After we left Maumere, we made our way west across the remaining 8nm of the northern coast of Flores which involved lots of day sails with only overnight stops, with the exception of two places in which we spent a bit more time.

The first was in the islands around Riung- a pretty area of nice beaches and tropical sunsets.

The highlight for us here was an impromptu beach party with about 4 other boats. We all took food to share and a couple of boats had portable gas burners which we were able to set up on the beach. Someone had music and so after the sun went down and we had dinner, there was dancing on the beach under the moonlight. Much fun and laughter, and all the more enjoyable as it all just happened without much planning.

The second place was Komodo National Marine Park in the islands off the very western end of Flores. What a treat this area turned out to be. Famous for the Komodo dragon, it also has some of the best snorkelling and diving sites in Indonesia and because it is a national park, there has been very little damage to the reef from bombing for fish. We did our provisioning as quickly as possible in Labuan Bajo (very dirty town and harbour) and made our way to Rinca Island, anchoring at dusk in a gorgeous bay. At 6am the next morning we took the short dinghy ride to shore and walked up to the ranger’s station to organise our guided walk to see the dragons. We didn’t need to go far, as there were quite a few large dragons hanging around the huts where the guides stay. We also saw several more on our walk, one of which walked for a fair way along the path just ahead of us. It is recommended (in fact I think it is almost compulsory) to take the walk with a guide as the dragons can be quite aggressive. The guides all carry very long forked sticks which apparently provide protection if any of the dragons get stroppy. We also saw monkeys and deer along the way- dragon food it seems. The dragons were every bit as gross as I had anticipated, but it was interesting to see them in their natural environment and learn about them from the knowledgeable guide.

As we were back on the boat by 10am, we decided to head off to some other locations in the park. We spent that night near Makassar Reef and the next morning took the dinghy over to the reef edge for a snorkel. The currents in this area are legendary and we have never seen anything like it. We had been in the water for about half an hour when the tides changed and soon the water was swirling like you wouldn’t believe. We had a sensational snorkel along the edge of the reef, seeing lots of large fish, some reef sharks, and best of all some Manta rays. In these kinds of areas, we drift snorkel one way with the current and tow the dinghy along with us (well, Phil tows the dinghy) so we can climb back in when we are finished without having to swim against the current to get back to the dingy- which would actually not be possible in the strong current. We did three more snorkels in different locations around a number of islands that day, the first one being the most superb. Again, drifting with the current which makes you feel like you are flying in the water. The coral and fish were just spectacular. We hauled ourselves back onto the boat for a late lunch, shower and then a snooze. Unfortunately, this snooze turned out to be something more sinister for me and before long it was clear that I had some sort of acute illness with rigors, very high fever, and then vomiting and diarrhoea. We were too far from anywhere to be able to get to a doctor that afternoon, so after a fairly uncomfortable night, Phil took the boat back to Labuan Bajo at first light, where we were able to visit a doctor and get some pathology tests done. The diagnosis was E. Coli gastro which is very treatable with antibiotics, and so I was soon on the mend. The great thing about being on the rally is that when anything goes wrong, all those within cooee are scrambling to help. So we had great overnight support on the radio from an ex paramedic, and then plenty of offers of help once we got back to Labuan Bajo. This did somewhat take the edge off the wonderful time we had in Komodo and put us a bit behind schedule as we lost a couple of days. Nonetheless, Komodo remains an absolute highlight of Indonesia so far.