Our 25 hour bus/bemo/ferry ride was so exhausting that the minute we arrived at our hotel (just four rooms 100 metres up an alley on the main road) we all plonked out for a nap. Marc was too tired to wake up for dinner so Rachel, Sanne and myself went for a delicious Italian meal down the road. If you had to ask me to describe Labuan Bajo in 3 words I would say a “shitty Little Italy”. Essentially, the town is a shit hole really: it is dirty, there are rats running around everywhere, the beaches are far away and not so nice anyway and there isn’t much to do either, apart from (and this is a major plus side) eating at one of the many delicious Italian restaurants. However, Labuan Bajo is the gateway to the Komodo National and Marine Park, a haven for scuba divers and wildlife enthusiasts and basically the only two reasons why we were there.
The following morning, after booking our dive for the next day, we went in search of a nice beach. Turned out nice beaches aren’t easy to find in Labuan Bajo. Marc and Sanne went scouting the so-called beach (it was too narrow, dirty and stacked with fishermen boats to deserve to be called a beach) and they came across a fisherman and his wife. Through the two or three words of English they spoke, we arranged to pay 300,000 Rupiah between us for him to take us out on his little fishing boat for the afternoon. So he took us to a beautiful beach on Angel Island, a small island that just had one high class resort on it. On our way back, the fisherman was nice enough to stop near an island to watch sunset- and what a breathtaking sunset it was. The landscape around Labuan Bajo is absolutely beautiful. The islands, some of which make up the Komodo National Marine Park, are brown and green hilly, little islands, some of the larger ones are actually volcanoes and they are all scattered around the beautiful, blue and completely boat-less sea. Imagine all these islands and a fantastic orange and red sky and a descending sun as the backdrop. Can’t get any better, right? Wrong. It did get better when we spotted a pod of dolphins coming up for air in the distance. A sight that will remain in my mind forever.
That evening we enjoyed another delicious Italian meal at La Cucina, so good that we ended up becoming regulars there.
On our third day in Labuan Bajo we went scuba diving. The day started off on a bad note, as the dive sites we had booked for were changed without our notice.(The dive site we had originally booked for is a world renowned site- Batu Belong- and so we were a bit pissed off we weren’t going there). Because of this, we ended up arguing with the dive master simply because we told them it was unprofessional to change our dive sites without informing us, and he, very typically Indonesian, acted like a little boy and got offended. Quite entertaining for the 8 or so people in the dive shop listening to our arguement. Anyway, the first dive site (which was the unplanned one) was alright, nothing out of this world but we did see some nice coral and a lot of small reef fish and a few sting rays. After lunch on the boat we headed to the second, more popular dive site know as Manta Point famous for the many manta rays that live in the area. The site is in a shallow sandy area, no more than 10 metres deep. As we were gearing up, we heard people shouting and pointing towards the water. In the water we saw three or four massive shadows, moving around. I couldn’t believe how big they looked! We hurried up and within seconds jumped in the water, forgetting about buddy checks and barely having time to put our masks on. As soon as the 5 of us of our group were in the water, we descended to around 6 or 7 metres. Suddenly these 3 massive mantra rays started swimming in our direction, one following the other, like some graceful underwater spaceships. If the leader turns around 360°, the others do exactly the same. They passed by right infront of us, so close that if I had stuck my hand out I probably would have touched one. That first encounter was by the far the best of the whole dive. It was a drift dive, so we just drifted along the bottom of the water, coming across a few mantas a couple of metres away and also a turtle. When we resurfaced I found out that Marc’s goPro wasn’t working. Because of the whole chaos to get in the water before the rays left, we accidentally closed the strap of the extra battery in the cover, and so the camera flooded. Quite a disappointment, especially since it had been such an amazing and unforgettable experience and we hadn’t managed to get any footage. But at least we have the memory in our heads that I am sure none of us will ever forget! That evening all the divers on our boat went for another fantastic meal at La Cucina.
The following morning was a sad one as we said our goodbye to Rachel and Sanne, promising we would meet again but neither of us sure when or where it would be. They had decided to get a boat trip back to Lombok but Marc and I decided to stay on a bit longer as we had some more time on our hands than they had. We enjoyed our last day at a nice hotel called Silvia on a decent beach in Labuan Bajo, swimming, reading, and relaxing to a fantastic sunset.
The next day we headed off to a beautiful hidden gem of an island in the middle of the Komodo Marine Park.
-Vanessa-
Marc and Van Explore 