Boat trip with dragons and unicorns

Good morning to all you land-living creatures. Our current chapter of our quest still leads us through the magical land of islands and endless oceans, not to be confused with the grand line – while we passed through pirate waters, there were never that many as you can find on their quest to find the one piece. Therefore, we spend a fair share of time onboard different kind of boats and ferries. This time our quest was not only in reaching the next destination but a quest to search magical beasts, trying not to get eaten by them and a merry time of meeting fellow adventurers.

Our last chapter stopped in the south of Lombok. There we got acquainted with our driver, who runs a tour office and proved to be a gift from Odin himself. The day before departure, he spent his time organizing us a cabin onboard a nice boat. With him as our support we departed once more early in the morning, ready for the next adventure. The first part we spend driving over the green Island of Lombok, we stopped in-between to switch mode of transportation and meet up our fellow travellers. After lunch we arrived at the harbour. The road blockade of trucks carrying huge rocks only delayed us shortly and we were ready to board the beautiful Sehat Elona. Two masts, no sails, all painted in brown, white and blue, it glimmered in the sun, and everyone was eager to set out into the sunset. Well, that did not happen. At least not straight away. It turned our leaving the harbour was as tricky as getting into Grimmauld place Nr.12. Our crew did not know the secret and it took them several trips to some important guy’s office to finally be able to leave. We spend this time getting to know the rest of the people on the ship. We were 22 travellers in total and 8 members of the crew, from 5 different countries. It was a nice, colourful group. As dark clouds stated to gather in the distant the Sehat Elona finally left the safe harbour and stared out into the blue of the horizon. Due to our delay, we did not make it to the sunset spot, but watched the sun stain the clouds gathering around the massive Mount Rinjani, the local Lombok Volcano. Dinner was a cheerful event filled with laughter, swapped tales and rice with veggies and tempe. Our plan to go stargazing was moved to the following evening as clouds obstructed our view of the light from distant pasts.

The following morning Artey and Sesy rose shortly after sunrise, a very deliberate choice, for breakfast was set after our meet and greet with some fishes and there is only so much, I can do before I eat something or someone. One we reached the deck it was already bustling with people. Everyone was excited for our meeting with the largest owner of gills. When we arrived at the meeting spot a couple of other boats were already there, so the water was already full with flesh-coloured mammals. But on a closer inspection there were other being in there, larger beings. Beings way more elegant than our not-water-native species. These blue dotted beings had an excellent relationship with the local fisherman, swapping dead fish for good fortune and therefore showed up at the fisher boats regularly. Our Sehat Elona Party eagerly jumped into the bottomless blue (truly bottomless, there were roughly 200 m between us and the ocean floor). I am convinced that the huge beings are really ancient, gentle water spirits that simply don't care how many humans surround them and if they are in their way, they will simply nudge them away. That is how we met two incredible water giants in their home, before breakfast.

Most part of the day we spend sailing past deserted islands and white beaches. The time was passed playing games with the other travellers and swapping tales. We met the master of unicorns, who showed us and two very excited young girls the difference between the Treecorn and the Dragoncorn and a lot of other kinds of unicorns. The young girls belonged to a travelling family of five originating from Britain, all of them capable of telling very random, epic stories, especially the father, who seemed to had eaten about anything sometime in his life, including a grilled spider. After lunch we got the chance to deliberately fall of our boat to cool off in the wet waters. Everyone was very excited for that. Nearly as much fun as jumping of the ship, was to watch everyone (that includes ourselves) struggle to get back on it. We all laughed a lot, until Harris the communicator and soul of the ship told us to get back on board because we needed to sail on. The afternoon was spent much like the morning. Sesy joined the master of unicorns, his equally nice girlfriend and a British named Sam (I wonder if he likes potatoes) for an intense battle trying to conquer the lands of Catan.

Another important note is that the food was great! Our hobbit hearts and stomachs were always satisfied. We usually got the chance to get second helpings of everything and the taste was just great. Especially the tempe was truly magnificent.

That evening we had the chance to stargaze. We spend some time lying on the sundeck of our ship watching the strange constellations of the southern hemisphere twinkle overhead. We had the company of Benji, a master carver, who could occasionally be spotted sitting in quiet corners of the ship transforming pieces of wood into pieces of art. He is our age and also travelling with his mother, who could tell the most wonderful stories of her many adventures all around the globe.

Our trusted ship, with its never-tired crew, sailed all through the night. So, we awoke to the rumbling of the engine with new islands surrounding us. In the darkness we entered a new area: Komodo. Komodo is an island, which is home to the mighty Komodo Dragon. One thing about our trusted ship was that she was very homely but moved with the speed of a Flobberworm. So, we usually had more time than expected until we arrived at a spot which resulted in an atmosphere of spontaneity.  I didn’t mind that at all, for example, we just spent more time that morning sitting at the breakfast table, which is never a bad thing. Another thing is that communication was not always perfect. I found it delightful to discuss different rumours and information jumping from one person to another just for everything to turn out completely different. It felt like we were all one big conspiracy group.

Komodo is a green, very hilly Island dotted with trees and only one tiny village next to the entrance of the Komodo-national park. That is where we set foot on the island. Three park rangers armed with long sticks (apparently a 2 m stick is enough to ward off a 2 m dragon) greeted us and steered us into the park. After a short walk, we found four dragons lazing about under a tree. They seemed very sleepy. Maybe a bit too sleepy. One active one tried to run to the others but was warded off by a ranger with a stick. They only want the tourists to meet the oddly sleepy dragons. They also wanted to return straight to the boat after meeting the dragons, which did not sit well with the Elona Party and after a short discussion walked at least a bit through the Komodo Dragons. There we saw some dragon nests, a pig and a deer. In the end, we only spent about an hour on Komodo for our next destination was calling: the pink beach. In theory, the white sand at the pink beach is mixed with bits of red coral turning it pink. A very Instagram-able spot. Sadly, the pink beach was not very pink. That very much upset the Italian couple who argued with our captain until we sailed to another, pinker beach. On the upside, we had lunch before going to the beach! I was already hungry so that was a great change of plans, in my opinion.

Lunch was great, but the next pink beach was less flamingo-pink and more Arteys-skin tone when she is not burned (so not right now). In the right light, it can be considered pink, but otherwise, the right filter can do the trick. The water around the beach was filled with life and colour as well, so we explored the underwater world. We met distant relatives of Nemo, Dory and Flounder. The last item on the itinerary of the day was watching the sunset over the magnificent Padar Island.

The last day of our boat journey broke bright and clear. No one was really sure what we planned on doing that day, except visiting fishies. After a quick breakfast, we set out to one beach with a big coral reef next to it with an exceptional number of starfish. We only had a short time before we were whisked away to the next beach. There too, we had the chance to explore the underwater world. Swimming through tall water plants, I felt like I was exploring the black lake. The search for merpeople was sadly ineffective, they are just very good at hiding, though I am certain they live there. But we did meet baby sharks. A lot of them. While we were meeting the little sharks, we were also the victims of an evil attack from the nearby star. The directly targeted light beams tried to slowly turn us into lobsters. I am sad to announce, that it was partly successful, and we both are the colour the pink beach was supposed to have right now. Well, no use crying over spilt potion. So, we spend some time sitting in the shade with our fellow adventurers talking and taking the first speed boat back to the Sehat Elona. Being the responsible adults we are, we did not put another layer of sunscreen on but spent the time waiting for the rest to arrive from the beach by jumping off the boat. There was quite a strong current, so depending on where we jumped off, we either had to prove our strength by fighting against the will of Poseidon or just comfortably drift to the staircase.

The last lunch was a hurried affair, as halfway through we were informed, that we would arrive in Labuan Bajo, our final destination, shortly and our room was still a mess. But our trip ended the same way it started: we did not get permission to enter the harbour and anchored a bit outside. Therefore, everyone departed in small groups, shuttled to the harbour via speed boat. It was a sad affair saying goodbye to the ship, crew and especially our fellow travellers, well most of them. Benji, the master carver and his mother were following us to our hotel in Bajo, so we did not say goodbye to them just yet. Everyone on that boat was incredible and they all turned these four days into something special. We hope to one day meet again in different lands, swapping new tales of new travels. But until then we continue in our quest to Mordor.