Worth the trip: Komodo and Padar Island

Komodo and the neighbouring islands are beautiful, with great snorkeling. The area is expensive to visit, the gateway town (Labuan Bajo) is awful, and it's also a long way from most of the other places you'll probably want to see (meaning it's a very long boat trip, or a climate-crappy flight from everywhere else). 

But it is fantastic.

The standard itineraries include Padar Island (known for a view point you can climb to, and a pink sand beach), Komodo Island (where you'll be taken for a walk to through the forest and brush to spot some dragons, and then end up at the island's cafe where half a dozen more dragons will be sleeping in the shade of the building, attracted by the cooking smells), and a snorkeling site (which could be manta point, or off a beach, depending on the weather and sea conditions). 

For a few more practical considerations, jump to the bottom of this post (below the pictures).

I didn't take many pictures, as I was too focused on enjoying myself to mess about with my camera for most of it, but here are a few:

Padar Island

Wildlife on Padar Island

One of the famed Komodo Dragon beasties

Practicalities:

You can buy tickets from a thousand places in town, and most seem to sell the same tours. Take anything they tell you (size of boat, which fees are included, how long the journey to the islands are) with a pinch of salt. 

Fees for the standard tour range, depending on where you buy, from about 350,000 to 500,000 (I paid 400,000). Considering how many people were herded together at the docks, I'm not convinced the variety in price meant anything. That price is for the boat and lunch, but doesn't include the park entry fees (I paid 350,000 extra for that, which is collected by the staff on the boat, who go to the fees office for you, so you don't all have to line up. I think it was supposed to be higher, however not all places we stopped had anyone collecting fees).

I was told pickup at my hotel was 5:30. I turned out to be the young lady from the travel agency on foot, who walked me over to their shop, where we were joined by a couple of other people, collected from another hotel. We then were given snorkel equipment, and all walked down to the docks, and handed over to a boatmaster. Great service - they could have easily just told us to go to the docks for 6am, so the staff could stay in bed. But the collection and walk to the docks was a nice touch, to make sure we got to the right place.

At the docks, about 40 people were assembled together, and herded into 2 boats. I was on the larger boat, with about 20-25 people. There was a covered seating area on the main deck, with wooden benches for 8 people, and the rest of the passengers could stand, or go up on the roof and sit on cushions. Sitting on the roof might be okay if you're 25, but not so great if you're 45. The second boat didn't have the seating area on the roof, and instead had a larger seated cabin. This second boat had lifejackets under the seats, but the boat I was on only had about 8 jackets, that were in a separate compartment at the very back of the boat, behind the toilet. Getting onto the boats at the dock involves walking along a narrow beam, with a staff member to hold your hand and help steady you, but it was still a little nerve-wracking for a balance-challenged person like myself.

The boats left the dock at 6:30am, and arrived at the first stop at 9:20.  I'm not certain what time we got back, but it was full dark before we reached the dock, so it must have been around 7:30pm. It's a long day, and well worth the money.