{"id":6838,"date":"2025-01-19T01:28:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-19T01:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/?p=6838"},"modified":"2025-01-19T23:44:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-19T23:44:02","slug":"indonesia-diving-on-flores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/?p=6838","title":{"rendered":"Scuba diving and chasing dragons."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Introduction<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 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<\/em>.\u201d Excerpt From Lonely Planet Indonesia<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s not why I was there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I chose Dragon Dive Komodo<\/a> as my dive centre. It\u2019s a five star PADI outfit with fabulous accommodation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Background<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I managed to tick off a huge junk of this amazing part of the world – apart from the Philippines and Indonesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January 2025.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indonesia Part 1 of 3 – Flores.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t\u2026\u2026. there\u2019s too much to explore elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dragon Dive Komodo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Manta Ray.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Komodo Dragon – Rinca Island.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Labuan Bajo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Labuan Bajo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Indonesia Part 1 of 3 – Flores<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction. \u201cIn 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.\u201d Excerpt From Lonely Planet Indonesia Labuan Bajo … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6853,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indonesia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t