The (new) Wonder Woman was showing last night. I still haven't seen it and the temptation was to stay up and ogle Gal Gadot was strong, however we had a 3 am wake up call. Why 3 am, you ask? Well, we were determined to go for a sunrise hike over at Gili Lawa Darat which from Labuan Bajo is approximately a 2 hour speed boat ride away. The four of us grumbled as we sat in silence as we made our way to the pier. Nobody was at the pier when we arrived aside from a couple of stray dogs.
Our skipper arrived just after 3:40 with the first mate and daily provisions and we set off out into the darkness. Two hours is a long time, especially on a boat in silence. The drone of the motors made conversation difficult, but provided white noise, it did make for a fairly long ride out. I focused on my breath and as we slowly left sight of shore, the lights becoming less pronounced. I entertained my strategy in the case the boat capsized, I would swim in that direction, I would swim breaststroke, and I would hope that there's no sharks. Back to the breath. I started to recount the novel "The Life of Pi" in particular the carnivorous island and the symbolism. Back to the breath.
As light began to break, land became visible and passed through docked boats whose patrons were still fast asleep. The sun was about to rise and had a summit to scale before the sun got there; we were behind schedule. The speedboat pulled into the beach and Andy was talking to the skipper and pointing to the submit. The minute we came ashore Andy jumped up out of the boat and dashed across the beach front. The next 20 minutes we scaled a vertical mountain side, occasionally having to crawl with our hands. We finally made it to the top with not a moment to spare. Gasping for air in attempt to slow down the heart rates we took in the spectacular views as time slowed down and the sub trickled up from behind the horizon.
Our next stop was Takar Makassar, a sand bank. We were quite exhausted and lazed on the beach dozing off for a twenty minutes before the skipper threw some snorkels at us and shouted "Turtles", we roused half startled and jumped in the water and snorkelled around the reefs following the turtles.
Next stop was Manta Point. Clearly a popular site as it was only 10 am and there were already other speedboats floating around a patch of sea. The skipper instructed us to put on our fins and snorkels and when he gave the signal, we had to jump in. The boat sped around and soon enough he was shouting "Manta! Manta! Manta!". Diving in we entered the world of the Manta Ray. Absolutely amazing. Huge. Placid beasts, highlight of the day!
After that excitement we crawled back on board and tucked into the lunch. Fairly basic, but super tasty. Deep fried Chicken (Ayam), some brown ride, some raw cabbage, boiled water spinach, bit of Asian Basil and mouth watering sambal.
The girls headed off for some dives while we went Dolphin watching and had a couple of more dives at Kanawa Pulau. Most people who travel out to Komodo, live on a boat for a few days meandering through the islands of Komodo. We traveled 2 hours out, and 2 hours back to have the luxury of a hotel. It meant for painful commutes. We endured another long ride back before grabbing a massage and a plate of Mee Goreng. Great day out on the water.
Our skipper arrived just after 3:40 with the first mate and daily provisions and we set off out into the darkness. Two hours is a long time, especially on a boat in silence. The drone of the motors made conversation difficult, but provided white noise, it did make for a fairly long ride out. I focused on my breath and as we slowly left sight of shore, the lights becoming less pronounced. I entertained my strategy in the case the boat capsized, I would swim in that direction, I would swim breaststroke, and I would hope that there's no sharks. Back to the breath. I started to recount the novel "The Life of Pi" in particular the carnivorous island and the symbolism. Back to the breath.
As light began to break, land became visible and passed through docked boats whose patrons were still fast asleep. The sun was about to rise and had a summit to scale before the sun got there; we were behind schedule. The speedboat pulled into the beach and Andy was talking to the skipper and pointing to the submit. The minute we came ashore Andy jumped up out of the boat and dashed across the beach front. The next 20 minutes we scaled a vertical mountain side, occasionally having to crawl with our hands. We finally made it to the top with not a moment to spare. Gasping for air in attempt to slow down the heart rates we took in the spectacular views as time slowed down and the sub trickled up from behind the horizon.
Our next stop was Takar Makassar, a sand bank. We were quite exhausted and lazed on the beach dozing off for a twenty minutes before the skipper threw some snorkels at us and shouted "Turtles", we roused half startled and jumped in the water and snorkelled around the reefs following the turtles.
Next stop was Manta Point. Clearly a popular site as it was only 10 am and there were already other speedboats floating around a patch of sea. The skipper instructed us to put on our fins and snorkels and when he gave the signal, we had to jump in. The boat sped around and soon enough he was shouting "Manta! Manta! Manta!". Diving in we entered the world of the Manta Ray. Absolutely amazing. Huge. Placid beasts, highlight of the day!
After that excitement we crawled back on board and tucked into the lunch. Fairly basic, but super tasty. Deep fried Chicken (Ayam), some brown ride, some raw cabbage, boiled water spinach, bit of Asian Basil and mouth watering sambal.
The girls headed off for some dives while we went Dolphin watching and had a couple of more dives at Kanawa Pulau. Most people who travel out to Komodo, live on a boat for a few days meandering through the islands of Komodo. We traveled 2 hours out, and 2 hours back to have the luxury of a hotel. It meant for painful commutes. We endured another long ride back before grabbing a massage and a plate of Mee Goreng. Great day out on the water.
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