Komodo Island, Komodi Fishing Village & Pink Beach, Indonesia - Mar 2

Komodo Island, Indonesia - Mar 2

Here are the photo links from our last visit. The dragons were active, and Greg got some nice video.

2019 - Komodo Island https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1UMv4VinCqAFNCcA

2019 - Komodo Island https://photos.app.goo.gl/y1UMv4VinCqAFNCcA

2019 - Pink Beach https://photos.app.goo.gl/wCLUGbEwSsVHSTSN7

2019 - Pink Beach https://photos.app.goo.gl/wCLUGbEwSsVHSTSN7

I had booked with the same guy that we used in 2019, but at some point, he stopped returning emails and emails I would send would come back undeliverable. So, worried we wouldn't have a tour set up, I contacted a couple of other operators and decided on Top Komodo Tours. It turned out to be a fabulous choice, What a day we had! https://topkomodotour.com/

Today we were joined by Tom & Cathy, Heather & Matt, Roberta & John and June. What an awesome group. I can’t tell you how fortunate I am to have such great friends to share tours with.

This morning started very early to be down in the lounge to get our tender tickets at 6:30. I think we got the second tender over to the island. Princess managed to screw up the people on my tour, despite scanning my paperwork. Half the people didn’t get the letter saying they needed to come down and get some forms. Luckily, one couple overheard someone else talking about it and inquired. So, in line for the tender their names were all on there and we thought we were good. Then, we go to get off the ship onto the tender and those same people were stopped, and they didn’t want to let them off. Finally, it got straightened out, but seriously how complicated can it be?

On the way to the tenders, they had a table set up with 2 Komodo Dragon towel animals. So cute. 

Anyway, we all got on the same tender and our guide with Top Komodo Tours was right at the end of the pier waiting with a sign with my name on it. On the tender over and on the walk on the pier to meet the guide we saw 2 Komodo Dragons on the beach. 

They really took great care of us all day long. We had 2 Park Rangers and 2 guides for our group of 9. They stopped frequently to tell us about plants, trees, birds, the island, and yes Komodo Dragons.

The 3 km (medium trek) can be done in about 1.5 to 2 hours. The trekking condition on Komodo island is not hard, it is 90% walking on the flat path. The dragons were active, but our tour in 2019 had more dragons at the watering hole so make sure to check out that link of photos and videos as well. We did however have beautiful weather today. Sunny and no pouring rain today, however.

explaining the layout of the island

the lead Park Ranger

Afry was our lead guide

Afry

Yellow-crested Cockatoo

our first glimpse of the dragons at the watering hole

Park Rangers

all the dragons are markded and tracked

Cathy turned to look at the dragon behhind her

see the one hiding in the grass?

we also saw one young dragon

young one

young one

young one

young one

young one

young one

young one

he was explaining how the simple stick keeps the dragons away

explaining the size of the egss and how many they lay vs how many survive

dragon nest

Dung Beetles

snail

we crossed over the bridge

We made a short stop at the craft market and all of us got some souvenirs. I got a lovely batik last time but didn’t really see any this time. I did get another magnet and a small dragon that I thought was a magnet, but I grabbed one that wasn’t so will need to glue one on when I get home.

craft market

After that we got on our private boat to Komodo Fishing Village to see the local way of life. We didn’t  do that last time so that was a highlight. The local school kids put on a performance for us, and we went inside to see a classroom. What wonderful warm people. They all waved and said hello. Some of the really young kids were shy. (with the pandemic perhaps, they hadn’t seen many or any tourists) None of the other companies included the village, which is one of the reasons I chose this company. They also were very easy to communicate with.

boarding our boat

on the boat - there was an upstairs, but we all stayed downstairs

Tom, Matt & June

Cathy & Tom

John

Roberta

small market

man carving dragons

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

We had about a half an hour at the village before boarding our boat again to go to Pink Beach for snorkeling or swimming and beach time. We had about 45 minutes to snorkel and it really is great snorkeling with so many soft corals and beautiful fish. Greg got some great GoPro video that he will have to wait until he gets home to edit down to a nice length, but he has extracted some stills that are included here.

rice & fish dish

tofu & curry dishes

vegetables & squid rings

Back on the boat we had a wonderful lunch provided by the company. It was all delicious. The hot dishes were great and the watermelon and especially the pineapple was the sweetest I have ever tasted. Then our guide Afry said he had some gifts for all of us. He gave us all postcards with photos of Komodo Dragons on them which we all thought was nice. Then, he comes back with t-shirts for everyone! (with their company logo and nice photo of dragons on the front)

All too soon it was time to catch the tender back to our ship. The vendors are relentless and it’s hard not to buy things you don’t even want. Even after we were on the tender, they were looking in from above and Cathy even got a beautiful abalone bowl for half price before the tender took off.

magnet

Back on the ship we got showered and rinsed our snorkel stuff out so we could launder them later. We had time to go to the dining room for dinner but opted to go up to the buffet. They were having Asian Street Food and it was all good. We came back down to put our snorkel gear in the laundry. We didn’t go to the show tonight as it was a guitar player that plays every night all around the ship and we felt we could skip that and start going through photos. Greg got great GoPro video of the snorkeling and I took a few videos of the dragons and the kids performing. The video of the dragons and the kids can be seen on the links below:

Komodo Dragon walk https://photos.app.goo.gl/CZFU4ffttgd5q8mZ7

Komodo Fishing Village & Pink Beach Snorkel https://photos.app.goo.gl/psNWtdNRbRYG97wG7

Oh, and we did see some birds today, 5 of which are new! 

Barred Dove NEW

Brahminy Kite

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Helmeted Friarbird NEW

Large-billed Crow

Orange-footed Megapode NEW

Pacific Swallow

Tenggara Swiftlet NEW

White-bellied Sea-Eagle

Yellow-crested Cockatoo NEW

We now have 2 sea days before Singapore.