Day 1 of Boat Cruise

 From the bow of our boat.

 The harbour as we leave.

 Interesting looking old boat.

 A hike on Padar Island.

 At the top, just a tad sweaty.

 View of Pador from the summit.

 Some of the people I hiked up with.

 Our boat waiting when we came down.

 A very strange little boat.

Wednesday, June 6^th.

The call to prayer was on the loudspeaker of the mosque at 4:00 am! I imagine this is because it is Ramadan and the Muslims cannot eat during the daylight hours and therefore eat before sun up. Oh boy, six days of that.

I was picked at the hostel at 7:30 and taken to the harbour for a two-day cruise I booked when I arrived. The boat turned out to be a long narrow boat split level boat with a dining-sitting area and an upper deck for sleeping. There were 13 of us, with four crew. Everyone except me was less than 32, I was the den dad.

We left and set off at a leisurely pace. We saw several dolphins nearby. We were underway for a couple of hours before we docked at an island called Kanawa, where we had our first opportunity to swim and snorkel. There was an old run-down resort on the island and it didn’t look like anyone was staying there. The water was a nice temperature and there were lots of fish to see, including lionfish under the dock. When I snorkelled, I saw a school of silver two-foot long fish that were swimming in the classic filter feeding method, swimming through the water with their mouths open as wide as possible and swallowing and filtering plankton from the water.

We had an hour and a half there and when we got back on the boat the crew had prepared our lunch, which consisted of rice, fish, and a couple of cooked vegetable platters.

Then we were off again. I got talking to Sabine from Cologne about our respective travels and the problems of the world, including how tourism changes a country and how everyone worldwide is becoming similar.

We arrived at an open water place referred to as manta point because manta rays are often found here, but not today. The crew took the boat back and further searching for them with our success and after an hour they gave up. We moved on for another couple of hours before we reached Padar Island. We got off and had an opportunity to hike up the hill of the island for a viewpoint. I lead the way and climbed hundreds of stairs. It was a hot and sweaty climb with several false peaks. Every time I thought I was at the top, there appeared another set of stairs or paths leading further up. The views were spectacular. Finally, I reached a cliff that marked the end of the path. We took some photos up there and then I climbed back down and had a swim to cool off and trade sweat salt for water salt. Then we were called back to the boat and sailed again to a spot where we could see the sunset and then onto our overnight mooring spot just off shore from Komodo Island. We arrived in the dark, and as soon as we anchored two little boats came from shore trying to sell us souvenirs, snacks and beer. Then the crew served us a similar dinner, only this time it was chicken.

People hung out having a beer or playing cards or talking. Finally, in dribs and drabs we withdrew to the top covered deck and slept on mattresses with a thin sheet, all lined up side by side.