Komodo Island
We pulled into the bay area around 8:00 am and the tender boats began dropping. We had organized a tour of this island with Gokomodo.Island tours. Today we had 27 folks going to see the dragons and then on to the Pink Beach for snorkeling and lunch. We only had from 9-2:30 with the last tender leaving at 2:30. Our National Park guide shared information about the dragons: Males heads are larger than females..larger Females may lay 20 eggs but only maybe 1 survives. Population increase is very slow. 7-9 months the eggs are buried underground. Rain can ruin them. They also suffer from predation. Small Komodo babies climb up trees to provide safety. They can eat bird eggs and insects and stay up for three to four years until they feel safe enough to protect themselves. They can live up to 60 years. The biggest can be 3.5 meters or about 10 ft. They avoid humans. The island is rather large. There are wild boars and deer there that they can feed on. There are about 3000 dragons in the park and at least three Indonesian islands have them. There are poisonous snakes on the island along with parrots and wild chickens. They have a wet and dry season and we were there at the peak of the dry season although the wet season begins in December. Things were extremely dry. There was a lot of garbage along the shore line and I couldn’t say that the island looked all that well cared for. There are indigenous people that live in a small area on the island. Many of them work for the park giving tours and keeping the dragons at bay. We saw six dragons while we were there. Only one was a young one. Dan read recently in National Geographic that there are 26 bacterial infections that humans get that we can’t treat with antibiotics but the Komodo dragon has immunity to 22 of them!! There is research going on to collect the dragons saliva to test it and discover what chemicals they possess that fight these bacteria. We also found out that there is a mobile marine bank that travels on a boat which services many of the outlying islands which helps them save and invest money along with get cash rom an atm on the boat!!!
After about an hour walk through some of the park we were escorted to two cruisers that would take us to the Pink Beach. They furnished snorkeling gear, drinks and a great buffet lunch which we enjoyed after we swam. The beach was lovely and the snorkeling was beautiful. The beach was remote and few people were there. We were there about an hour and a half. Some snorkeled right off the beach while others jumped off the boat. Dan and I both got a little sun in a very short time. We used our new snorkeling masks. Mine had my vision prescription so I could really see clearly. The new masks don’t require you to use a mouth piece or breathe through the tube. We got back to the island around two and made our way back to the tenders by 2:15. A long shower felt great and we rinsed out all our gear and suits. Our next stop will be Darwin, Australia. Hard to believe we have been on this journey now for 43 days!!
Pier for the tenders
Many deer were seen on the island as a good source for the dragons
Our ship anchored off the pier
Dragons resting under a porch
Hiking was very hot and humid and uphill a lot
A view shot
More dragons hanging out at a water hole
On the boat headed to the Pink Beach
We had a little rain before we got there
Here it is, the Pink Beach!
Beautiful waters
Our cruisers that took us to the beach
Drying out after a good swim!
Our buffet lunch!
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