Hi Everyone!
After spending two weeks in Indonesia, we decided this was our favorite country in SE Asia. Beautiful scenery, genuinely friendly people, and so much to do!
First on our itinerary (which was shorter then we would have liked, but as our flights to Istanbul were booked, we fit in what we could!) was a trip to Komodo National Park. As a child, Andrew was obsessed with dinosaurs and while watching tv one day, he seen a commercial for Komodo Island. These dragons were quite similar looking to his beloved, but waay extinct favorite animal. Since then, he has always wanted to visit this far away island. Neither of us actually knew that Komodo was in Indonesia, until talking to a couple from London that encouraged us to add Indo to our travel list (thank you!). So we set off with the goal of reaching this mystery island first.
A quick flight from Denpasar, Bali, we arrived in Labuan Bajo, the port to exploring Komodo National Park.
We decided to set up a diving safari and explore the park from under the ocean and above! A 2day/1night with 6 dives ahead of us, and a hike around Komodo and Rinca island (where the dragons live). This diving trip was most definitely a highlight of our entire adventure so far. Gusta, the captain of the boat, knew everything there is to know about the waters surrounding Komodo and Rinca island and our dive masters were great as well! We started the first day with a dive around 10am, came up for lunch (all made and set out for us!) and then went for dive number 2. We seen so many new fish and sea life we hadn't experienced yet, it was so exciting. White-tipped reef sharks, unicorn fish(watched one in particular feeding on some smaller fish), trumpet fish, tons of moray eels and a couple of HUGE lobsters. My favorite part of the day was seeing turtles! We swam right along them, and I had a hard time leaving them as they made their way to the surface. One actually swam right between my legs! I almost pulled my regulator out just to scream in delight.
In between dives we docked the boat and went to find some Komodo Dragons! The islands are absolutely beautiful, with rolling grassy hills and an unbelievable view. Sure enough we seen a handful of these strange creatures. Most just lazing around, a couple walking around with their tongues out (that is how they pick ip scents). They are very unpredictable animals, so you really can't get too close. People have been attacked and killed before, so we didn't take our chances. After hiking around, we made our way back to the boat for the last dive.
(I really can't explain the beauty of these islands. There are some pictures on Facebook, but really, nothing does them justice)
After some tea and a snack, we set out for our 3rd dive of the day, right before the sunset. Our first night dive! We started in the light, so it was really neat to see the changes in the ocean as the sun slowly went down. Once it got dark enough, we switched on our flashlights and swam right along the ocean floor to watch all the little critters you don't see during the day. When it was totally dark, we put our flashlights against our chests to block the light, and watched as sparks danced from our fingers. When we made our way to the top, this time, dinner was ready for us! We relaxed and logged our dives while drinking tea and watching the stars. When it was bedtime, Andy and I decided to move our mattresses up on the deck and sleep there. So glad we did, it was a great sleep, and we woke up to a beautiful, serene sunrise. That kind of quiet doesn't come around often, so we slowly sipped our coffees until the rest of the boat was up and ready to dive our second day.
Our fourth dive was a drift dive. The strength of the current moves you along, so you can really just sit cross-legged in the water, lean back and relax. We set out towards an island surrounded by thriving coral reef and let the current take us around. It was another amazing dive with beautiful ocean life, and let's not forget, more turtles!!
Our next 2 dives were just as exciting. Strong currents, bright coral, and tons of crazy looking fish. The last dive was at Manta Point. It's quite a shallow dive, about 10 meters, and again with strong currents pulling you along. Manta Point is where tons of Manta Rays come to feed. It's like a zoo of Manta Rays. We seen babies, mid-size, and one that was 6 meters wide! These are huge creatures, and watching them float through the water was magnificent.
After our 6 dives were over, we were tired, but so sad to head back to shore. Our "room" on the boat was nicer then the room we had on Labuan Bajo! But we left feeling way more comfortable under water, and having seen so much exciting ocean life.
Next on our list was to soak up the sun on the Gili islands! There are 3 islands all in a row. Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air.
Two days,one nasty night bus, multiple ferries and mini-buses and we finally arrived on Gili Trawangan, or for short, Gili T. Gili T is the busiest of the islands, with beautiful white and black sand, great little places to eat, and nice accommodation. We spent our days walking/running around the island(takes about an hour and a half to walk around the whole thing) learning to surf(Andy)practicing yoga(Me. The girl who runs the studio is Canadian actually!) and laying with our books on the scorching hot sand (so hot, I'm pretty sure our feet were screeching "I'm melllttinngg!" on the short run from sarong to water, water to sarong). We stayed on Gili T for 3 nights, and then took a short boat ride over to Gili Air, a much quieter, less busy island for one night. It was a great 4 nights, relaxing, and just busy enough.
We really soaked up the sun, and took advantage of laying around because we knew our next stop would be a challenging one... Climbing Mt. Rinjani!
More to come..
Love to all!
A&C
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