Location: Flores, Indonesia
Here we are again, different day, different place, but same feelings. The day started out at midnight for the only watch team worth mentioning (#1 on paper and in your hearts). As we oogled the stars, we came closer and closer to our wake, Tom Point. However, as we neared our flashing yellow beacon of hope, some real-life lights came to our attention. There is nothing like being 15 miles offshore and seeing at least six lights for these houses we have been seeing around the coast of Indonesia (5000 meters deep won’t stop a tiny house village, it seems). It looks like a tiny hut that is attached to a mooring ball, not a houseboat but literally a floating house! Once we came to our point, we decided to go hove-to in order to stay stationary until the sun shined its smile on us and guided us toward Komodo. Watch Team 1 went to bed with the knowledge of waking up in a new place! Once we were anchored in this very still harbor, we conducted some boat appreciation tasks in order to get the boat cleaned, such as sheet changes, floor scrubs, reorganizing, and deck scrubs, before some much-needed shore time! After a few hours to roam free, we met up at a restaurant named the Copper Bonnet for some food cooked by someone other than us. Woo! It was delicious, and lucky us, there was a gelato place next door to end a great day! Nothing like a cone of pistachio gelato to end a fresh vegetable meal, yummm!
Indonesia has been such a vastly different place. Raja Ampat was beautiful, but the landscape here in Komodo is DRASTIC. The sloping hills are covered in brown grass, which contrasts with the deep blue of the sea surrounding it. The currents whip you around, and the wind funnels through passes between the small islands. One second it will be as still as a lake, and then you turn a corner, and BAM winds up to 30 knots, and white caps are all around us. The town was very dive vibe-heavy, which made sense considering the numerous liveaboards anchored in the harbor. A bit of a sensory overload with so many people, boats, music, etc., since the last place we walked around town was Palau. Everyone went to bed excited at the prospect of seeing real-life living dragons tomorrow!