Scuba diving and chasing dragons.

Introduction.

“In the west of Flores, buzzy, coastal Labuan Bajo is the destination du jour of divers and dragon-seekers, and the gateway to the pink-sand beaches and gin-clear waters of Komodo National Park.” Excerpt From Lonely Planet Indonesia

Labuan Bajo glossy marina and ever expanding number of restaurants aside, the jumping-off point for Komodo National Park and its famous dragons perhaps is a smidgen short on sights. However, that’s not why I was there.

Everything you need is on one-way Jl Soekarno Hatta, from Western restaurants and local rumah makans (eating houses) to coffee shops, accommodation, travel agents, ATMs and dive centres.”

I chose Dragon Dive Komodo as my dive centre. It’s a five star PADI outfit with fabulous accommodation.

Background.

Twenty five years ago, to the month, I set off on an 8-month journey around Asia. This trip was to kick-start my passion for travel.

I managed to tick off a huge junk of this amazing part of the world – apart from the Philippines and Indonesia.

This year I get to clock up 60-years on this planet, it seemed like a good reason to finish off my South East Asia exploration.

January 2025.

With the Philippines now covered off, it was time to visit Indonesia. Again, it was a huge challenge deciding just where to start and what to do in 30-days – the length of my visa.

After a lot of research, and some excellent recommendations from fellow travellers, I managed to narrow it down to three regions of particular interest to me.

Indonesia Part 1 of 3 – Flores.

Having flown from Manila (in the Philippines) to Denpasar (on the island of Bali) I then took the next flight out of Denpasar to Labuan Baja on Flores. Most European travellers skip Bali. If you want surfing and partying then stay on Bali, I didn’t……. there’s too much to explore elsewhere.

The scuba diving around Flores is reputed to be some of the best in the world, and then of course there are the Komodo Dragons to check out.

I spent 4-days diving with the extremely well run dive centre ‘Dragon Dive Komodo‘ . They have a great team. I also completed a PADI Nitrox course.

I met some fabulous people on the daily dive boat. The diving was amazing and I managed to achieve a life time wish of diving with Manta Rays. It was also incredible to ‘get up close’ to Komodo Dragons.

Dragon Dive Komodo.
Manta Ray.
Komodo Dragon – Rinca Island.
Labuan Bajo.
Labuan Bajo.
Indonesia Part 1 of 3 – Flores

About Richard Griffith

My first independent travel experience was a trip to Israel, in 1997, it was here that I caught the 'travel' bug! In 2001 I took an 8-month sabbatical and traveled around South East Asia. Since then I have managed to visit most of Eastern Europe along with India, Bangladesh, and a few other destinations in between. I love travel and I love meeting new people.
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