Komodo from DPS
 

Has anyone been to Komodo from DPS/Denpasar, Bali? Thinking of a trip there by (small) vessel early next year. There are many providers but the question is who is a good one.

I would recommend flying into Labuan Bajo and then taking a boat back to Lombok. There's no real need to take the boat both ways.

I did a tour with Perama. It was better than some of the other small ships I saw but was not a luxury trip by any means. The trip was mostly 20 and 30 yr olds but there were older people on the boat too.

I also used Perama a few years ago from Lombok to Labuan Bajo and would use them again. This was 4 years ago and I did not have a cabin but rather slept on the deck along with a handful of people. It was so difficult trying to arrange a flight back to Lombok or DPS that I took a 30 hour series of buses and ferries.

Catching glimpses of Tambora at sunrise was very cool. Similarly pulling into Komodo as the sky began to light up was fantastic.

But those seas are wild, even on a calm day!!!

Brief summary of what I have found so far:

3D/2N tours including 1 nt onboard and 1 nt in hotel run about IDR 250,000 currently. Some more. Hard to get them to reply consistently.

4 airlines flying DPS/LBJ currently: Merpati, Wings (Lion), TransNusa and Sky Aviation. Have to sort through the best of this motley bunch.

£18??! :confused:

My comments - airlines are interchangeable - if you book your tour with the flights you be booked on whatever flight works best (i.e. earliest out from Bali). You'll find they will avoid Merpati though. All the others are a set price more or less.

For your night on board your ship for Komodo - you get what you pay for. This covers everything from quality of toilets on board to having lifejackets. Please pick carefully, and research.

This is not a one-off either...! http://www.adventurouskate.com/adven...-in-indonesia/

Sorry. Omitted a "0".

Unfortunately the 3 agencies I have contacted all seem to default to MZ unless asked. I am hoping to fly TransNusa but thinking of Sky as a back up.

I have been reading LP forums. It would seem it is difficult to do this from afar as one is most likely dealing with middlemen and not the boat owners/operators directly.

I saw this yesterday. Unfortunately operated by the above-recommended tour company (to be fair, this incident occurred after the recommenders' trips).

Yeh - you'll find lots of Indo things use middle men - it's the way. Also, they are calling up and booking as lots of organisations / hotels have unreliable internet (I have family in Jakarta - they can't get broadband where they live which is a nice area).

Speaking is US$ - you'll get basic for around US$250-300, comfortable (private loo, 4 berth) for US$500-600 and then the top end amazing yachts (unlimited spend possible). For the bottom end - i'd check with LP Thorn Tree recommendations.

I flew with Wings Air (Lion Air's subsidiary) booked through the latter's website. Actually I flew DPS-LBJ-xDPS-CGK. All went smoothly on newish ATRs (for WingsAir) but Lion isn't my fave airline because of those 737-900ERs.

I found that the website didn't like my NZ credit cards but my Malaysian ones worked just fine.

You can read about my trip here: http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/95435/summary

I went overland from Senggigi (Lombok) with a ticket I bought from Perama. The trip to Flores was utterly grueling, taking about 36 hours to arrive in Labuanbajo. I returned to DPS with a Merpati flight from Maumere. The pilot was kind enough to fly a couple of circles around Kelimutu, which is stunning from the air.

You can find all kinds of boat operators in Labuanbajo who will take you to Rinca and Komodo to see the dragons.

Flores is a real gem of an island - I highly recommend spending some time there.

Update.

Booked the boat through a hotel (Bay View Gardens - nice and cheap place overlooking Labuan Bajo but not for anyone who is even slightly mobility impaired) in Labuan Bajo who arranged with a boat owner and passed the payment on (the Dutch owner's economic development philosophy). IDR 1.8mm for the two of us on a covered deck ex-fishing boat with meals and drinks for 2D/1N. A cabin boat (same kind of boat with a small cabin behind the steering room) would have provided a bit more privacy. As it turned out, it would have been nice for a few minutes during the evening (and overnight) rain storm but the tarps were good enough.

This of course did not include park admissions or snorkelling gear, or the transfer from LBJ. Overall, still a lot cheaper than what was being offered.

We flew on Sky DPS-LBJ which does accept foreign credit cards for online purchases and cost a bit more than the other 3 (~$100 p.p. per leg).

Thinking about going to Rinca island as a day trip from Bali. Found for 180 USD return a flight that leaves at 830 am and comes back at 430 pm giving me from 935 till say 315 pm to see the dragons at Rinca. Gonna leave the wife with my infant in Bali so can only do a day trip. What do you guys think?
Also any ideas on who to use from LBJ to see the dragons? will spend whatever it takes within reason to get someone reliable and pleasant.

May I know if you did this trip?

I think a day trip is ok to Flores from Bali, but only if you're not into diving. At the time I was not a diver (since then I dived at Bunaken in Sulawesi though :cool: ), but the chance to see the Komodo Dragons was a great opportunity. I really feel the lesser known facets of Flores need to be explored more, such as Kelimutu, and Manggarai. Accommodation is not great on Flores, but with more and more flights arriving at Labuan Bajo every month (and maybe an international flight to Singapore soon), I hope more hotels pop up, especially at Kanawa Island.

http://backpackerlee.wordpress.com/2...-of-the-earth/

Do people really dive in Rinca Island? Don't the lizards swim?

There's plenty of live-aboards around Rinca and its offshore islands where people dive from. But I am told a lot of the diving sites around there are dictated by the tides. As for the dragons, well they can swim quite well, from island to island apparently, so I am not sure what's safe and what's not. :o