Here Be Dragons

As we left Labuan Bajo, it was raining. It almost felt like our three days on The White Pearl were a pleasant, but fading dream in the mist.  Snorkeling, baby sharks, an early morning hike to see sunrise from a mountain top, thousands of bats, and Komodo Dragons were all a part of this chapter.

 Cath and I were on the road for over three weeks by the time we landed at Labuan Bajo on the Coast of Indonesia. First, ten days in New Zealand seeing Bonnie, Lana, and Mike. Next, Six days on Borneo for safaris with friends David and Ray. And finally, six days in Yogyakarta for Interhash with multiple friends from the DC area and around the world. It was now coming to the end of the vacation, and as is usual for these big trips, we carved out some alone time to relax and reconnect with just the two of us. It was the perfect way to end our month on the road.

 Flying in from Yogyakarta via Bali, we spent two nights at the Sudamala Resort Komodo, on the beach. The resort is in a beautiful location, and if you are ever in the neighborhood, we highly recommend it. A perfect beach, tasty food and drink, wonderful rooms, and the friendliest staff anywhere. Yea, it’s the end of the world, but we enjoy places like this. I think you would too, if quiet is your thing.

We were here to see Komodo Dragons, the largest lizards in the world, in their natural habitat. You can do it on a quick day trip with a power boat from Labuan Bajo, but we chose to charter a slower boat, The White Pearl, and take a three-day tour of the islands. Komodo Dragons are native to the islands of Komodo, Flores, and Rinca, and are protected. They do not breathe fire, or spit venom, but their bite is poisonous and people have died from encounters with them. They are usually calm, but can jump, swim, and run in short bursts of up to 12 mph (which is faster than me or Cathy).

 On Wednesday morning, we boarded The White Pearl and set sail. Let me say, it’s nice to be pampered. The Pearl is 65 feet long and Cathy and I had it to ourselves. Well, us and the six crew members: Tour Guide, Chris, Captain Jack, Engineer, James, Tender Operator, Abu, Chef, Daisy, and Trainee, Jean. They were wonderful. 

On day one, we snorkeled at three separate locations. The colors of the fish, and the coral, were stunning. Waving with a natural grace and vibrant colors of blue, red, green, orange, and  on and on, it was mind boggling.  Starfish lay on the floor of the sea, in equally iridescent  colors. We have snorkeled at several Island locations in the Caribbean, off of Costa Rica, and in the Galapagos Islands – I have never seen anything like it. Never. I realized that day that one of the mistakes I made was not bringing a disposable waterproof camera, a lesson learned for next time.

 We were tired by the end of the day, and the dinner that night, tuna steaks, along with some Aussie red wine, hit the spot.

 The next day was action packed. It all started with a wake-up call at 4:15AM. Our guide, Chris, and I hiked the 817 stone-steps to the top of Padar Island to catch sunrise at 6AM. With 400 meters of vertical change in a short distance, it was a challenge. Still, Chris and I were first to the top. We were soon followed by perhaps 100 others, most probably half my age, or younger. There were young men, shirtless with six-pack abs, and young women in jog bras. I only felt a little old, but hey, who’s counting? 😉 

People were quiet, as appropriate, and there was a spiritual feeling in the air. We watched the growing light, and finally, the sun broke through the light clouds. The walk was worth it.

The trek down was easier on the lungs and heart, but harder on the knees. We passed many still making the hike to the top, some laboring more than others. They would have gorgeous views, but miss the unbelievable sunrise. Interestingly, they stop letting people on the trail after 10AM (until late afternoon) due to the heat.

We made our way back to the Pearl in our tender, where it was time for breakfast. Cathy and the rest of the crew were waiting to make sure neither Chris, nor I had a heart attack (well really, only me ;-)…) I felt like I earned breakfast that morning. 

 We then set sail for Komodo Island, which is also a National Park. A ranger gave us a safety briefing (Pro-tip – if a Komodo Dragon is chasing you, run in a zigzag pattern. They are fast, but cannot turn fast.) We did a hike of about 4 kilometers searching for dragons and eventually saw seven or eight of them. They are both magnificent, and ugly. They are also the largest land lizards in the world.

One of those we saw had a bloody tear on both  sides of its body. Our guide told us the dragon had a fight with another dragon earlier that morning. He said it was likely the other dragons would eventually kill and eat him as he grew weaker from his wounds. As my friend Mark likes to say, life is not a Disney movie.

 Here is a photo and some videos of a couple of the dragons.

 

After lunch and a short nap back on the boat, we went to Pink Beach for some more snorkeling and then leisure time. That evening, we had one last treat of the day. We anchored off Flying Fox Island and awaited sunset. Every night, some time between 5:30 and 6PM thousands and thousands of bats leave the trees on the island and work their way across the water to other islands where they eat (mostly fruit.) The bats have two-foot wingspans, which was amazing to see. Here is a video of some of them, but it does not really do their exodus justice. The video is only about 30 seconds long, while the total event probably lasted twenty minutes.  In fact, it was still in process as we sailed to our anchorage for the evening.

 On our final day, it was breakfast at 7AM and one more snorkeling trip. After snorkeling, we landed on Kellor Island and went wading off the pristine beach. There were hundreds of baby reef sharks swimming in the shallow water, circling us, moving on, and returning. Two feet long, they were no danger to anyone, but fun to watch.

 We were back at the boat for a mid morning snack about 10AM, and then it was off to the airport. Fittingly, it started raining as we climbed into the tender for the short trip to shore. We arrived at the airport by 11:20AM, and were in the air flying to Singapore at 1:30PM.

 The time on the White Pearl wasn’t a dream, but I could already feel the reality of it slipping away as our plane gained altitude. We will visit it again with our memories, and when looking at the photos. With luck, my hope is we make it there again and see it live and unedited. With 177 islands in the Indonesia Archipelago, we should have ample opportunity for new adventures and revisit old ones.

 Addendum: 

• Thanks to my wife Cathy who cowrote this blog.  Love you hon!

• This trip was arranged by Karen Dewhurst of Sikeleli Travel. She also planned out trip a week ago to a safari in Borneo (you can read about seeing Pygmy Elephants on that trip here: https://maxnhall.com/2026/05/05/pygmy-elephants/ ) and earlier trips to Africa. She is GREAT and we highly recommend her for any of your worldwide needs. You can learn about Sikeleli Travel here: https://sikelelitravel.com/  You can reach Karen via email directly here: karen@sikelelitravel.com 
• From the Komodo Island website: THE LEGEND OF PUTRI NAGA: THE DRAGON PRINCESS AND HER OFFSPRING. One of the most well-known and beloved legends associated with Komodo dragons is the tale of Putri Naga, or the Dragon Princess, which holds a special place in the folklore of Komodo Island. According to this myth, the Dragon Princess lived on the island many centuries ago and gave birth to twins—one was a human boy, and the other was born as a Komodo dragon. The dragon child was named Ora, and the local people still use this name when referring to Komodo dragons today. As the story goes, Ora lived in the wild while her human brother was raised in the village. The two, not aware of their kinship, crossed paths years later while the human brother was hunting in the forest. Not recognizing Ora as his sibling, the human brother raised his spear to strike the dragon. At that moment, their mother, the Dragon Princess, appeared and stopped the attack, revealing their true connection. From that day onward, the people of Komodo vowed to protect the dragons, seeing them not just as animals, but as kin.