Bali to Komodo Island to Bali to Sorong in one day!

[Dan]

Correct one flies into Komodo International Airport which is located on Labuan Bajo. For that matter they will probably not be taking a boat to the island of Komodo but to the island of Rinca which is closer and the Loh Buaya Komodo National Park.

Yep. More likely they would be brought to Loh Buaya in Rinca island.

Saw these guys roaming on the beach of Horseshoe Bay, South Rinca.

 

[pinkpony]

in a word NO

There is no airport on Komodo AFAIK, you fly from Denpasar in Bali to Labuan Bajo in Flores. From there you will need to take a boat to Komodo, and of course a boat back to Flores.

As others have mentioned, flights get cancelled with very short notice. It happened to me last year with barely 24 hrs notice. The afternoon flight I had booked was cancelled and my options were the morning flight on the same day I had booked or the day after.

Volcanos in the area are also unpredictable.

My advice is to leave Komodo for a longer trip and do some diving there along with a Dragon tour.Ba

Based on the feedback to my inquiry, we have decided to move our Komodo trip. Appreciate your help!!

 

[pinkpony]

What you are risking is that if there is a flight delay coming back then you risk missing your flight to the USA. Sometimes I fly business class so can change a flight date online or have flights that I can change a flight date with no penalty or a small fee. Many people buy cheap tickets and if you miss your flight you are screwed and need to but a new ticket.

If you had an extra two days I would say yes go to Komodo and stay overnght. I would never do a same day in out as others have pointed out, delayed or cancelled flights are common.

Based on the feedback to my inquiry, we have decided to move our Komodo trip. Appreciate your help!!

 

[pinkpony]

What you are risking is that if there is a flight delay coming back then you risk missing your flight to the USA. Sometimes I fly business class so can change a flight date online or have flights that I can change a flight date with no penalty or a small fee. Many people buy cheap tickets and if you miss your flight you are screwed and need to but a new ticket.

If you had an extra two days I would say yes go to Komodo and stay overnght. I would never do a same day in out as others have pointed out, delayed or cancelled flights are common.

Based on the feedback to my inquiry, we have decided to move our Komodo trip. Appreciate your help!!

 

[pinkpony]

What you are risking is that if there is a flight delay coming back then you risk missing your flight to the USA. Sometimes I fly business class so can change a flight date online or have flights that I can change a flight date with no penalty or a small fee. Many people buy cheap tickets and if you miss your flight you are screwed and need to but a new ticket.

If you had an extra two days I would say yes go to Komodo and stay overnght. I would never do a same day in out as others have pointed out, delayed or cancelled flights are common.

We have changed our plans for Komodo Island due to advice we have received. Thank you very much!!

 

[pinkpony]

in a word NO

There is no airport on Komodo AFAIK, you fly from Denpasar in Bali to Labuan Bajo in Flores. From there you will need to take a boat to Komodo, and of course a boat back to Flores.

As others have mentioned, flights get cancelled with very short notice. It happened to me last year with barely 24 hrs notice. The afternoon flight I had booked was cancelled and my options were the morning flight on the same day I had booked or the day after.

Volcanos in the area are also unpredictable.

My advice is to leave Komodo for a longer trip and do some diving there along with a Dragon tour.

We changed our plans for Komodo Island. Thank you so much for your advice!!

 

[cetacean]

Leaving this here for anyone searching for information (in the future) about visiting the dragons...

As others have hinted at, the tour on Rinca is now very tame and you are somewhat physically removed from the dragons (compared to previously).

Anyone who has been to the park will know they have now built an elevated walkway from the dock into the park. On the plus side this means you can (potentially) spot dragons at a greater distance, however you will not be able to get as close to them as what was possible previously (which was not "really close" however you were at least "on the ground" with them).

The other positive part of this is that the older, fatter, dragons are no longer hanging around the garbage behind several of the buildings (which mostly guaranteed sightings, but also usually meant very lethargic dragons near the ranger station, etc.)

It's worth mentioning that the best way to see the dragons now is by water (which will mean being on an LOB). Many of LOBs today still offer spending part of a surface interval (or end of day, near sunset) cruising in a tender along the shoreline... dragons are often spotted on the beach (or even in the shallow water). Shots taken from this viewing perspective are way more interesting than anything you can experience in the park. It's also interesting to consider that you can find images online of when LOBs would actually drop guests off on these beaches so you could get much closer to the dragons (sharing the beach with them). This is now illegal, but some of the images were amazing.

Last- for the person who mentioned that they had seen 'large monitor lizards" elsewhere, so they don't really understand why visiting Rinca or Komodo to see the dragons would be interesting... that's like saying you've seen reef sharks before so seeing a white shark wouldn't be interesting. While all Komodo Dragons are monitor lizards, there is only species of Komodo Dragon, and after seeing one hunt (a baby monkey, a small deer, etc.) you will never mistake these species in any way.

Consider that Komodo Dragons evolved from an ancient reptile that likely grew up to ~18 ft long, and close to ~4,000lbs. It is believed they preyed on pygmy Elephants that lived in the region. When you see a Komodo Dragon today, you are not looking at "just another lizard" - you are looking at the animal that has evolved from the apex terrestrial predator for this region.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Leaving this here for anyone searching for information (in the future) about visiting the dragons...

As others have hinted at, the tour on Rinca is now very tame and you are somewhat physically removed from the dragons (compared to previously).

Anyone who has been to the park will know they have now built an elevated walkway from the dock into the park. On the plus side this means you can (potentially) spot dragons at a greater distance, however you will not be able to get as close to them as what was possible previously (which was not "really close" however you were at least "on the ground" with them).

The other positive part of this is that the older, fatter, dragons are no longer hanging around the garbage behind several of the buildings (which mostly guaranteed sightings, but also usually meant very lethargic dragons near the ranger station, etc.)

It's worth mentioning that the best way to see the dragons now is by water (which will mean being on an LOB). Many of LOBs today still offer spending part of a surface interval (or end of day, near sunset) cruising in a tender along the shoreline... dragons are often spotted on the beach (or even in the shallow water). Shots taken from this viewing perspective are way more interesting than anything you can experience in the park. It's also interesting to consider that you can find images online of when LOBs would actually drop guests off on these beaches so you could get much closer to the dragons (sharing the beach with them). This is now illegal, but some of the images were amazing.

Last- for the person who mentioned that they had seen 'large monitor lizards" elsewhere, so they don't really understand why visiting Rinca or Komodo to see the dragons would be interesting... that's like saying you've seen reef sharks before so seeing a white shark wouldn't be interesting. While all Komodo Dragons are monitor lizards, there is only species of Komodo Dragon, and after seeing one hunt (a baby monkey, a small deer, etc.) you will never mistake these species in any way.

Consider that Komodo Dragons evolved from an ancient reptile that likely grew up to ~18 ft long, and close to ~4,000lbs. It is believed they preyed on pygmy Elephants that lived in the region. When you see a Komodo Dragon today, you are not looking at "just another lizard" - you are looking at the animal that has evolved from the apex terrestrial predator for this region.

That was me. I'm pretty sure that the beast (6ish feet long) that we saw on Sipidan was also evolved from an apex terrestrial predator.

Regardless, I take your meaning. I know that the dragons can easily take down a cow, etc.

I don't really want to see a great white. I really don't, so I guess I've become much more of a whale shark person these days.

 

[Dan]

Yes. Fantastic! Saw Mantas, Sharks (Spinner, Lemmon, Gray Reef, Whitetip Reef, Blacktip Reef, Nurse, Tiger, …) and Rays (Sting, Marbled, Devil, Eagle, Guitar, …).

Just came back a couple of days ago, on the 8th. Still having jet lag (like waking up at 1AM and responding to your question now). Will post the trip video separately later. Here are some of the highlights:

View attachment 887722View attachment 887723View attachment 887724

Here’s the Fuvahmulah part:

Trip Report Thread 'Fuvahmulah 1-5 March 2025'

Wednesday at 10:40 AM

After liveaboard diving to Central Maldives, some of us continued to dive in Fuvahmulah for 5 days (15 dives) from 1st to 5th of March of 2025. Besides the usual suspects, we saw Tiger & Silvertip Sharks, Devil Ray, Striped Marlin. We stayed in Zero Degree Residence and dived with Fuvahmulah Dive School.

Diving trip itinerary is shown in Table 1, below.

Figure 1 shows dive sites around Fuvahmulah. Those sites marked with dive flag are the ones we dove in.

Figure1: Dive sites around Fuvahmulah, courtesy of Fuvahmulah Dive School.

Here’s the trip video...

• Dan
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Maldives

• 

The rest of Central Maldives would be next month after I file my tax return.