Enjoyed a rest day & sorted a trip to Rinca & Komodo islands for the next day. We hired a boat for just the 2 of us so we could have a full day. I was not keen on staying on a boat for the night. Left at 6 am, with skipper Ari & crew. The boat had life jackets... & we had flippers if need be. Got to Rinca island by 8 am, met by a lovely guide, Abdul, who we both thought reminded us of my brother Nathan in disposition & his smiley face & twinkly eyes. We told him that so he was our best friend from then on! He was very informative and had his pronged stick to fend off any aggressive dragons. I was a bit nervous to be honest, they r scary looking enormous things. They live for 50 plus years & to 3 plus metres long. He told us if we had to run to throw our hat away from us & zigzag away. We went for a walk for about 45 minutes, plenty long enough in the open and the heat. We saw quite a few, 15 I guess, there r over 2400 on the island, we saw a mother one protecting her eggs, they lay about 30 eggs at a time, in a deep hole, they take about 9 months to hatch. When the rainy season comes the holes all fill up with water but the eggs survive. Then when they hatch the little ones live up in the trees until they get bigger, they r on their own from day 1, the mother will eat them!! The big ones can move quite fast, with their lethal tongues darting in & out. They sneak up on the deer, pigs or buffalo when they r sleeping, bite them, then stalk them for a week or so until they die from infection. From Rinca we went to komodo island which took a couple of hours in our little boat. Everyone was having a siesta, we had to walk quite a way to find the rangers. Really nerve racking checking all around in case there were some dragons lurking. Another 2400 ish live on that island as well as 1200 people. Imagine being born there! They even have a guest house where u can stay, NOT me. There were heaps of pigs & deer on Komodo, but a very parched landscape, just waiting for the rainy season. Back to the boat, had fried sardines with rice, vege & bananas for lunch then did some snorkelling on a small reef which was great. Got a bit cold after a while so then headed out to find the manta rays. Lots of strong currents in the water but was a very calm day. Saw dolphins & flying fish. So many islands everywhere. Quite a beautiful spot. The boat broke down twice on the way back, the bolts on the drive shaft sheared off. But they managed to keep it going, just. Trevor had a look under the floor at the motor & just shook his head at how it was still going. The two crew were great fun, one had a great time diving in & out of the water spotting the manta rays & then they boogied to the music on the front of the boat on the way back. We were supposed to be back by 5 pm but didn't get back until after dark, about 6.45 so a long but really good day. So goodbye Flores Island, the biking was every bit as hard as I imagined & more. But a great experience & the people were awesome. Ferry to Sumbaya next.
wow there , would be no use me going there with my sore feet , they would get me after 2 or 3 yards
ReplyDeleteWhat ungainly creatures they are .
Mum liked your blog very much, and said you both look well
I can just imagine some of the conditions of their boats, and the life jackets would be a great comfort knowing theres sharks around there
youll have to write a book on ya travels
cheers til next time dad xx