was steep because we were charged a myriad of fees: admission to the island, a wildlife fee, a guide fee, etc, etc to the tune of 470K rp for both of us.

I had a 'wardrobe malfunction' here - couldn't find my Tshirt anywhere so Jenny helped me fashion a top out of my scarf I got i Haifa last year! Turns out I had dropped the shirt and one of the crew members found it and put it in with their stuff. Of course, I only discovered that after going on our hike at Komodo National Park!

On the walk to the office we saw long tailed macaques –

think we just might have seen them recently!

Tino pointed out our first komodo dragon to us right by the park office, i.e. pay station. After planning this trip for months and months on end it was fascinating seeing one for the first time in the wild.The one we saw seemed to be incredibly tame and indifferent to all the people milling about, I thought. NOT that I was complaining, mind you.

Tino told us that we might see water buffaloes, wild horses, monkeys, snakes and of course the main draw, komodo dragons, while on any of the three possible tours and that what we’d see was the luck of the draw. The four of us certainly understood that and told Tino we wanted to maximize our chances of seeing the dragons, which is why we had come this long distance and paid so much money. We were surprised and disappointed to discover there were only about 30 KD’s in the trekking area which obviously reduced our chances of seeing some.

He discouraged our taking the Long Tour but I think that may have been because he had never taken any tourists on that tour before even though he had worked at the park as a naturalist/guide for 3 years. The combination Medium and Short Tour turned out fine in the end. Too bad he felt pretty sick and thus couldn’t talk loud enough while we hiked so we could all hear him.

A backwards shot!

Tino went on ahead with his stick to check for dragons in one of their regular spots.

Komodo dragon poop

Tino told us that the KD’s sunbathe normally til about noonish before staying in the shade til about 4.

He said that the KD’s eat everything including bones but are unable to digest hair. KD’s eat 40-50 kilos of meat, about half their body weight, twice per month. They are the top predator on the island, eating water buffalo, deer, etc.

Above the Jujuba Tree which has tiny fruit to eat when you have an upset tummy.Baby KD’s stay in trees til they are 3 years old to avoid being eaten by fellow KD’s and other prey.

Tino mentioned that wood from this tree is great for boat building.

How fantastic being able to see a komodo dragon for the first time in its natural habitat. It was worth every penny flying over to Labuan Bajo and then taking the cruise to Komodo National Park.

Tino warned us to stay pretty clear of this KD nest as the nearby dragon might well come after us if he considered us as possible enemies. Tino said the nest’s eggs were being protected from being eaten by other dragons as this 29 year old female would be eating them herself. The dragons don’t drink water except for once or twice a week so their liquid intake is comprised mainly of consuming animal blood!

Tino found another spot where there was a dragon. He stated that the dragons are only noisy when they fight; there is no warning before they attack. KD’s can run 18-20 kms per hour and achieve their full size of about 3 m in length when they’re 20 years old.

There are about 100,000 visitors a year to the National Park. Now during the low season tours are normally offered about 3 times a day and 7-10 tours a day in the high season. He explained that there are 15 guides but that high school seniors help with giving tours. The park has been open for 35 years.

What a great, almost 2 hour hike too Tino took us on.

A water buffalo in the distance. Since there's only a small population of wild horses on the island, the chances of seeing them are slim.

The moored boats were there for the night in the bay, Tino explained.

There are always dragons by the pay station/headquarters, Tino stated, because the dragons have ready access to food at the kitchen and it’s a relaxing place to be!