Indonesia

Komodo Island, Indonesia Jan 3,2012
     We woke up as we arrived at the harbor of this largely uninhabited island. there is a good reason that only 1000 fishing families live close together in a small community outside the National Park. There are no roads , no vehicles and basically no infrastructure. We were a group of 30 who banded together via the Internet prior to the cruise . the cruise line would not allow anyone ashore who had not booked an excursion with them with the exception of any group who managed to set up a tour on their own- namely our Cruise Critic group. for the price of a third paid by other passengers we were tendered ashore first to the park entrance. there we all opted for the 4 km hike to see the famous denizens of this remote island- the Komodo dragon. Our guide, Jeffrey Buana met us at the entrance and along with several rangers each equipped with a long forked stick, we set off. within a few minutes along the jungle like trail we came upon a deer with impressive antlers in the forest. From then on we had to walk in silence as noise annoys the giant lizards. these guys grow to 15 feet and weigh300 lbs. They are also quite ornery and nearly the most poisonous animal there is. t is the saliva that contains the poison. In fact it is so potent that all they have to do is bite their prey and then just wait around for them to die. There are no fences , no way to really protect yourself other than those forked sticks. they had to use them a few times as we came to the water hole and there were 6-10 of them wandering around. I was getting a good video of one of them and was backing up as it headed for me and nearly into the one right behind me. Luckily the ranger grabbed me and pulled me aside as the large male crossed within 3 feet of me. It was wild and wonderful. It always amazes me what you can do outside the confines of the US and all the worries of lawsuits. As the group behind us caught up we moved on passing a green viper snake and climbing to the highest hill overlooking the harbor. What a panorama.  After  we climbed down and navigated the market set up to sell us wooden dragons of every size, we climbed aboard a small boat which took us Pantai Merah or the pink beach.. the boat tied to a mooring to protect the coral and we transferred to a glass bottom boat for a short ride to the sandy beach. I could  not begin to describe the many ,many types and colors of coral and fish. The greens, purples, yellows, blues of the coral were surpassed by the multitude of shapes and sizes of the fish that swam in and out. Awesome. As soon as we got ashore I was back in the lagoon snorkeling. This was even better than Bora Bora last year. this incredible living reef just a few yards from shore was the best I have ever seen. All too soon we returned to the boat where the Indonesian crew had made a lunch for us of chicken, rice, fish,shrimp noodles and the best tasting bananas, mangoes and pineapple you could imagine.One of the best shore excursions we have done. Komodo itself was the pristine south sea island of my dreams and imagination. Now Jeffrey dropped us off and took the boats the four hours to Flores, the nearest island with amenities , where he will board a plane to Bali and meet us tomorrow at 11 AM! I so hope my pictures turn out.