What I thought would be a laid-back trip through some islands for snorkeling and sightseeing turned out to be an action-packed adventure kicking off a ten-day tour through Indonesia.
My cousin Bettina and I have traveled together twice before: once locally in Siargao last year, and once internationally to see the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. So when she presented some really cheap flights to Bali, I booked us on them immediately. We wound up spending just two nights on the famous “Island of the Gods”, instead flying out to Labuan Bajo and Lombok. (More on Lombok in Part 2…)
Labuan Bajo is a jump-off point to take boats to Komodo Island, where Komodo dragons live. However, it is still quite far for a day tour on a pump boat, so many travelers do liveaboard boat tour packages where you can sail around the islands for a few days and do some other activities.
Sure, we could have purchased this sort of tour package from Klook, but going direct to a tour operator would slash the tag price in half. After a lot of research looking for operators that had been in business for more than a year (proving they weren’t fly-by-night), we went with Family Labuan Bajo Tour and Travel on their 3-Day 2-Night Open Tour around the Komodo Island National Park, booking a private twin-share cabin on a boat with 10 other passengers.
You can watch my vlog below, or scroll for more logistics info.
We flew into Bali on a Cebu Pacific flight, then spent one night there before taking a domestic flight to Labuan Bajo. Our boat would leave the following day, but we had to pay in cash at the tour office before 6:30pm that night.
Apart from the airport where you could take a taxi to your hotel or tour office for 50,000 to 70,000 Indonesian rupiah (IDR), you would need to approach a taxi kiosk or a tout to book a car. The easiest way to get around is via Grab Bike, if you don’t have heavy luggage — each ride cost me less than 15,000 IDR.
The liveaboard boat tour package included transfers to and from hotel or airport, a private stateroom with its own bathroom, full board (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, water, coffee, and juice), power and airconditioning on the boat which had a generator and battery, and a drone, GoPro, and camera wielded by our guide to capture all our moments. We provided our own alcoholic beverages, snack chips, flights in and out of Labuan Bajo, and cash to buy extra food and souvenirs on the islands.
We also had to set aside 600,000 IDR for the Komodo National Park fees, which we paid directly to the park offices because we wanted to get all the receipts. (Family Labuan Bajo Tours had initially told us it was 500,000 IDR, but apparently the park had implemented an increase — not a fun surprise!)
In hindsight we had fun on the trip because apart from seeing Komodo dragons, we also snorkeled some amazing reefs that blew the Great Barrier Reef out of the water and saw manta rays (!!!) and turtles. We also went on two heart-pounding hikes up to breathtaking viewpoints and got some great photos as a result.
What would have made the trip even better? Perhaps some communication to set expectations.
- Cellular and data signal was non-existent on Night 1 when we lay anchor at Padar Island, but once the sun came up so did the signal (I think some of the cell sites in the area might be solar, or only operated during the day?). I had to send in work on the mornings of Days 2 and 3 so it was touch-and-go for a bit due to the intermittent signal and I couldn’t get my data hotspot to work with my laptop, but I managed in the end just using my smartphone.
- While I fancy myself a proficient athlete, the difficulty and number of hikes was a shock. The tour brief only discussed the Padar Island hike/climb on Day 2, so I was prepared for that and packed proper shoes for it. But on the morning of Day 3 we also had a hike up to the Kelor Island viewpoint, which the tour guide kept saying was only “five minutes, five minutes” then we could swim and snorkel at the beach. I wore slides on that hike, which turned out to be quite steep with “steps” hewn out of the cliffside from countless feet that had gone before. I ended up going barefoot for better balance and zero chance of slipping out of my slides.
- The snorkeling in open water at Makassar Reef, Manta Point, and Manjarite Island needed intermediate skill and confidence in one’s swimming abilities because there were currents out there and we were basically drifting from point to point. First-timers to snorkeling would literally be thrown in the deep end.
We were also part of a funny ragtag group of duos who wouldn’t/couldn’t talk to one another due to language barriers. There were a pair of Frenchmen, a young Indonesian couple (who did a whole proposal photoshoot on the tour), an older Indonesian couple, a Chinese couple, and two Malaysian ladies with a two-year-old in tow.
This was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime tour itinerary, and for me seeing four Komodo dragons in the wild is more than enough. I wouldn’t mind more snorkeling and sunbathing and less hiking on the agenda, though — but that would be a custom tour and would cost more. The Komodo Island National Park is beautiful and vast, and that makes liveaboard boat tours ideal for traveling through them.
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