Category Archives: Location

Categories by location. A general catch all for anything involving a certain area.

Welcome to Labuan Bajo City, Flores Island, Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia

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We wanted to go snorkeling today. We thought it would be fun to kayak over to a nearby snorkel spot and snorkel off the kayaks, rather than taking the dinghy. So, first thing this morning, we got the kayaks down. We went to shore and asked the ranger to mark the good snorkel spots on the map. They were all really far away even farther than the hour and half dingy ride we had taken to see the bats. It sounded like we really needed to move Kosmos to go snorkeling. Hmmm”¦ if we were moving the boat anyway”¦

We talked about it and decided that the best thing to do would be Continue reading →

Seeing Wildlife in Komodo National Park

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This morning when we got up, we were greeted by a monkey sitting on the mud in front of the mangroves near Kosmos.

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He was still contentedly sitting there when we went into shore. We met our ranger friend from yesterday at the ranger station at 0700 for a longer trek around Rinca, where we would hopefully see more animals. There were three Komodos under the cabin this morning, including a young one only about three and a half feet long.

We started off Continue reading →

Komodo Dragons, Monkeys and Buffalo

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Continued from yesterday”¦ There were four Komodo dragons lounging under one of the cabins. One of them was huge at least 9 feet long. They are the exact same color as the dirt, so despite being huge, they are actually kind of hard to see. Kind of like the whales in the ocean when we swam with them. The bodies look similar to a crocodile and the head looks like a lizard.

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They have scaly skin that looks like Continue reading →

Welcome to Rinca Island, Nusa Tengarra Province, Indonesia

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Yesterday during the morning the ride was fine, but by mid-afternoon the wind picked up and so did the swells. The swells weren’t all that big, maybe 3 feet, but they were steep and hitting one right after another in rapid succession, creating the lurching/bucking effect we have mentioned earlier. It was uncomfortable and made for a long night.

At about 0630, we got to the first narrow area between Komodo and Rinca Islands. The water around here is known for being difficult to navigate, with strong currents, whirlpools, and over falls (breaking waves that come out of nowhere). The current was going our direction and were flying along at 10 knots for a while. The bad news is Continue reading →

Goodbye Ende – Off to Rinca

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Last night we found four little black flying bugs in our room. They looked like they were small enough to get through the screen. Argh. This explains why we have been getting bitten when we have been so careful to use the bug spray when we go out. We have some noseeum netting aboard, which is finer meshed screen, so Eric put that on all the windows we like to leave open.

This morning was an even more upsetting Continue reading →