Sailing Labuan Bajo, Indonesia

Getting to Labuan Bajo

At the time, I was teaching English in Seoul, Korea, and it was the end of the school year. After months of planning, I had taken off on a 9 day journey to Indonesia. My plan was to spend a few days in Bali, a few days in the Gili Islands, and finish the trip in Labuan Bajo. Getting to visit Bali again was great since I had been once before, but I had just scratched the surface while I was there. I chose to hike Mt. Batur at sunrise and then spend the rest of my time aimlessly wandering Ubud as a more restful part of the trip. I then took a boat, with a few new friends I had made, to Gili Trawangan. For a few days, I snorkeled, scuba dived for the first time, surfed, biked around the island, and partied with other travelers and Lombok locals. At this point, the bar for this trip had been set real high, and I was not sure if Labuan Bajo would live up to this level of fun, growth, and excitement.

After one more night of parting and late night Mi Goreng, I woke up early to catch the first boat to the main island of Lombok. Once I got to the main island, I took a shuttle to the airport which included hours of driving through jungles and coastline as well as a few naps to catch up on sleep from the past few nights. Once I got to Lombok airport, I was eagerly awaiting my flight that, of course, was delayed multiple times before finally getting to take off to Labuan Bajo.

Day 1

Once I landed in Labuan Bajo, I was picked up and dropped off at La Boheme Bajo which was the hostel I stayed at the night before the sailing trip had begun. After a good night sleep and free pancakes in the morning, I left to meet the tour guides at the starting point of our 3 day 2 night Sailing Komodo trip. We waited for the other people on our trip to join before boarding the boat that we would be living on the next few days. It was me, a hand full of tour guides, and 3 couples who were a part of our crew (yes I was 7th wheeling but luckily all of the couples were great).

Once we boarded, we were able to spend time getting to know each other, sharing our past travel experiences, where we were planning on going after this, and all of the cultural questions that we had for each other since we were all from different countries (with the exception of the couple from England). After about an hour of sailing, we arrived at Kelor Island.

We hopped off the boat and went on a quick hike to one of the look out points of this small island. This really set the tone for the trip as we were able to see the immense color contrast between the green of the mountains and the blue of the ocean. With only a few other people on the island, we took the rest of our time to explore the beach once we hiked down. This island wasn't know for snorkeling or big beaches, so it was nice to be able to spend time in nature seeing what this island had to offer and how it differed from the rest of the islands we would see throughout the trip.

After an hour of exploring Kelor Island, it was time to head to Rinca Island to see Komodo Dragons in their natural habitat. We had a tour guide walk with us to tell us about the island, the dragons, and most importantly protect us from the dragons as we hiked through their habitat. We were able to see a handful of adult Komodo Dragons relaxing in the shade with the exception of one of them who walked back into the wild away from the rest of us. As we watched it walk off in the distance, we noticed a smaller one was on the roof of one of the buildings. Although we were very surprised, the guides told us that the young Komodo Dragons live up in the trees to avoid being eaten by full grown Komodo Dragons.

Our guide took us on a hike through the island to see more of their natural habitat and potentially see a few more dragons on the way. We did not see anymore dragons, but we did see some other wildlife like deer and water buffalo which the Komodo Dragons surprisingly eat. Even though they are smaller, if they are able to bite their prey, they poison them with a specific bacteria in their saliva that slowly kills their prey. Once their prey is dead, the dragons track down the body and often share the meal with other dragons. Both fascinated and terrified (especially after the guides made numerous jokes about how they will eat humans as well), we made it to the lookout point of the island. After taking it all in, we walked back down to our boat to head to our final destination for the day, Kalong Island.

Even though we did not actually go on to the island, we parked our boat right next to it and climbed up to the top of the ship to get a good view of it. Relaxing in bean bag chairs overlooking the sunset, we waited for the "flying foxes" to begin their journey from Kalong Island to other islands in order to find food. Finally, we saw the first bat take off from the trees. Then a few more. A few moments later, their were hundreds, if not thousands, of bats flying over the top of our boat. I was astonished at how big they were and how many of them lived on that island. This went on for a while until the last few bats joined the rest of them toward the end. What sounds like a nightmare to some was such a beautiful experience and perfect way to end our first day on this trip.

Day 2

With the ship already sailing, I eagerly woke up at sunrise to take in all of the views we encountered as we headed toward the famous Padar Island. Already amazed at what I was seeing, we joined a few other ships who made it to the island early to beat the rush of other visitors.

With the rest of our crew finally awake, we jumped in the smaller boat and headed toward the dock at the island. When we first arrived on the island, we could not see the other sides, so it just looked like any other island that we had visited so far. Once we started hiking up to the top, the landscape slowly revealed itself to us. I had never seen anything like it before as we went from seeing a regular island to one that split itself into three other sections. The hike was not too difficult or long but we were constantly stopping to take pictures and admire this unique landscape. Finally, we reached the top to see the panoramic views of the island. Even with other hikers, it was such a quiet, peaceful, and surreal experience as we were lucky enough to have such a clear views of everything around us.

Like I said, we took a lot of pictures here, but I am sure you can see why.

As more people started hiking up the mountain, we began our journey down to the boat. With the Indonesian humidity and heat started to intensify, we decided that it was time to go for a swim and jump off the top of our boat. One by one, we jumped off of our boat to cool us off and prepare us for the rest of this adventure filled day.

After eating breakfast with the crew, we made our way to our second stop: Pink Beach. I was a little skeptical of how pink the beach would be since a few years prior, I had visited a place in Australia that was called "pink lake" (Hutt Lagoon), and, unfortunately at that point of the year, it was not very pink. However, this time, it delivered. With bits of crushed red coral combining with the white sand on the beach, the lower half of the beach was a light pink. When the water would wash up to the shore, it was if the water had even turned a milky pink which was an interesting concept. Already impressed, I prepared to jump in the water to snorkel only to be even more amazed with one of the most colorful reefs I had ever seen. The reef was extremely colorful having a variety of shapes and colors such as red, yellow, blue, purple, green, and orange. While admiring the coral, I ran into a school of fish and even spotted a Royal Gramma (though it was very short lived as my ability to hold my breath underwater is very poor).

After an hour of having my expectations for this trip exceeded, we went back to the boat to make our way toward our third stop of the day: Taka Makassar. This was the only place on the itinerary that I was unaware of what it actually was. As we cruised through the ocean, we started to slow down even though we were not close to any land. Confused, the guide told us to look out into the distant and see where the lighter patch of water was. They said there is a sand bar out there surrounded by a reef that we would be taking the small boat to. This was an incredible surprise that none of us were prepared for.

The boat took us to the small strip of sand, and we walked around the little island for a while. It was fascinating being completely surrounded by the ocean while on a small patch of sand. Most of the people on our boat decided to relax for out time there, but our guides said that we could take the small boat out and drift snorkel back to the sand if we wanted to.

I am so thankful that I did not pass up that offer. One guide drove me and the other guide out away from the island, dropped us off in the water, and we snorkeled as the current slowly took us back to the sand. Funny enough, this was the only time on the trip I didn't have my GoPro with me, and it ended up being the the most beautiful reef I have ever seen (even more than Pink beach). We were a little closer to the coral which amplified the vibrancy of how colorful everything was. When we made it to the shore, the guide asked if I wanted to go one more time, and I not hesitate to take him up on his offer. Even though I do not have any pictures or videos to show how beautiful the reef was, I am grateful that I could just be present in the moment taking in all of the natural beauty that this part of the world had to offer. Once we reached the shore, we jumped on the small boat and headed back to our ship to be surprised with crepes and Nutella.

We were now heading to one of the main attractions that brought me to this incredible destination: Manta Point. I missed an opportunity to see them in Australia, and after hearing about others' experience swimming with them, I knew I had to find a way to make it happen. Our guides said they saw 8-9 of them on their last trip, so our expectations were high. Once we arrived, we jumped out of the boat and drift snorkeled for a while as our boat waited for us further down the current. After snorkeling for a while, consistently scanning for the Mantas, we unfortunately did not see any. Although we were a little disappointed, we understood that if we wanted to see them in their natural habitat that this would be a possibility. Plus with the day that we were having already, we couldn't really be that mad as we were still in paradise.

Because we did not see any, our guides decided to take us to one more spot where they said they normally spot sea turtles. Our moods were instantly lifted as we prepared for the last snorkel for the day. It did not take long for our guide to find the first turtle. As we all swam over towards the turtle, another one swam under us at the same time. As we continued to explore the area, we spotted a few more, and we were able to swim right next to them since they were closer to the top. Being able to see the detailed patterns on their fins and shells as they gracefully glided through the water made it such a peaceful and surreal experience. A perfect way to end the day.

We also swam through a massive school of fish that was much larger than the other school of fish I saw earlier in the day.

To end our day, we sailed to a spot right off an island to stay for the night. On our way there, it went from clear blue skies to dark clouds, and right as we dropped our anchor, it started to pour. As soon as the rain started, all of our guides sprang into action setting up tarps around the boat to keep everything dry. It was done so systematically and fast that we just sat and watched with amazement as they worked hard to keep us dry. I felt very fortunate to have them as our guides, and even though they were getting poured on, they were laughing at each other and the guides on the other boats doing the same thing, making the most out of the chaotic situation. After we ate dinner, we played a few card games as we recapped the best parts of our day and went to bed early exhausted from all of the fun we had today.

Day 3

We had one more stop on our journey before heading back. After a quick breakfast, we made it to our final destination: Kanawa Island. This was another island that was smaller and pretty secluded so we took the small boat to there.

Our guides told us that we could either relax on the beach (which is what the majority did) or snorkel one more time before our trip was over. Again, not wanting to pass up any opportunities to snorkel, I spent most of my time at the island in the water. Since I was the only one snorkeling, my guide joined me as well which was nice since he was always good at finding unique marine life and getting our attention to show us. This island was different because the reef was a lot closer to the shore making it very easy to see everything. This reef was not as colorful as the others, but there were numerous types of coral, fish, and starfish everywhere. I saw clownfish hiding in the coral, a pufferfish, smaller neon colored fish, and another transparent jellyfish that almost hit me right in the face. At this point, I thought that this was the perfect ending to this trip.

Tired but content, we set back to the mainland as our trip was over. Thinking that the last snorkel session was the perfect way to end the trip, we started to notice some things moving by our boat as we were sailing. We rushed to the front to see that there were a few dolphins swimming right next to our boat. Feeling as if they knew they had an audience, they swam underneath our boat to the other side and back diving down and coming to the top. This went on for at least five minutes, and it honestly felt as if it was a show that they were trained to do this. This was the actual perfect way to end the trip of a lifetime.

After docking our boat and adjusting to being back on land (gave me a new appreciation for commercial fishermen, people in the navy, and other people at sea for long periods of time), we tipped our guides and headed off in different directions. I flew back to Bali later that night before eventually making my way back to Seoul.

This 3 day 2 night Sailing Komodo was the highlight of my time in Indonesia, and it is a trip I will never forget. I cannot recommend this trip enough if you are ever in Bali, traveling through Indonesia, or anywhere near this part of the world. If you want more information about this trip or how to plan one yourself, feel free to contact me through email which can be found on my website.