We arrived at our Slawi Bay anchorage point for Komodo Island around 7:30. Per our CD, Bruce, over 1,000 guests were signed up to get off the ship which required a careful orchestration of the tender process. Two tender platforms were in operation and we were instructed to be at the Ocean Bar by 9am. Both Carol's group and my group were grouped together and we were assigned sticker #23. At 9:05am we were instructed to proceed down the gangway to the tender platform. The seas were calm and the tender process went smoothly and about 20 minutes later we were on shore on Komodo Island.
We met our representative, Vincent, and I collected the excursion fee from everybody and turned it over to Vincent. We then received our Park briefing and went off on our trek. It wasn't long before we spotted our first Komodo dragon and not long afterwards a second. Both of these were juveniles. At the watering hole, this year there were 4 adult males. In this heat they were lethargic, although with the large numbers visiting today, at least one of them was really hissing. It was very hot and we saw one passenger carried out on a stretcher.
A bit further down the trail we spotted a small deer and another smaller Komodo dragon. And all too soon our trek was over. But the next adventure was to begin: snorkeling at the Pink Beach. However, the tour agent added, without consulting me, another couple and we had to wait 1/2 hour for them to finish their dragon walk. I was not a happy camper! When the couple finally caught up to us, we then had to round up our group who were scattered in the small shopping area to walk to the other dock to board our little vessel to take us to the Pink Beach. The little boat chugged its way to the Pink Beach where we were transferred to a smaller boat to be taken to the beach to start our snorkeling. In our last visit we were able to snorkel directly from the bigger boat.
After completing our snorkeling we putted back to the dock and enjoyed an authentic Indonesian lunch that was quite tasty. We tendered back to the ship a little after 2pm. We showered and went to the Crow's Nest to watch the sail away. After a light dinner, we were invited to a 7pm Officer's Cocktail Party which was well attended. The Main Stage entertainment was a classical pianist from England named Adam Johnson. He was quite good. Following that we watched the movie 'Wonder' which was really good.
Our next port tomorrow is Lombok. We'll see what it brings. Stay tuned.
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