We’ve had a busy 9 days and are now relaxing in Labuan Bajo after our TruTravels tour of the Komodo Islands.

Some of our highlights include seeing dolphins, snorkeling and jumping into waterfalls. Luke even managed to see a shark during our time snorkeling.

Unfortunately we did have one traumatic experience, but we’ll come back to that later…

The islands we’ve been on recently have been a lot more remote than Bali, and the locals have been paying a lot more attention to us. The children come up for fist bumps, and we are often asked to take pictures with people. Whilst Bali was mainly of the Hindu faith, these islands are of the Islamic faith, and so we have got used to the calls to prayer during the days.

📍 Kuta, Lombok

We started the tour off on Lombok Island after catching the ferry over from Bali. It was an interesting experience  – you get on the ferry eventually, but there is a lot of shouting and being moved to different places on the jetty before you actually get on the boat.

After meeting the group and our tour guide, Andre, the first full day of the tour (23rd July) started with a visit to a local Sasak Village. This particular village is known for their traditional weaving techniques, and the women will weave everyday between 7am and 5pm. If a woman can not weave, then she isn’t allow to marry.

After a tour of the village, we were dressed up using their woven garments in their traditional style. If you were getting married, then the garments would be in gold.

We then moved to the jungle for a hike to visit a couple of waterfalls. The hike wasn’t too challenging, the waterfalls were spectacular, and we were given the chance to swim in both. Unsurprisingly, the water was freezing but definitely worth it.

The 24th of July was a day spent soaking up some sun beach hopping.

📍 Sumbawa

The 25th of July was a day spent travelling to the island of Sumbawa. Part of the journey included getting on a ferry used by the locals, and they wouldn’t stop staring at our group. Some people even came over and asked to take pictures with us.

Our hotel was set in gorgeous surroundings, complete with infinity pool and cottages for guests to stay in.

📍 Moyo Island

Whilst we’re staying on Sumbawa island for a couple of nights, we took a day trip to Moyo Island on the 26th July. It took us 2 hours to get there by boat, and on arrival we climbed on to the back of dirt bikes for an off-road journey to see the first waterfall. The experience at Mata Jitu was one of the most beautiful experiences we’ve had. Enclosed by the trees, butterflies and dragonflies were hovering around the water, and the temperature of the water itself was beautiful.

After Mata Jitu, we jumped back on the bikes and headed down to the sea front for lunch.

Our tour of the Waterfalls on Moyo continued with Air Terjun Diwu Mba’i. Whilst we were meant to get there by the bikes as well, they got stuck in a patch of mud and so we ended up walking half of the way.

📍 Komodo National Park (live-aboard boat)

On the 27th of July, we boarded our own private boat, which would be home for the next two nights and three days. With no running water and everyone sleeping in one cabin, it was fairly basic. However we had stocked up on beer and snacks before we got on, and we were generally excited for the experience and to do something new.

The first stop on the boat was Satonda Island, famous for the crater filled with salt water following a volcano eruption. Due to the high levels of salt in the water, floating was incredibly easy, and the water was saltier than the sea. We sailed through the night and woke up to the deep orange sky of sun rise coming through the windows.

28th July – we woke up to find out that the engine had stopped working during the night, and one of the crew members had gone under the water to untangle rubbish from the propeller as we moved.

The boat continued to sail on to Manta Point today, in hope of finding manta rays. Unfortunately we were unlucky, despite trying two different spots. Luke did see a baby shark and the fish were an array of colours and sizes which was spectacular.

After manta point we sailed to Pink Beach, named to describe the colour of the sand, for some more snorkeling. A smaller boat took us to the shore, and at first it appeared the sand was white in colour. On closer inspection, there were pink grains and the sand was pink where the sea met shore. Perhaps you’ll be able to see it in the pictures below.

Following Pink Beach, we went back to the boat and had a quick turnaround before we had to get onto another boat to take us to Padar Island to climb to the viewpoint at the top.

On the way though, we experienced a journey we will never forget. We encountered waves so big they were knocking the boat from side to side, to the point we were almost going to capsize. The crew asked us to move to the back of the boat due to the waves, and from there we could see just how extreme the situation had become. At one point the boat wasn’t even moving as the captain was struggling to navigate the sea.

Somehow he controlled the situation, and we gratefully made it to Padar Island. The water was much calmer there as we were in-between other islands, however they made a decision there that we would take the long way back where the sea would likely be calmer.

Once on land, we hiked over 900 steps to the viewpoint at the top. It was just before sun set, so it was absolutely stunning.

It was dark by the time we got down to the bottom. There was a debate between crew members and Andre about what to do, and at first they decided we wouldn’t move and would stay there for the night. There were a couple of big diving boats moored nearby, and so our boat was contacted to see if they would come and pick us up.

The Anugrah would not come and get us as the conditions were too rough for them to move, and so Andre sent a message to the rescue team for assistance. In the meantime the debates continued amongst the crew about what we should do, and we were asked how we felt.

As a group we decided we would prefer to stay on the boat, anchored where we were instead of going back either way. Andre also said he was not happy to move, and he said that the rangers would provide us with rice and a few people could sleep in the office. Thinking that was the end of it, Andre relayed our decision to the captain, however he replied that he wouldn’t be waiting the night and was going back the long way.

I’m not sure really what happened for a while, but after a load of diving boats all randomly turned up in the space of around 10 minutes, Andre told us we would be staying after all. The boats were reporting that the conditions were still awful and their passengers were too frightened to continue their journey as well.

Andre was amazing during the whole experience. He went back and forth between our boat and the rangers on land, trying his best to arrange help and to handle the situation. He had no signal on the boat as well, so was having to do the walk to the viewpoint several times in order to contact people. He also managed to get over to one of the big diving boats who sent over rice, noodles, and water for us all.

We woke up to watch the sun rise, and at 6am we started to move. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how relieved we were when we saw the Anugrah heading towards us.

Back on board, we sailed for an hour to Komodo Island in search of the Komodo Dragons. The local guide told us it was currently mating season so we probably wouldn’t see any, which after the night before, didn’t go down very well…

However, just before we left we did see one on the beach that was about two and a half years old. They move surprisingly quickly, and the one we saw had a tongue in a great colour yellow.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing at the hotel and enjoying our time as a group. We had a lovely last evening with everyone, and TruTravels paid for our main courses and a drink as an apology for the previous night’s experience.

We’ve been taking the last few days easy and exploring the fishing town of Labuan Bajo before we head back to Bali. There is a great atmosphere here, and we’ve enjoyed walking around the town and harbour. At one point we stumbled across a dance group rehearsing in the large square.

On the 2nd of August we’re heading back to Bali where we will be planning the Malaysia part of our trip. If you have any questions about our trip so far, please drop them in the comments! We hope you’ve enjoyed this post about our recent adventures, and look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Lots of love,

Caitlin and Luke