Whale Sharks, Corals & Dragons

Taking the early morning flight from Bali. Your tour leaders meet you at the Komodo airport and take you straight to your boat. After settling into your new home for the week, you head off for your first of many snorkeling expeditions.

Note: Please be aware that this itinerary is designed to be flexible. The aim to follow the schedule as described, but due to weather, tides, preferences of trip members, and other factors such as the learning of the opportunity to investigate exciting new discoveries, can sometimes need to change course. The boat captain and your Trip Leader make the decisions to maximize trip safety and your overall enjoyment—come prepared to be flexible!

You go ashore on Rinca Island to search for Komodo dragons, found only in Komodo National Park. These are the world’s largest lizards, growing up to three meters long and weighing approximately 70 kilograms. You anchor off a small island to witness the nightly departure of thousands of flying foxes that fly at dusk to feed on the mainland. Afterward, you experience a drift snorkel at Gili Lawa Darat, an island in the north of the park, where you trek to a viewpoint and watch the sunset across the park.

Go ashore on Sangeang island, an active volcano, where you visit the local village and enjoy snorkelling on the colorful coral reef just offshore. Experience one of the famous SeaTrek beach BBQs under a night sky filled with millions of stars as you feast on the amazing local delicacies prepared by the chef and all accompanied by live musical entertainment from the talented crew. You go ashore on the forested Moyo Island, where you travel to the interior of the island to visit a scenic waterfall in the rainforest, where you can bathe in the refreshing cool water.

Prepare for an exhilarating opportunity to swim with whale sharks, the majestic gentle giants of the sea. These massive but harmless animals have long congregated here in the bay, but now, a mutually beneficial alliance has been formed with the local fishermen, who have their traditional small floating fishing platforms in the bay that attract the sharks.

Visit a local village and witness their age-old practice of buffalo racing, where the local men ride their prized beasts through a mud-filled rice paddy, an exhilarating sight to behold. Visit a strange and mystical volcanic island with a sunken crater lake in its center and visit a small coastal community to see pinisi ships being built on the beach.

Enjoy a unique snorkelling experience where volcanic gas escapes in the form of bubbles from the sea floor among the corals, with the metallic black volcanic sand below being home to an abundance of very interesting invertebrates.

Entering the Komodo National Park again, you will go drift snorkelling in one of the best and healthiest coral reefs in the park. You will have a hands-on experience at a coral conservation project on Hatamin Island, where you will learn about the work and get a chance to create your own coral rack and place it in the sea.

Snorkel at a favorite hangout of sea turtles, where you will have a chance to swim with these gentle reptiles as they cruise along the shallow water of the reef. Swim with manta rays as they feed on the current and circle the so-called cleaning stations, where small fish remove parasites from their skin.

After breakfast on your last day, take a scenic drive towards Melo Village, where you will witness the traditional Caci dance performance. Local strongmen perform a ritual whip-fight between two rivals in which the players, each armed with a rattan shield and a whip, will try to hit each other while dancing to the rhythm of traditional acoustic instruments. You say farewell to the crew and your fellow shipmates as you disembark and continue onto your next destination.