We
had the most magnificent overnight passage from Tanajampea to Labuan Bajo
across the Flores Sea. 10 - 15 knot winds on our beam and calm seas along with
a blanket of stars above and what looked like a mirror image of phosphorescence
in our wake below. We arrived at the first outer islands just at daybreak and
saw how different the terrain and vegetation was from just 100 miles to the
north, dryer and much more sparse. After anchoring in Labuan Bajo, we set out to take care of
our first priority... getting our internet topped up.
We caught a local "Bemo" (bus) to the "Pasar
Besar" (big market) on the hill. The buses are actually little mini-vans
with benches along the sides and are painted with a variety of interesting
patterns and colors. They all have a variety of stuffed animals on the front
dashboard, often including a large rainbow-colored fuzzy stuffed caterpillar...
not sure of the significance, but there were more than a few of these. For about $1.50 we both were transported
about 3 miles out to the market where we bought fruits, veggies, eggs, nuts and
then went out on a limb and bought local tofu from a bucket and a chicken,
likewise from a bucket. I can feel my Mom gasping at the thought of buying a
raw chicken from a market the likes of this one, but I cooked it then ate it up and survive
the experience to write about it. :)
After
returning to the boat and puzzling all the market purchases together into our fridge
(always a challenging task) we went back into town to arrange diving and pick
up the loaf of bread we ordered from the bakery. Along the way, we stopped by a
little t-shirt shop and bought our must-have Komodo Dragon shirts for about $5
- 6 each. That evening we joined our friends from s/v Rutea for a lovely dinner at an
Italian restaurant called "Made in Italy" and it was superb! I wasn't
sure whether that was because we hadn't had a fine dining experience out in so long
or if it was actually that good, but in the end I decided it was great by any
standards. We both ordered pizza and ate way too much of it (enjoying every
bite!)
The next day we took a dive trip out to the northern islands of Komodo National Park. We did three
dives... Castle Rock, Crystal Rock and one other they call the "slingshot". The dives were very nice...
one of them was a fast current dive which was a new experience for me. Roger
said it was an advanced dive and that I did great! On the first dive we saw a
pair of white-tip sharks (Mom doesn't want to hear about sharks either and
probably can't decide whether the sharks or the market chickens pose the
greater threat!) and one of them was very pregnant. That was cool to see. The
dives were great and the boat trip to and from the sites (about 1 1/2 hours
each way) were also very pleasant. So glad we did the dives here.
