Komodo / Labuanbajo trip report

[Bora_Horza]

Hi all, I thought I’d post this trip report about my visit to Indonesia in April 2007. I flew into Bali, and then booked an internal flight to Labuanbajo, Flores.
There’s a fairly new airline / organization who cover the east of Indonesia called Trans Nusa (they also work in partnership with Peltia Air and Trigana Air), so the flight coverage for this region is getting much better. Their website is http://www.transnusa.co.id/module.php

I did 12 days diving from Labuanbajo into the Komodo National Park with Reefseekers, who were great hosts and very professional. We visited all over the park, and I had some great dives. A couple of photos of the scenery and currents we saw from the boat:







Labuanbajo where I based myself is a sleepy, dusty little port town but it is beginning to get more developed. The only noises are the motorbikes, boat engines thumping away, and the different mosques call to prayer. Once in a while a PELNI ferry will come to dock, and you'll be woken up at 6am by this VERY loud foghorn blasting out over the town…

I stayed at the Gardena Hotel, basic fan rooms with attached bathroom/shower, which was fine for my purposes. I paid 85,000 Rupiah/night (about 7 quid). They also have some nicer, more expensive rooms as well (100,000 Rp or something). The restaurant there is not bad, and has a nice view over the harbour.
I also visited a friend who was staying at the Golo Hilltop hotel, that was a very nice looking place, about 10 min up the hill - rooms start at 100,000 Rp/night, and again great views and as its high up it can get a breeze and not be too hot and humid.

We went for an evening meal at the Eco Lodge, about a 7 min motorcycle taxi ride along the coast from L'bajo town centre. This is the fanciest place in the area - beautiful high open plan restaurant / chill out areas, manicured gardens, swimming pool, and individual air con & hot water bungalows. I think prices start at around 200,000 Rp/night or something.

Places to eat & drink: there are a range of restaurants in L'bajo, as mentioned the Gardena is not bad and a popular 'central' place to meet up with tourists. Just along the road from Gardena is 'The Lounge' which is a rather fashionable restaurant, and they serve tasty treats like humus, olives, tapas, various multigrain breads, etc - very cosmopolitan for this part of the world! Out of town a bit, on the way to Golo Hilltop is the Paradise bar, which has great views and is a good place to watch the sunset with a beer. A clip from youtube here:



There is also a nice shiny new ATM machine at the BNI Bank (MasterCard / Cirrus / Maestro network I think) which makes getting cash much easier. And just past the bank is an air-con supermarket.

Land activities.. mmm not masses to do near Labuanbajo that I know of, though a half day trip to the nearby 'mirror cave' is worth doing. Of course you can do a one or two daytrip to Rinca or Komodo and take a walk around to see the dragons and other wildlife, which is well worth doing!

The north of Komodo has great dive sites (like Crystal Rock, Full Moon, the Lighthouse) with lots of pelagic fish action. In the central part of the Park are lots of little islands to dive around, stunning corals and lots of fish, as well as some wicked currents at times! There’s also a spot known as ‘The Airstrip’ where manta rays congregate at certain times of year. The south of the Park (i.e. Rinca) has cooler water with dive sites like Cannibal Rock with a slightly different fauna, very beautiful corals and critters.





One dive I did was at the north tip of Komodo, at Gili Lawa Laut (known as the Coral Garden / Cauldron). Saw a whitetip shark as we jumped in, and then as we descended we got really close to a small hawksbill turtle. I found a lobster, and then noticed schools of small fish fleeing in panic. Wow! There were about 6 massive Giant Trevally (about 1.5 meters long) on the hunt, dashing around, then cruising around eying up us divers. It was awesome to see these huge fish so close up. Another whitetip swam by, and next we came to an eel garden. At a coral bommie we looked at two beautiful leaf scorpion fish – one beige, one a vivid purple. We finned round the corner and entered some current – we were approaching a channel between the islands where the tides rip through, and the tide was running now! The divemaster signaled ‘stay together’ then WOOSSHH we shot the torrent! Fast currents over a scoured rocky bottom, great fun! On the other side of the channel we found another turtle, but this was a big one, about a meter. All in all a good dive!





A few more photos:







After 12 days in Labuanbajo I caught a bus to get to Ruteng. I used the 'Bajo Express' air-con minibus service (50,000 Rp / 4 hour trip). Then I flew from Ruteng to Kupang, then on to Alor for some more diving!

[thehappychappy]

Great Pictures.

Looks fantastic above and below the water!



Davie