So now we had a few days to catch up and motored along the coast from Maumere to Sea World Resort where we spent a few days including the night of 17 August – Indonesian Independence day. Had a fine culture show and bar-b-q feast on the beach to celebrate.
On our own again, Anna and I headed off north then west along the north coast of Flores, stopping at a few really nice little bays along the coast of Flores until we reached Riung about half way along the north coast. It was an interesting spot. They had built a jetty for our use so we could exit and enter our dinghies with ease and had people there to assist with jerry cans..the only way to get diesel around here. 1,000 litres via 20 litre jerry cans!! Again we had a very warm welcome and a wonderful show of cultural dancing followed by a feast all put on for us by the Regent of the area. We spent 3 days there including a day trip in a bus to a remote village where the local school entertained us with beautiful dancing, and a day trip to a snorkelling island for outings.
On 26th August we left for Labuan Bajo the major port on the western end of Flores. This is an in interesting spot. With the large number of vessels, which meet the demand of the tourist trade for the diving and the Komodo dragons, it had plenty of action. The diving was superb...we went with a group of the sailors and had two dives with a dive company. It was an excellent day. The tourists here are plentiful and there are therefore the associated restaurants and hotels etc and we found the place the most developed we had struck since leaving Darwin...Anna loved the more developed, aspects of this port, but the rubbish along the streets and the unfinished road sides made us despair! Why can they not understand that the plastic rubbish they continually discard along the streets ends up on the beaches and in the ocean! My thinking after I see a few large hotel developments is that in 5 years time I probably wouldn’t recognise the place!
This is where we picked up Lou Kiely who just happened to be at the Gili Islands off Lombok so she grabbed a plane and flew out to join us for the cruise through Rinca and the Komodo Islands (including the Komodo Dragons) and the sail from Labuan Bajo to Lombok and the Gili Islands.
The dragons were pretty amazing...up to 3 or 4 metres long and pretty quick if they want to get you! The thing the girls found interesting was the fact that the male dragon has two penises! Yes, that’s two penises! So when one gives up he shifts on to the second one so she gets her full money’s worth!! They are just huge monitor lizards, but nevertheless they were pretty impressive. The way they bring down a large water buffalo and the way the males fight each other.
