Boating and Paddle Boarding around the Komodo Islands

There is no place quite like the islands of Komodo. We reserved a spot on a beautiful wooden liveaboard boat, out for her maiden voyage. We got the tour of the boat from Cristina, our Italian dive instructor, and our other dive guide, a local guy named Nelwan. Because of weird weather for the season the news was that the South of Komodo was bad viz while the North was good, which may be due to El Nino. Since this is contrary to what normally occurs at this time, we decided to change the itinerary and head towards North Komodo.

The decision proved best when we arrived at our first dive site on an island just North of Kanawa, where we stayed last time. We were met with clear, blue water. We did two dives in the area then found a fun little cove to anchor the night for. Before sunset we jumped on one of the small boats and took a short hike up on top of a hill of a small uninhabited island to a great sunset overlook. Kristina busted out some beer and we all soaked up the changing colors. When it comes to sunset in Komodo, they only have the best, and this one was par for the course. A great first day on the liveaboard. Check out some of the sunset pics from our hike below.

The diving was amazing, but my most memorable experience came when I was stand-up paddle boarding in between dives. I paddled over to a beautiful beach, but I didn't get out because I knew this was one of the islands that the dangerous komodo dragons lived on. When I was just a few feet from the shore there was movement in the forest just behind the beach. Moments later a large reptile high walked out of the forest and we realized we were looking at a Komodo dragon. Heidi and I paddle boarded around the coastline here, although we did stay a safe distance away from the beach since there were now five dragons checking us out. And to add to the mystique of the area a thunder lightning storm rolled through just south of us. I tried to capture some of the storm with a long exposure while the crew played music on the top deck. Another good day on our boat, Amalia.

A wild lightning storm lights up the night sky over the Komodo Islands as our crew serenades us onboard our small boat.

Welcome to the land of the dragons. There is only one place in the world you can go to see Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis), the largest lizards on earth, and that is in Komodo National Park. These guys are big! The largest wild specimen on record was 10 ft 3 in long and weighed 166 kilograms or 370 lb, including undigested food. There are only a few islands in the National Park where the dragons live. We went to Rinca Island where around 1,300 dragons live in the wild.
There are small villages on the island as well, and just a week before we were there a villager was ambushed from behind and bitten by a dragon. This is a very serious concern. Not only do they contain close to 60 kinds of bacteria in their saliva which causes sepsis in the prey, but there is also new evidence that they may be venomous as well. In the wild they are able to take down huge water buffalo just by sneaking up on it at the watering hole, biting it once, and letting infection take down the massive mammal over the next two weeks. Needless to say this is a big worry for anyone bitten by a dragon. The villager was rushed to the mainland hospital as the antibiotic was flown over from Bali. Our guide told us that a pretty high percentage of people bitten end up dying.
After meeting up with our ranger we encountered three big Komodo dragons right next to the kitchen. The kitchen is built up on stilts as a deterrent and they never feed the dragons but whenever they cook meat they know the smell will draw the dragons near. We passed fairly close to these three and luckily they were content with laying in the shade under the sweet smelling chicken. Then we encountered a big male, pictured above. This guy was a bit more active showing us the 'high walk' that I've seen in so many crocodilian species. He would snake his long tongue out smelling these new additions to the neighborhood....us!

Our living and diving platform for the week in the Komodo Islands

I do not think I am supposed to be paddle boarding so close to these dragons!

But paddle boarding is so fun!

Heidi and me at the top of our hike. It feels like we have the whole place to ourselves.

Beautiful night sky glowing in the reflection

The Komodo Islands are an amazing place to experience and to photograph. Thanks for following along with me in this special place.

-Dai Mar