Diving and Dragons in Komodo National Park

After a less than comfortable night's sleep on the floor in Bali airport, we met Steve and Rochelle to check in for our domestic flight to Labuan Bajo, where we would be spending a few days diving in the Komodo National Park. These guys were the very first people to come and meet us on this trip, so it was great to see them - especially since the last time we saw Steve was over 5 years ago in London! 

Labuan Bajo is a fishing village on the western edge of the island of Flores, and because of increasing popularity in diving over the years it's become a bit of a tourist hub. I don't know that there's really much to do apart from diving, so it was basically just a place to sleep for us. We chose a place called Gardena Hotel and Bugalows, and despite having to walk up the hill to our rooms, it meant we had a pretty great view of the harbour below.

Our bungalow

On recommendation from Cliff and Joyce who'd been there last year, we'd already been in contact with Flores Diving Centre and booked ourselves in - all four of us to do 6 dives over two days together, then Kurt and I to do another full day (3 more dives) after Steve and Rochelle left. The dive shop is owned and run by a friendly, energetic and helpful Italian woman named Chiara, who was always so quick to respond to my emails with all the answers we needed. After meeting her in person we were more than happy with our decision to go with her dive shop.

There are several dive sites that all the dive shops visit depending on weather and current conditions, and most of them are located within the protected area of the Komodo National Park. Because this area is protected it means that it hasn't been overfished or subjected to the horrifically damaging practice of dynamite fishing, and is therefore still teeming with so many kinds of fish and marine life that it's quite simply one of the best places in the world for diving.

Because most of the dive sites are a long way from shore (up to 3 hours), doing 3 dives per day meant a full day on the boat. We'd leave at about 7:30am/8am and be back at about 5:30pm. But it wasn't exactly a chore - we got snacks, lunch and water onboard, and in between dive sites we'd just sleep on the upper deck. Not a bad life at all really. And when it came time to dive, all our equipment was set up for us ready to put on and jump in. Over our three days of diving we visited 5 or 6 different sites, all pretty different in terms of water conditions, reef and animal life. There were a couple of sites in particular that were bloody spectacular though. Batu Bolong was so packed with coral and fish that you were constantly looking around to take it all in. The colours (which our GoPro didn't do justice) were so vibrant and there was just so much to see it was mind-blowing. Another site, Manta Point, was obviously a highlight because of the incredible Manta Rays that, if you're lucky enough to see (as we were), glide majestically through the water with an unbelievable grace despite their massive size. The actual dive itself was pretty tough as visibility was shit and the current was ridiculous, so much so that we had to dig into the sea-bed or grab onto a rock to prevent being carried away before we could see the manta's. But despite these conditions we were rewarded with a sighting of several enormous manta's gliding into the cleaning station, so we could observe them for a while from a respectable distance. Such an incredible experience.

Surrounded by these views while on the boat to dive sites

After two days of diving we all made the mission out to Rinca Island (about 3 hours by boat) to see the world-famous and deadly Komodo dragons. These massive creatures can grow up to 3m long and weigh up to 130kg, and are unsurprisingly the dominant predators on the islands they inhabit in the Komodo National Park. They eat almost anything (yes, even humans if they have the chance), but even if you manage to escape their deadly jaws you're fucked anyway - their saliva contains 50 strains of bacteria which results in death from blood poisoning. So, the moral of the story is don't get close enough to risk certain death. When you arrive on the island you're greeted by a guide who takes you to sign in and pay, then he walks you around for 30mins or so. I think we were all expecting something different, but the only place you actually see the dragons is outside the kitchen building where they're attracted by the smell of food. They just laze around outside in this area, so if you're under the illusion you'll be dodging them all along the paths across the island, you'll be sadly mistaken. Although, the idea of stumbling across one of these enormous lizards in the wild wasn't really appealing either. We figure they must have recently fed them as they were pretty docile, although at one stage a fairly large male got up and came towards us hissing and carrying on. Needless to say we all stood behind our guide who had our only form of defense - a long stick with a 'V' shape at the end which is used to hold the deadly animal at bay. Reassuring. After a brief walk around where he showed us an egg-laying mound and took us up to the top of a hill with a spectacular view, we were pretty much done. So while it was interesting to see these ancient killer dragons, it wasn't quite what we expected. But I guess if you come away in one piece, you're winning.

Steve and Rochelle had to move on to go to another part of Indo for some surfing, so after saying goodbye to them we still had our final day of diving. We went to our favorite spot again which was just as amazing the second time around, and by the end of our time diving in Labuan Bajo we were blown away by how good it was. If you're ever thinking of going to Indonesia here's a word of advice - skip Kuta or the usual tourist haunts of Bali and discover the amazing underwater world by diving in Komodo National Park. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.