It's pretty amazing when you discover a new item for your bucket list and then fulfill it within a matter of months. Our three day kayaking trip in Komodo National Park in Indonesia was exactly that....it became a dream the moment we discovered that it was a possibility, and rightly so! We were able to spend three days and two nights kayaking over a marathon's distance of dragon-infested waters, and it was absolutely amazing!
We kayaked with our guide Ricky (from Ireland) and our guide-in-training Paul (from the nearby island of Flores), as well as the 3 crew members of our support boat. When we booked the trip, we really didn't know what to expect. We imagined kayaking straight for three days, and sleeping on random beaches along the way. But no, it was much more magical than that! The boat became our home base while we were out on the water...our hotel, our restaurant, and our diving board :) We were also excited to discover that we would be doing more than just kayaking for three days, as Ricky did a great job of adding variety into our trip...we were often beaching our kayaks to go adventure off on a hike or into a small fishing village.
Our favorite aspect of kayaking Komodo was the sealife we saw along the way! The first thing we noticed was the clarity of the water, and how much we could see of the world below! We immediately coined the term "korkling," as we realized that our entire trip was basically snorkeling from a kayak. It was extra special as well, because we were often paddling over reefs that would have been too shallow to swim over. Sigh. Amazing.
Here is a pic of our route, as well as the color key:
Our first day began with breakfast on our bay view balcony, high fives from the kids on our way down the city stair trail, grabbing some snacks and drinks for the cooler, hopping into an "oncot" with our guides to get to the marina, meeting the boat captain and his two crew members, and moving into our cabin. The boat then started jetting out toward Kanawa island, which gave us time to eat a banana pancake and set up the steering foot pedals in our individual kayaks.
Once there, the crew lowered the kayaks from the roof into the water, and we lowered ourselves from the boat into the kayaks! We paddled around Kanawa, getting used to the foot steering and the super sleek style of the kayaks, which were great for speed but not so much for stability :) Paul was the first to discover that when he flipped his kayak over! To his credit, it was the first time he'd ever been kayaking before :)
Mostly though, we stared at the water, completely mesmerized by the bright blue starfish and the jungle of coral beneath our boats. We also saw the first of many schools of glass fish jumping in waves in front of us, and then bigger fish jumping in pursuit right behind! The food chain coming to life right before our eyes!
After our kayaking warm up, we hopped back on the boat for some free time and lunch. We spent some time jumping off of the upper and lower decks of the boat, and of course we all know that where a Steve is jumping, a frisbee is flying :)
After a surprisingly delicious lunch, we packed up a day bag and headed back out to officially begin our kayaking journey! We paddled for about an hour across the channel to another island, where we beached our boats and put our hiking shoes on! In Indonesia there are no trails, so we just headed up.
The dry grasses helped us keep our footing over the looser volcanic rock as we trekked to the peak of the small island. We could see pretty far from the top, and Ricky was able to point out several of our future kayaking destinations, which was cool.
After spotting several wild goats as well as a baby stingray on the way back, we hopped back out on the water to paddle around the island and through the milk and honey waters of the sunset to meet up with our support boat.
Much easier said than done, for once the sun went down the wind started to pick up and the waves started to get a bit choppier, and we experienced for the first time the mental challenge of paddling stroke after stroke faster than we'd done before in order to reach our destination. We finally reached the boat just as the stars were twinkling on, which was a reward in and of itself!
Much easier said than done, for once the sun went down the wind started to pick up and the waves started to get a bit choppier, and we experienced for the first time the mental challenge of paddling stroke after stroke faster than we'd done before in order to reach our destination. We finally reached the boat just as the stars were twinkling on, which was a reward in and of itself!
Day 2 started at an epic 6:30 am with a small breakfast and a morning paddle! This was one of my favorite paddles, as the channel we crossed was so calm it felt like a lake. It was one of three times the water became the same color as the sky- Steve said he felt like he was dipping a giant spoon into milky blue butter.
Soon into our journey our guide spotted dolphins and a sea turtle almost simultaneously! The mama and baby dolphins swam towards us as the sea turtle was swimming away...where do you look when everywhere is amazing?!?
Steve and I were also mesmerized by the bright blue phosphorescent plankton swirling in the water below us. The night before we had noticed bright lights in the water....seeing them in the daylight confirmed that they hadn't just been the reflection of the stars :) After two hours and another sea turtle sighting, we arrived at a little island for some village explorations! We hiked up the backside of the island, discovered a small soccer field fortified by rocks and bushes in the hills, and then climbed down to the village below.
We felt quite honored to be able to walk through the town as villagers shouted "hallo meester," and "hallo mrs. beautiful!" We soon had a small parade of school children following us everywhere....through the town center lane, along the beach, back to our kayaks...haha. It was incredible to be there and see it all- houses on stilts and goats and chickens and cats and bright colors and all kinds of fish and squid drying...we even saw a goat in a boat, which turns out doesn’t only exist in Dr. Seuss books!
Afterwards we paddled into a small bay for some lunch on the boat before venturing out into Komodo Dragon territory! To get to the dragons, we had to paddle into Crocodile Cove- it seemed our trip had just taken a turn for the dangerous! Instead of the infamous saltwater croc waiting for us in the cove though, a giant water buffalo greeted us as we rounded the corner :)
Once on Rinca island, we were met with a guide and a large stick. The guide was to protect us from the komodos, and the stick was to protect him. He was awesome! He showed us around, pointed out the ridiculously camouflaged komodos along the way, and told us all about the dragons. We learned that komodos are actually pretty cool, and also somewhat evil.
Komodo dragons are monitor lizards (only the largest in the world), and now we know why. They are always monitoring you, even when it looks like they are not paying attention. We were standing to one side of three large dudes, who we thought were chilling lazily. As our guide brought us behind them for a photo op though, the dragons eyes and then heads started following us the entire way! They knew exactly where we were the entire time, even though it had looked like they were sleeping beforehand! As we took the photo, one actually got up and started venturing towards us. Steve was able to smile for the picture, but I was keeping my focus on the advancing dragon!
We then trekked a bit looking for more dragons. We found a deserted nest, and learned all about how the komodos are so vicious that the babies actually have to live in the trees for three years, otherwise they will get eaten...even by their own mothers!
Fun fact: "Komodo" in Indonesian actually means "dragon," which means that whenever we say Komodo Dragons we are actually saying Dragon Dragons. So after we visited the "dragon dragons", we paddled for a little under 2 hours to get to Kaaba island, where the bats and our boat were waiting for us. We climbed aboard, some of us more successfully than others ;), and got situated to see the giant fruit bats make their evening pilgrimage from Kaaba to Flores.
The bats were 20 minutes late (we were told that they fly at 5:47 every night), but we didn't mind waiting, especially since the crew had made us a plate of fried bananas to enjoy as the sun went down :)
Once we saw the first bat take to the sky, hundreds of its companions followed, until over a thousand seagull-sized bats were flying over our heads! We appreciated the hugeness of size and vastness of number of the bats of course, but our favorite part of the experience was seeing the dark outline of the wings contrasted against the moon. It felt very Halloween-like, and appropriately so, as it was the eve of October 31st!
That night we slept under the stars on the roof of the boat, where we would wake periodically and appreciate the changing constellations before going back to sleep. During one of my brief bouts of consciousness I even saw a bat returning to the mangroves, and another time Steve woke me so that I could listen to the dolphins swimming by. It was downright Disney-caliber magical :)
The third day began in true Halloween fashion: with a trek to a dragon lair/bat cave! Our boat pulled up to the long rickety pier of Rinca village, where small children welcomed us with shouts and waves.
Our guide immediately headed towards the local chief in order to gain permission for us to be there and to give us some guides, since we were back on a Komodo-inhabited island. Soon after we left the village with two guides with long forked sticks and started hiking up the hillside.
The hike itself was not our favorite, solely because we were on such high alert looking for dragons! Getting bitten by a komodo and being flown to Bali (the nearest city with the anti venom) was definitely not on our to do list, so we were as observant as possible. It was exhausting, though there was a nice view from the top :)
Once there we looked down into the opening of the bat cave. Our guides told us (technically they told Ricky, who translated for us) that there weren't as many bats as usual because a Komodo had started dwelling in the cave. And we were going inside!? At a different opening, the villager guides told us how about ten years ago, a group of villagers and westerners had ventured down the tunnel that leads under the ocean to the bat island, but that they had never returned! And now everyone is too spooked to try again. Steve almost pulled a Captain Sparrow by asking, "if there are never any survivors, then where do the stories come from I wonder?" I.e. How do they know the cave leads to a tunnel under the water to the other island if no one has successfully done it? He decided to be more respectful though and only muttered it under his breath to me. Folk tales have that name for a reason :)
Once at the entrance of the bat cave, a villager guide took the flashlight and scoped it out for the dragon. Fortunately, the dragon wasn't there, so we were able to go inside and check out his nest. It was pretty creepy- you could see his nest hole, his recent tracks, and even an old skull! The bats were in the deepest and darkest corners of the cave, and a few of them came flying out when we startled them with the light. It was very Batmanesque, which Steve greatly appreciated! Happy Halloweeeeeen.
After surviving the morning, we hopped into our kayaks and paddled over reefs with tree coral, brain coral, and cushion starfish. We paddled almost two hours through many different shades of aqua blue to get to our last island stopover. We went for a swim, had some lunch, and then ventured up the tall peak on the small island. I quickly realized that the trail to the top looked nice from the bottom, but was much steeper and slipperier once up close. I decided that I was more interested in swimming, which was where I was when I saw a giant black and silver eel swim not ten feet away from me, separating me from shore. I quickly got out of the water and realized that it wasn't an eel, but a very large snake! A very large and very poisonous snake, as our guides told us later! Steve arrived back from his panorama-hike in time to see it slithering slowly through the rocks.
Our last paddle was through a broad channel and the choppiest waters we had seen yet! We were constantly alternating our steering pedals in order to stay afloat! It was very exciting, although it did feel like we weren't making any progress. Fortunately we were in a good current and we made better time than we thought. When we were a little ways from the harbor, we hopped back into our support boat (everyone successfully this time :) for one last ride, and one last juice cocktail (Steve's specialty).
Our three day kayaking trip left us very salty, quite sore, and extremely satisfied. We paddled 28.2 miles of sea on our kayaks, and hiked probably a third of that on land. We saw dolphins, sea turtles, phosphorescent plankton, sea eagles, glass fish, needle fish, angel fish, flying fish, starfish, monkeys, wild goats, a water buffalo, and one baby stingray. We survived Komodo dragons, bird-sized bats, an unseen saltwater croc and a poisonous snake. We enjoyed panoramic views on land and were mesmerized by the sealife below.
When we stepped off the boat at the end of our last day, it felt like we were stepping back out of the pages of a National Geographic magazine. What an amazing adventure, and what a privileged way to worship our creator!