As you might remember, I had just said good bye to Dian and I was getting ready for my third time sleeping at an airport. Like usually, I didn’t sleep much, but it was enough to get me going. My trip was coming to an end. After Bali, Java and Sumatra, I decided to go visit my fourth island: Flores. I woke up the morning of October the 15th, 2018, ready to take the first of my four flights. It was my 24th day in Indonesia. Flores is a pretty big island and I would have liked to check more out of it but, unfortunately, I didn’t have much time left. My idea was to make it to Labuan Bajo. Why there? To go diving in Komodo National Park, also known as “the best diving place in the world“.
From Banda Aceh to Labuan Bajo
I found flying to Labuan Bajo was not cheap. In my case, being so far away, the flight tickets were kind of expensive. I paid around 100 Euros to make it from Banda Aceh to Denpasar and around 75 Euros to make it from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo. All in all, I had to cover quite a lot of distance. It looked like this:
My first flight took me from Banda Aceh to Medan, where we had a short layover but we didn’t even come out of the plane. From there, we flew to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. I heard that Jakarta wasn’t the most beautiful city in Indonesia. Apparently, it was the typical huge, business, artificial and messy city. I don’t like to judge without seeing it myself but, since I had already seen plenty of big cities in my life, I avoided Jakarta. The layover there took a couple of hours and, eventually, I took yet another flight to make it to Denpasar. It was my third flight in the day, crazy, isn’t? P.S: I used Traveloka to book the flights. It is an app I recommended here and which I found very useful throughout my time in Southeast Asia 🙂
If you have a long layover at Denpasar’s airport, come out to eat!
I arrived at Denpasar’s airport the afternoon of October the 15th, 2018. The first time I had been there (in the international terminal) was when I first arrived in Indonesia. It had been 24 days since then and, on the one hand, it seemed like it had been yesterday. But, on the other hand, it seemed like it had been months ago.
I made the mistake of leaving the Domestic Arrivals area because, then, I couldn’t come back. I did it because I wanted to make it to Domestic Departures to have some food and rest while waiting for my flight to Labuan Bajo. The thing was that there was no area to rest or have food, unless you made it through the security control, which I couldn’t do because it was too early. My flight to Labuan Bajo was next day early in the morning and it was around 16:00.
So, I came out of the Domestic terminal and walked to the International one. I made it to the same spot where I had been sleeping when I first arrived in Indonesia. I walked around, checking the different food options and found all of them outrageously expensive. To give you an idea, if you can get a nasi goreng for 1-2 euros on the street, there you had to pay between 10-15 euros. Crazy, isn’t?
I was hungry but I didn’t want to pay that much for food so I walked outside the International terminal. Once you walk for like 5 minutes, you will start seeing Grab and GoJek riders. You will also see plenty of taxi drivers who will try to get you into using their services. The problem with them? They’ll usually charge you way too much. I checked my phone and saw that, according to both apps, I could make it to Kuta for 6 K. That’s nothing! However, none of the riders wanted to take me for that price, which I easily understood. So, what did I do? I started walking and…
And by the time I realised, after 15 minutes or so, I was already in Kuta. I saw different restaurants and supermarkets and it felt like if I was in another planet. Everything was way cheaper than at the airport. I made it to a restaurant called “Soto Dobrak” where I got a cheap (16 K) and nice meal. After that, I walked to “Alfamart”, a supermarket similar to Indomaret where I found some plugs to charge my phone. There were locals watching a soccer game outside. I spent a couple of hours there doing some research about my diving in Komodo National Park.
After that, I made it back to Soto Dobrak to have dinner (11 K) and, eventually, I walked to the Domestic Departures terminal. I did the check-in, passed the control and got ready for yet another night sleeping at an airport. It was my fourth time during my trip in Indonesia 🙂
A day in Labuan Bajo
The flight from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo was alright. It took an hour or so. I was sat next to an old man from Germany and we chatted for a while. He was married but now and then travelled on his own. His wife understood that sometimes he needed to be alone and their marriage worked alright. He told me he loved the feeling of travelling alone, meeting new people and discovering new stuff. I liked his way of being 🙂
Our ways separated as we landed at Labuan Bajo’s airport. I checked my phone and saw that the distance from the airport to my hostel was of about 2 kilometers. There was no Grab or GoJek services and I didn’t feel like paying for a taxi. Thus, I started walking under the heat.
It was indeed a pretty hot day, even if it was just nine in the morning. Some people saw me walking and “offered” to give me a paid ride. I rejected their offer. I kept on walking as small houses, dogs and kids showed up in my way. There was a narrow street which seemed like a shortcut and I started walking downwards. The views from up there were pretty cool, with boats and small islands in front of me.
I finally made it to Centro Hostel. It wasn’t the best hostel of my life and neither the best hostel during my time in Indonesia. But it was probably the cheapest (180 K for 3 nights) option in Labuan Bajo. Once again, like I had experienced during my time in Sumatra, accommodation was not cheap. Specially when compared to Bali and Java. Since I was going to spend most of my time on the sea, I thought that I rather spent my money diving than sleeping, and that’s why I booked that hostel 😉
All in all the owner was kind and I run into some other guests. Thus, I guess there were some other people with my same mindset on the island. The bed was alright and so the room. I guess the worst part was the toilets and bathrooms. I was kind of tired but there were a few stuff I wanted to arrange first. Thus, after taking a shower, I walked outside the hostel, back to the heat.
Choosing your diving agency in Labuan Bajo
The first thing that I needed to do was to book my dives. Before arriving in Labuan Bajo I had already done some research and I was hesitating between Somer Dive, Komodo Dive Center and Manta Rhei. The price of all of them was the same. They offered 3 dives or 2 dives plus seeing the Komodo dragons, plus food and equipment. The difference? The area they were going diving the next day.
Thus, it turned out that Komodo Dive Center wasn’t going diving the next day. Manta Rhei was going to “Central” and Somer Dive was going to the “North”. Just to give you an idea, the are plenty of diving spots at Komodo National Park. However, the whole area can be divided into three main areas: North, Central and South. As you might imagine, the difference in the areas lies in its geology and fauna. If you check the links on each of the different areas you will get further info on this.
To give you an idea, I had to choose between beautiful corals, turtles and mantas (Central) or sharks, school of fishes and drift dives (North). I had already seen turtles while diving in Tulamben and I had also seen mantas, while snorkelling in Nusa Penida. I still had a lot of room for improvement when it came to drift diving. That, plus the fact that I hadn’t seen many sharks, made me choose Somer Dives over Manta Rhei.
I chose the right size for my equipment, agreed upon the meeting time next morning and paid. I ended up paying 1.900.000 IDR. That’s around 120 Euros. However, if you are to go now, you will have to pay a similar price plus 275 K for the “Komodo National Park Dives Fees”. When I was there I almost had to pay for that but luckily enough it wasn’t already set. As of now, as far as I know, every diver has to pay that fee.
The way I see it is just stealing. I have been to other places like the in(famous) “Beach” in Thailand where we had to leave because we didn’t pay the fees. Supposedly, the fees were used to clean the beach, but the reality was that it was used for the mafia’s pockets. The beach was disgusting. I think many countries in Southeast Asia have a problem with tourism. They just want fresh cash and don’t know how to treat their beautiful natural paradises or the tourists. I hope it will change sooner than latter.
All in all, if you take a look at all three diving agencies, you will find all of them have great reviews. You will also see they offer pretty much the same for the same price. The difference, once again, lies in the diving area they are going to check next day. That, plus the boat, the equipment and the way the crew members behave. But you can’t have everything under control! And, by the way, those were my favourite three, but there are plenty of diving agencies in Labuan Bajo, just in case you want to check them out 🙂
Choosing your Komodo tour agency in Labuan Bajo
I would say choosing your diving agency in Labuan Bajo is kind of easy. All the agencies are pretty solid. Prices and diving areas being the same, you just need to choose the one going to your favourite diving area. When it comes to booking your Komodo tour the scenario is completely different though. There are plenty of small booths and shops advertising anything from a day, 2D1N, 3D2N, etc., tour around Komodo National Park. Prices can vary a lot from one shop to the other. Here, you also need to take into account the art of bargaining, something that you can’t use when choosing your diving agency.
The areas they go to change depending on the number of days you want to spend on the sea. But, sometimes, even if you ask for a tour where you will spend the same amount of time, the places they go to are different! Most of them include a visit to the famous Komodo dragons (although some will take you to Komodo Island and others to Rinca Island). They also include a visit to Padang Island, Pink Beach, etc. I will talk more about this later but, for now, I just wanted to let you know that choosing your Komodo tour in Labuan Bajo can turn into a nightmare.
After talking to pretty much all the agencies in Labuan Bajo, I finally made it to one which was next to Ciao Hostel. That hostel is placed on a hill from where you can see the whole coastal area of Labuan Bajo. I thought it would be a good place to see the sunset and I decided to go check it out later on.
The hostel is partnered with Floresia, a travel agency that I also checked for my Komodo tour. I spoke with them for a while and I kind of liked them but didn’t book the tour yet. I felt I had already checked all the options and I would pick one later in the evening. P.S: Ciao Hostel has a perfect location and a great ambience but it is way more expensive than the one I was staying at. At the end it’s on you where you want to stay 🙂 I walked back to Central Hostel and, after having some food in one of the restaurants around, I went to my room to take a well-deserved nap.
Beautiful sunset from Ciao Hostel
I woke up kind of dazed. Even if I am Andalusian it had been a while since my last nap 🙂 I walked all the way back to Ciao Hostel to see if my suspicion on the “good” sunset spot was accurate. The walked took me around 40 minutes. It was mostly uphill and the distance was of around 3 kilometers. Even if the sun was going to set soon it was still pretty hot! I made it right on time. I was tired and sweaty but what I saw paid my efforts off. It looked (and sounded) like this:
After enjoying such a priceless gift for a while, I started to walk back to the center of Labuan Bajo. On the way there I started chatting with a guy. His name was Dan and he was from Ireland. Back in town we decided to go have a beer together. We went to a place called “Le Pirate”, which had a great ambience. As we were drinking the beer, a girl joined us. She was staying at the same hostel as Dan. Her name was Lydia and she was Spanish (from Barcelona). She had also studied Telecommunication Engineer, just like me. What a coincidence! That’s one of the things I like the most about travelling. A random walk to see the sunset can turn into drinking beers with some strangers 🙂
The more we talked the less strangers we became. We decided to go have dinner together. We spent some time enjoying each other’s company and sharing experiences. As we were finishing dinner, I spoke with Andreina through the phone. She was a girl from Venezuela who commented in one of my posts on Facebook as I was asking for advice on a 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park. After her initial hesitation, she finally decided to join me. She would be arriving the next day. I told her about my “funny” experience trying to find the best Komodo tour agency. She said anything would do and so we decided to book our tour with Floresia.
I said goodbye to my new friends and, after thanking them for their time and wishing them luck with their trip, I walked back to my hostel. I hope you guys are having a good time wherever you are! As I laid down on my bed I started thinking about my next day. I would be diving in Komodo National Park, one of the best diving areas in the world 🙂
A day diving in Komodo National Park
I showed up at Somer Dive after a great night of sleep. It was 06:50. We waited for everybody to arrive and we headed to the port at 07:10. We were 12 divers in total: 4 couples, 2 guys from New Zealand, a guy from Germany and myself. Once on the boat we had to wait for an hour and a half before we were given clearance to leave the port. For a while it seemed like we were not going to go diving that day. The weather was kind of windy and there were some big waves. Eventually, we set sail but, instead of making it to the North, we went to Central.
Thus, just like that, it seemed it was written that I would be diving in Central, rather than in North. Remember I chose Somer Dive over Manta Rhei because they were going to the North rather than to Central? Well, maktub. It might be that, after all, if I had made it to Central I would have become some sharks’ food. Just kidding 🙂
The boat was cool. It was made of wood and it looked like a pirate one. The crew was nice. There were a couple of brothers from France (one was doing his Dive Master course there), a couple of local guys as Dive Masters, a girl from Switzerland and another guy from the U.S., who was also doing his Dive Master. They were pretty friendly and we chatted for a while, as we headed to our first diving site.
First dive in Komodo National Park: Batu Bolong
Batu Bolong is one of the most well-known diving sites in the whole Komodo National Park. It literally means “Hollow Rock” and, as the name implies, it is a small rock between Tatawa Kecil and Komodo island itself. From above it doesn’t look very special but, once you get deep down in the water, the magic begins. This site reunites all the very best of “Komodo dive” diving: massive schools of fishes, incredible hard color corals, soft corals, sharks, turtles, tunas, trevallies and much more!
Due to the rock’s topography and exposure to strong currents, the reef hasn’t been targeted by fishermen and is in a very good condition. The volume of marine life here is incredible. The north side of the pinnacle is the most spectacular, with a gully of 27 meters. Currents can be kind of strong so it is not a diving site for beginners. I guess by then I wasn’t a beginner anymore? 😅
As we were approaching Batu Bolong my heart started beating. I was a little nervous due to the currents but I was also looking forward to see what the fuss about that diving site was all about. I paired up with Edy, the guy from Germany. We went with Sandy (a guy from Java as our Dive Master) and a couple from Slovakia.
From the moment we jumped into the water the magic began. It was crazy. It looked unreal. So many fishes and corals creating such a colorful painting! There was a little current but it was feasible. We started diving deeper and… boom! I spotted a huge turtle laying on the ground. It was as big as the table of my kitchen! Like the turtle in Dragon Ball! They are one of my favourite marine animals. They are so cool!
We kept on diving awing to the beautiful marine life. I had already done 10 dives in Indonesia. Five in Tulamben and Five in Pulau Weh. Comparisons are odious but, I had never seen anything like what I was seeing right there. It was too beautiful to be true. Our luck continued as we were diving. We didn’t see just one or two but three huge turtles! They were amazing! We also saw a beautiful lion fish, a moray eel and plenty of other cool stuff. My dive in Batu Bolong looked like this:
I realized my air consumption was getting better. I tried to inhale slowly and then I would hold the breath a little bit if I saw I was too close to the bottom. So, my exhale would last way longer than my inhale. I felt pretty happy about that, just as this moray eel 🙂
Second dive in Komodo National Park: Tatawa Kecil
After Batu Bolong we set sail to Tatawa Kecil, the favourite diving site of Sam, the French dive instructor. He said the site was kind of similar to Batu Bolong but, due to weather conditions, it wasn’t done as often. That was what made it so special. The place is indeed kind of like Batu Bolong. It is a small island and a world class dive site for drifting. Again, it is not a place for beginners, due to the strong currents.
The marine life is kind of similar to the one found at Batu Bolong and the corals and the whole scenery is almost as beautiful. Even if we were constantly reminded about the strong currents, I didn’t feel they were that strong. Either that or I had already become a drift master diver 😉
In the beginning I didn’t see anything special but, as we started moving, the magic began. We saw plenty of beautiful and colorful schools of fishes and corals. We saw a lion fish and an stunning white tip shark! He was so graceful and cool. Seeing him swimming was such a magical moment! My dive at Tatawa Kecil looked like this:
As I did my first two dives, I started to compared my buoyancy with the one I had back in Pulau Weh. I realized I was using too much weight. Thus, I changed from 3 to 2 kilos. The result? I didn’t spend as much time with my face close the bottom and I didn’t have to put as much air into the BCD. In a nutshell: my air consumption got better. It is by practicing and realising about the way you dive and how you set up your equipment that you will get better at it, just like with anything in life 😉
Third dive in Komodo National Park: Manta Point
After my second dive in Komodo National Park, we took a break for lunch. The food was good and I spent some time chatting with the rest of the passengers and the crew. We were all pretty amazed by what we were seeing. There were some experienced divers among us, yet, they all agreed diving in Komodo National Park is a one in a lifetime experience.
The final dive was taking place at Manta Point. I had already been to a Manta Point before, back in Nusa Penida. Back then I wasn’t very satisfied with the way things went. On the one hand, I was really happy about having spotted some mantas, the first ones of my life. On the other hand, we were way too many people. At some point, the situation became even dangerous, as the boats and people moved quickly around, trying to get the best shots of the mantas.
This time though, as we were not snorkelling but diving, the situation changed quite a lot. We were way less people. That, plus the fact that the amount of people per day at a certain diving site is limited, helped quite a lot. The dive was going to be even more of a drift one than the previous ones. I didn’t have great memories about my previous drift dives but that also helped my mindset: I wanted to get better at it.
We started the dive and I didn’t see anything special about it. The bottom was almost empty. There were no corals or fishes. Little by little though, as we let the current takes us, the magic began yet once again. This time, however, it was slightly different. It was the best dive of my life.
The show started with a beautiful white tip shark swimming gracefully in front of us, as if he understood we were awing to his beauty. After that, we saw a small sting ray close to the bottom, which eventually moved away from us. If that hadn’t been enough, as we were swimming, we approached a slope. I started to distinguish a few shadows which, after a short while, became a couple of huge mantas rays. I couldn’t believe it.
At some point, I was so close to them that I had to get as closer as possible to the bottom to avoid crashing into them. I laid down, with my back against the bottom and… a whole family passed over me! There were around 15 in total. Can you believe it? I have never seen a marine animal moving as gracefully as mantas do. It is like if they were flying in the water. It was amazing! Once they all left, as we were coming towards the end of our dive, we saw one more manta ray alone and, to close the dive up, we saw a beautiful and funny nemo fish. It looked like this:
Back to Labuan Bajo
My dive at Manta Point in Komodo National Park wasn’t just the best of my life, but the longest one. I stayed in the water for one hour! The maximum depth was just 15 meters but, still, it was a great achievement. I was starting to feel more and more comfortable with my air consumption 🙂
On the way back to Labuan Bajo, we started to share experiences from our day diving in Komodo National Park. It turned out our group was one of the luckiest on the boat. We had seen a lot of mantas but other people weren’t that lucky and just saw a few. I guess that, in a way, my luck is pretty high when it comes to seeing natural wonders 🙂
I heard someone talking about meditation, I came closer and started speaking with him. He was French and was around 45 years old. He was having a hard time in his life when he decided to take a 3-day Vipassana meditation course. It wasn’t the first person who told me something about Vipassana during my trip…
He felt a life-changing experience just during the 3 days of the course and he decided to dig deeper. Afterwards, he would spend 5 weeks in a Tibetan school in France to improve on his meditation as well as on the Vipassana discipline. He recommended me some meditation books in French and told me that, as of now, if I wanted to take a Vipassana course, the minimum was 10 days. Why? Because the people in charge felt like 3 days were not enough to get the hold of it. Again, after talking to him, I felt like I would like to try a 10-day Vipassana retreat. It might happen sooner than later 🙂 (Update, it already happened) 🙂
Back in Labuan Bajo, after thanking the crew and the passengers, I walked back to Centro Hostel to meet Andreina. We went to Floresia’s office (at Ciao Hostel) and booked a 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park for 900 K plus around 500 K on fees. That was around 90 Euros. The fees are not very clear (as I had already mentioned going on a tour is way more messy and shady than going diving) but normally go for Komodo’s rangers, Padang Island, etc.
After that, we walked to the Night Food Market and, after wandering for a bit, we chose a booth, sat down and ordered some food. The food was very good and they had plenty of fresh fish. Prices are correct so, if you feel like trying something good and fresh, you might want to go check it out. With our stomachs satisfied we walked to Centro Hostel and got ready for a night of sleep before going on the 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park 🙂
