11 Komodo Island....

Today we were excited as we were visiting somewhere new...  We woke early and turned our window on so we could see when we were approaching land...  Komodo is a tender port and a world heritage site.  You are not allowed off the ship unless you have booked a ships or private tour.  We had a private tour booked and everyone’s information had to be given to shore excursions office for us to be allowed off.... we were assigned the first tender, so we were ready to make a quick get away...

Once on the island our group was lead to an official where we were given the rundown of our visit.... On top of the cost of our tour we also had to pay $10 for each camera and $18 for each video camera.... The talk was short and sweet but a bit worrying when it ended with the words “Good Luck”...... and a smile!!

Each of the groups had a Ranger and a Komodo Local, they had a long stick with a forked end that would be our only protection from the Dragons....A dragons bite is venomous and they can move at very fast speeds if they decide they would like you for dinner.

We trekked through park ascending up a steep hill for sweeping views of the island and our ship, but no dragons.... we walked and walked and still no dragons... eventually we came across a young dragon of only 3 years....  probably about the size of a goanna.... From there we moved on and on and on.... and we were worried that that may have been our only sighting of a dragon....  Looking a little disappointed the guide said to me.... “don’t worry, a big one is waiting for us”  and he was not wrong... towards the end of the walk there is a dried up waterhole where the dragons like to lie around the banks...  Sure enough there around 4 large dragons sunning themselves, poking their heads up and flicking their tongues every now and then to see what was going us.... So would you if had 100 Princess passengers all snapping away merrily and the guides working over time trying to keep everyone out of harm’s way...

That was the end of the Komodo dragon part of our tour... we were then boarded on a small boat where they cooked us a lunch of rice, noodles, fish, chicken and calamari.... stir fried vegetables and lots of fresh fruit...  We anchored out in the middle of the bay and some decided to jumped in the very refreshing looking waters.

After lunch our tour guide took us sightseeing around Pink Beach and then back over across the bay pass the village where approximately 2000 Komodo Islanders live... Once back at the Jetty we were bombarded by children all asking to give them a dollar.... some just for the sake of it... others offering a small carved Komodo Dragon and others in water asking for money to be thrown in so they could dive for it...

Just like all islands we visit there is the mandatory market, Tshirts, magnets, carvings and of course fresh water pearls that will not melt if you hold a flame to them.... and at the bargain price of $10 who can refuse them...  But man are they pushy...

We watched sail away from our back deck....and couldn’t believe it when we saw at least 8 canoes around the boat with children calling out to those on the balconies to throw them money....  Regardless of the fact that we are not allowed to throw anything over board , passengers where throwing them fruit among other things...  If they missed their boats it didn’t matter, the kids would dive into the water to retrieve it...  Amazed that no child was killed or hurt during this sail away .... it was still a lovely sail away, small islands and rocks jutting out of the water all around you .... dolphins diving in and out of the water... life couldn’t get any better.