Pre-Adventure
By the end of December 2015, I received a chat message from a friend about a Sailing tour promotion to Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara which is pretty cheap (only IDR 1.6 mio or around USD 120 for 3D2N, 1 night LOB or Living on Boat). She mentioned that we could find a promo flights to get there. Me, who love to traveling anywhere anytime I got my chance to, got really excited at sudden. But honestly I doubt that the trip would be realized, since it was difficult to find the travel mates and trusted local tour provider.
After all the searches, discussions and references, we started to narrow our plans and prepared all the things in advance. Roundtrip flight tickets, boats, snorkeling gears, cameras and of course the travel team. We picked Indonesian Independence Day to be our starting date of our adventure (17 Aug - 20 Aug, 3 nights living on boat!). On 3 days before departure, our final team will be 10 persons. Yeay! Still can't believe that we finally going to fight till the end.
Here I spell out my personal quotation plans (some of my friends join later, so some of us got in separate flights):
- Flight Jakarta - Denpasar - Jakarta by Air Asia : IDR 800,000 net / pax (around USD 60 vv) include 10 KGs baggage, issued on 6th Jan 2016 through a friend who work in QZ using his Big Shot Points.
- Flight Denpasar - Labuan Bajo - Denpasar by Wings Air : IDR 1,518,000 net / pax (around USD 117 vv) include 10 KGs baggage, issued on Feb 17th via Tiket.com
- Land arrangement (Sailing boat 15 pax capacity: 3 cabins + 1 deck + 1 toilet, daily meals, mineral waters, clean water and electricity) IDR 1,600,000 / pax
- Snorkel gears rental on the boat (goggle mask, snorkel, fins) IDR 30,000 / day x 4 days = IDR 120,000 / pax (around USD 9.50). Recommended by friends who had the trip earlier.
- ALL-TIME INVESMENT (this is an accidental expense i spent 1 day before departure :")), Sherwood goggle mask tempered glass + -5.00 lenses + half dry snorkel : IDR 2,000,000 / USD 154 (after discount)
Total budget: IDR 4,038,000 / USD 311 (without personal snorkel gears)
Final Itinerary before departure:
- 17 Aug: Fly Jakarta-Bali-Labuan Bajo, Kelor Island, Sunset at Kalong Island
- 18 Aug: Rinca Island, Kambing Island, Sunset at Padar Island
- 19 Aug: Pink Beach (Komodo Island), Taka Makassar, Manta Point, Gili Laba
- 20 Aug: Pulau 9 (Jellyfish point), Kanawa Island, Bidadari Island, back to Labuan Bajo, Fly Labuan Bajo-Bali-Jakarta
So... are you ready to go?? Aye aye captain!
Day 1 - August 17th, 2016
Woke up so early in the morning to catch the morning flight at 5.20 AM (original schedule 06.20).
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| Excited peeps on flight to Denpasar |
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| We had around 4 hours to spent on Denpasar before next flight to Labuan Bajo. To avoid any miss flight we finally ordered the famous Sate Babi Bawah Pohon (Pork Satay) from gojek to be delivered at Starbucks Ngurah Rai international airport. It is funny to experience eating a Nasi Bungkus in a Coffee Shop :D |
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| Our first time flying with ATR, a small type of aircraft which has around 50s passanger seats capacity. It sounds scary at first but it was totally not bad at all! |
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| The view from our window. Don't take a nap in flight if you don't want to miss many amazing view from the window. The ATR flight fly lower than boeing / airbus, so we could see many beautiful sights from the top. Feels so excited! |
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Just landing at Labuan Bajo (all-new) international airport. The new airport was inaugurated by our President Joko Widodo on December 27th, 2015. We spent in Komodo Airport around 1.5 hours before all of our travel mates arrive (as i told you we are in diferrent flights).
We played UNO cards like a crazy kids, sitting with crossed-legs on the floors.
They don't have any seats in front of the airports. Bring your own snacks and foods because they don't have any restaurant and lounge in the airport. A canteen is available in the basement but be ready for over-priced f&b. |
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| 'Welcome at Labuan Bajo'. We arrive at the Harbour around 4.30 PM. |
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KLM Qifadzah, our home for 3 nights in Labuan Bajo.
Rsv: Pak Basyar +62 813 3168 9752
(photo: Darfan Wongso) |
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| Will spent my beauty sleeps here x). Looks so tiny but it was totally comfy to sleep there with AC (angin cepoi-cepoi). The down side of the bunk bed was very useful. We, ladies, could change clothes with no worries there while one cover us with a blanket / cloth. |
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| First sunset view from the boat. We sailed through the sea and will spend a night near Kalong Island (Island of bats) |
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Independence day photo after singing our national anthem: Indonesia Raya.
We love Indonesia!
(photo: Darfan Wongso) |
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| The Bats come out from their hideout. Amazing life-performance by the nature |
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Try to fly the paper lantern for several times but the wind in the middle of the sea was too strong!
After all trial and errors, we succeed to fly 4 out of 24 pieces of lantern. haha. Learning tips: Fly the lantern in the sea which is surrounded by nearest islands so the wind will be hindered by the hills.
(photo: Darfan Wongso) |
Day 1 Summary: Day 1 itinerary completed except Kelor Island. We got our flights delayed almost 1 hour so we couldn't hop to Kelor Island.
Day 2 - August 18th, 2016
First Stop: Rinca Island - Komodo National Park
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| Beautiful surprise in the morning, wake up with stunning view in front of your eyes. |
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| A sign on the gate of Rinca Island. |
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| The nick name of the area is Loh Buaya which means Crocodile's Bay in local language. |
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One of the Komodo Dragon do the sunbathing. The size approx 1.5 meters long and 20-30 y.o.
Komodo Dragon is the largest species lizard on earth and only can be found in Komodo Island, Rinca, Flores, Padar, and Gili Motang. Komodo populations in Rinca island is around 1,500. wow. They are a carnivore and very sensitive with a smell. The large ones could eat their species (canibal) and big animals such as deer, bufallo, etc. The scariest is, they could also swimming in the sea and move to nearest island! The small ones could run faster and climb the trees. |
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Xiao Ming in the frame with Edwin the Komodo.
The ranger reminds us to stay at minimum 3 meters away from the Komodos. Do not wave your hand or personal belongings such as camera straps, flags, etc if you don't want to be chased by them. |
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| Red-white team with the dragon |
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| National-is-me |
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| There was some tracks option for trekking. We chose the medium track (purple) which has a sea view from the hill. The distance is around 4 km long and we took around an hour to strolling around and took as many photos as possible. |
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| Red and white team cheering the drone |
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Ready, Give Respect to Sang Saka Merah Putih!
(photo: Joseph Wolfgang) |
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| Our drone-rider and photographer, Joseph W in the frame with his acrobatic pose. |
Second Stop: Snorkeling at Kambing Island
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Swimming with cool mates.
I was trying hard to be comfortable swimming using fins which are too small for me.
I already reserve for 38/39 size but only 37/38 available. Trying a new gears with myopia lenses were really great. The first time i could see the underwater creatures so clearly although at first my nose area always filled with water. The honest thing is: i couldn't swim. I just keep my life vest near by my hand and try my best to not panic and to stay floating. |
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Really hard to take pics. I ruined every nice photos hahahhahahahaha sorry guys.
(photo: Joseph Wolfgang) |
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| Sexy backs lol |
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The clean water surfaces at Kambing Island
(photo: Darfan Wongso) |
PS: Under water pictures will be uploaded later (still waiting from the photographer) ;)
Third Stop: Padar Island
When you visit Labuan Bajo, your stamina and healthiness is a very important thing to enjoy all the situations and natural attractions. One of the highlights in our trip was Padar Island. The trekking routes is rather steep and sandy so it will be better to bring your mountain shoe-wear. The way down is way harder than to climb. Thankfully one of the boat's crew: Juma was coming with us until the top and he was willing to help us at any time. He walks and runs with a bear feet and he carried our belongings in his back.
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| Juma the savior (photo: Darfan Wongso) |
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| Me with the magnificent view |
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| Meteor Garden pose. Me with Xiao Ming & Dee the Whale Shark |
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| Panoramic view of Padar Island |
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| Giving all my respects to God's Creation |
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| Picturesque Sunset View |
The best time to visit Padar Island is sunrise/sunset. Make sure to bring a lighter to avoid any accidents while hiking / walk down the hills in a low light and minimum visibility. Always mind your every steps!
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| Our Dinner time made by Chef Ujang |
Day 2 summary: All destinations completed.
To be continued on second part: Pink Beach, Manta Rays, Gili Laba, Jellyfish, Kanawa Island, Travel tips, Incidental costs and many more!
Thank you for reading. Hope you guys enjoying our story. I am still practicing to write in English, so if you have any advice or suggestion, tips or kind of please leave your comments and thoughts! Will be gladly to take them for better.
Follow me on instagram: @ptriciamichelle
Visit my friend's blog for our journey from her side at
Dee Traveler
Cheers and keep travelling!
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