MV Kartika

Our cruise ship awaits! It is a converted fishing boat with accommodation for two passengers and four crew plus guide. We actually had a double bed in a tiny cabin and en suite shower room. Not too sure where the crew slept ! We set off from Labuan Bajo on Flores and went through spectacular scenery of islands and mountains to eventually the island of Rinca for our first sight of the fabled Komodo dragons. Our guide was delighted to point out a buffalo in the shallow waters off the beach which had been bitten by a dragon and was slowly dying from the extremely toxic bacteria. We disembarked and collected our local ranger guide armed with a forked stick to ward off any frisky dragons! We saw a number of them and were duly impressed at their size and general air of menace ( blip coming up for next days visit to Komodo Island.