As is the case when traveling, sometimes I like to do things
outside of my comfort zone. Things that are a challenge. Things that push my
limits. And here in Indonesia I decided to do so by taking the four day / four
night boat ride from Lombok to Flores with a stop or two in Komodo National
Park to visit the dragons. And as if it wouldn't be hard enough on it's own, I
decided to take a long ride and attempt to meet the boat at the port rather
than meet with everyone else at the originally meeting spot. Why? In order to
see some of Lombok off the beaten path. And my friends, it was.
This started with us leaving Gili T on... so many days ago I
don't remember. :)
We took the $1 public ferry over and hired a car to take us
to Senaru where the waterfalls were. (This will be another email, as the
waterfalls were AMAZING and very Indiana Jones).
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| Wow. |
It was 2 hours away and there was no Wi-Fi. No Internet. No
ATMs. Sweet.
Rather than double back we decided to head over the
mountains the next day. Now, this is a 4 hour drive. Cost about $50 to have a
driver take us. The road was barely 1 1/2 lanes wide but has 2 way traffic. (In
fact that is the normal here in Indonesia. Tiny roads that somehow manage
trucks and buses and mopeds). It was so steep and full of blind curves that we
would race up, horn honking and somehow noone ever got hit. The views were
incredible. Steep slopes with tiny towns at the base. It felt more like
Switzerland than Indonesia.
We arrived in Labuan Lombok, the port town that has a blurb
in the Lonely Planet saying "This is where you come to take the
ferry". There are no hostels, guest houses, tourist services. The ATM
wouldn't take my card, but did take Alicia's. Otherwise we would be in trouble.
Though we do have some US $100 to change if need be. The only place to stay,
and supposedly where we're meeting everyone the next day, was a hotel for $7 a
night with no sink, no shower and no fan. It's hot. Balls ass hot. So no fan is
no good. And we're about to be on a boat for 4 days, so no shower is no good.
So we have the driver take us north, back along the coast,
hoping to find a place to stay. Any place. We kept looking for a sign with the
indonesian word for "Lodging" on it. We drove and drove and I
thought... hmmm, this might be a problem. Then we lucked out and found a little
bungalow place. It wasn't fancy. But it had a fan and shower. It was in a dirt,
tree covered lot. Had a little shop. A bunch of folks who didn't speak English
and a town with one tiny shop and one warung (food stand). And it was awesome.
Black sand beach. Nice sunset. Frogs. Geckos 18inches long. Sweet. We ate at
the warung and it was Soooooooo good. We sat on the floor. Chatted with this
dive instructor who was also eating and had a lot of smiles with the locals.
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| So good! |
The next morning we had mom and dad who ran the bungalows
take us back to town, we got some supplies, spent 1 1/2 hours buying our return
plane ticket from Flores to Bali, and sweated. The ticket had to be gotten from
a travel agent and they had to ride a moped to another office because of some
issue. There were all these super cute kids that kept coming in to say
"hello" in Indonesia (which happens to be "Hello" :). We
took pics. Ate some food. Made some friends.
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| Hello! |
Then we got picked up by the Kenchana Tours dude on a moped.
One at a time he took us to the port and our boat. I went second. As I rolled
in I saw a nice big boat with multiple levels. Sweet! Oh wait, that's the Perama tour boat. A different company.
Oh well, the one next to it is good sized, if not as nice... oh, wait, we're
driving past that one too. And stopping in front of a boat that was so small I
couldn't believe we were about to take it on the open ocean. I don't know the
dementions, but it looked to be maybe 45 feet long. By 9 feet wide. There was a
"simple toilet", meaning a squat toilet with a hole to the ocean.
There was an upper deck that you could barely sit up in that had dozens of
mattresses. There was an open front area with a shade cover. And then the front
deck on the bow you could sit on.
Hmmmm.
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| I'm on a boat? |
The Lonely Planet says this is no luxury cruise. In fact
they say it's often sketchy. That a boat sank last year year. Yep, sank. (It
was a Perama boat (which is why they have a new boat now!). (I'll find the link
and include it later to the story of the sinking. They unfortunately for them,
had a travel writer on board when it went down). I made sure to see all the
life vests and Alicia and I were thinking... hmmmm....
Then the buses arrived. And the people started filing out.
Like a clown car. They kept coming on board. The boistrous Canadian dudes, the
Dutch gals, the Russian, the Aussie, the Brits etc etc etc etc etc. As they
piled on with their gear and bags and selves there was literally no place to
sit and barely any to stand. Hmmmm...
Alicia and I thought about getting our money back and taking
the Perama boat 3 days later. But we didn't.
We didn't jump ship.
The boat sailed.
We were in it. No turning back.
It took awhile, but it was interesting how little personal
space I needed. How much it didn't matter that we were on top of each other.
HOw we all found our spots to chill, to visit, to experience. They put the big
bags in the holds which opened up space.
The first day was 5 hours of cruising with a beautiful
sunset. BEAUTIFUL sunset. Over Mt. Rinjani on Lombok. We sailed into the dark,
ate a decent meal cooked by our kind crew of 5. (yep 5 crew folks. 19
travelers. Sound clausterphobic yet?) I chatted with the Canadian's a lot.
They're fun guys. We put music on the ipod speakers and had some fun.
The boat anchored by an island for about 5 hours. Not sure
why. It was dark. Couldn't go ashore. I jumped in with a couple folks and we
swam in the bioluminescence. It was pretty sweet. Creepy too. Pitch black
ocean. Swimming in the dark. But cool.
We listened to Dark Side Of The Moon and looked that the
stars. I think this is going to be alright.
We all go to bed around 11am. Silence. Peaceful rocking...
... and LOUD ASS engines. Around 2am they fired up and we
set sail for the next destination. Earplugs helped a lot. But the waves were
kind of wild and spray splashed in on the folks on the lower deck sleeping. I
was at the front of the top deck, so I had a good breeze and even a little spot
for my stuff.
DAY 2:
Paradise. Right there. We anchor off an island. Have
breakfast. Snorkel about. Then head for a waterfall.
Now those who know me, know that jungle waterfalls are one
of my favorite things. I love to trek through jungle and find some perfect
waterfall, and this was one of them. Only a 15 minute walk, and there it was.
Cold. Flowing over volcanic rock pools. The rock was rough enough you could
climb up in the current of the falls. Which was awesome. Up at the top you could
jump into a deeper pool. Ryan from England lept off this rediculously high tree
branch, as did Oksana from Russia. (I was starting to get names down, though I
often call people where they are from.)
I could have stayed here all day. In fact, me and a dude
from the other boat were the last to leave. (Oh yes, there was a second boat
following us. They were no where near as much fun as our boat. We were team
Awesome. They were team... not so Awesome. :).
We move along to the next island. Easy crossing. Snorkeling
and fun were had. Everyone is starting to get to know each other. It was fun...
even though there was no place to sit. But I figured out to use the very hard
pillows as cushions to sit on. That helped.
Then came ocean madness.
We left at 2pm for 18 hours of motoring to get to Komodo
National Park. It was open ocean and felt like rough seas. The waves were half
as big as the boat. It was tossed and turned. They came from the front and
sides, so the boat would roll in odd patterns. It was hard to stand up. Harder
to use the toilet. And impossible to do anything but look out at the waves.
Sometimes the bow would drop so hard it would rocket spray up into the air and
it felt like it would plunge into the waves... but it never did.
We enjoy the sunset... sort of. It was beautiful, but hard
to truly enjoy. Alicia felt very ill, took motion sick meds and napped. I took
some too before bed. Dinner was not good tonight. Some buttery fish stew. On a
rocking boat. No good.
At 7:30pm, everyone went to bed. No shit.
Except me and 2 other guys. I put on the Pink Floyd. Yep,
All about the Pink. And rode out on the bow. SPLASH! WOOSH! The biolumenescence
was awesome in teh wake. The stars were bright. It was cool.
Sleep... 12 hours... kind of.
A number of times I woke up to a KABOOM! as a wave slammed
into the front of the boat. I thought, why I am here?
DAY 3:
Calm.
Total calm.
We've reached the Komodo area. Which is AMAZINGLY beautiful.
Island after island. And the water, though filled with wild currents, is very
calm. We made it!
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| Team Awesome! (most of them anyway) |
We passed where the boat sank in 2011 (the currents took the
wreck to the depths, so nothing's there). We pull up to a beach and hop in.
There's a path to climb to the top of the island and get a view all around.
Pirate ships abound (okay,they're dive boats), and the view is amazing. It's
interesting, the fauna and islands ehre look a lot like...
... Southern California! Yep. I came half way around the
world and sailed 3 days to get to the Channel Islands Nat'l Park 40 miles from my
house. :)
The vegetation and climate of Indonesia apparaently changes
as you head east. From the jungles of Java and Borneo, each island become more
arid and more like Australia as you go east. Cool.
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| This is the Tale of Captain Jack Sparrow! |
After the hike and a quick swim we're back on the boat.
Moods are great now that we're in calm seas. We listen to music. "I'm on a
boat" is a favorite. As is "Captain Jack Sparrow"... even though
no one had it. Shoot!
We snorkel at the red sand beach. It's more pink than red.
But still cool.
Then lunch on the way to Komodo. Finally, there will be
dragons.
We get off, join the rangers and go for a 1 hour hike in the
heat. I felt like I was in Jurassic Park. I kept looking for dragons at every
corner. Under every bush...
... but there were no dragons.
Hmmm...
We head to the cafe, gift shop (yep, even here) and ranger
station...
... and there are dragons!!!!
The 8 foot long lizard just waddled up near us, under a
stilt house and laid down. We got within 10 feet of it. They can move very
quickly and their bite is deadly. Everyone thought they were poisonous until a
few years ago. But apparently they have so much bacteria in their mouths that
the prey dies of infection. That, and they eat their prey whole. Bones and all.
They have 3 different kinds of poop. One for bones.
Nearby another sat in the grass. And just over there were 4
of them. ONe had to be 10 feet long. And a wild pig trotted in amongst them!
Sweet! We're gonig to see them
kill the pig! ...
... or not. Ballsy ass pig and four Komodo. ANd they just
hiss at it a little, but the pig doesn't give a shit and gets to licking up the
blood from the goat carcass hanging in the tree. Yep, this might be how they
make sure you see dragons. It might be something the rangers were going to cook
and eat. Not sure.
It was really cool to see. And when the dragons came towards
us hissing and stomping, we all backed up pretty fast.
Back on the boat and set anchor on a calm bay as the sun got
low.
ANd the flying foxes came out. Thousands of bats heading to
feast.
We ate. We drank. We danced. We laughed. We listened to
music. It was a blast.
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| It's Bintang Time! |
ANd the sea was so calm it was like glass. You could see the
reflection of the stars in the water. And the bioluminescnece flashing too. It
was AMAZING. TOTALLY AMAZING. I've never seen anything like it. I thought that
scene in Life of Pi was just fantasy with the stars reflected, but here it is.
Totally real.
And yes, Pink Floyd came out again.
DAY 4.
Up before sunrise. We're tooling into the calm seas. Sun.
Islands. Sand. Sweetness.
Not going to lie. Even though I've made many friends, I'm
ready to be off the boat. Onto dry land. Take a shower. Yum, shower.
We head to Rinca (pronounced Rincha) Island for more Komodo.
The island is smaller. The food is different. It's very pretty and full of
rolling hills and grass and palms. Saw numerous buffalo, but the only Komodo
were back at base camp. Though there was no goat this time. Our guide, Cuba,
was awesome. A 20 year old from the island. He knew his stuff.
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| Welcome to Jurassic Park |
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| Really? I'm watching you |
Out to sea for lunch, and a final snorkel, frisbee, swim
spot. It was fun.
Lots of laughs. Even saw some RBR's brewing. (Random
Backpacker Romances).
We head to town, and with little ceremony all get the fuck
off the boat and head for places to stay. There were some thank yous and
smiles, and ultimately it was a great adventure, but I'm glad to get our room
way up on the hill overlooking the bay and with the shower. Oh thank god. No
Air Con, but a fan and the view is incredible.
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| View from the room |
We all met at a bar that night and laughed and danced and
talked of the future, of the adventure and where life will take us. Many don't
know. Some will rent scooters to explore Flores. Some will fly back to Bali.
We're going to dive before we go.
And there you have it.
I have seen the last Dragon's on earth.
Did they fly and breath fire and did the Kaleesi mother
them?
No.
But they were dragons none the less.
Craigo
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