Saw the legendary Komodo dragons of Indonesia, the world's largest lizards! I was about nine feet from the big guy in the foreground,
with a vigilant park ranger nearby with a forked wooden pole in case the dragon wanted a snack. The last reported tourist bite was in 2017.
With world explorers Sally and Greg, plus guide Anggy, we entered the main park to see Komodo dragons in the wild.
Walking along a raised boardwalk, we saw our first exciting glimpse down below in the shade where this dude raised his head up to check out the morning's first batch of visitors.
Then we saw more and more dragons strolling around over by some trees. A goal was to photograph the fast flick of the long, forked tongue. It's a powerful chemical tracker that, combined with its predatory toolkit (venom, serrated teeth, stealth), enables these lizards to succeed as apex predators and scavengers on their islands.
This adolescent dragon posed perfectly with the water buffalo skulls. Water buffalo are the largest prey species for Komodo dragons. No need to wrestle the big buffalo. Just take a powerful bite and track the prey until the venom make the kill.
As you can see behind Trish, these are enormous lizards. Adult males can reach 10ft (3m) long and weigh well over 200 lbs. (I cropped out the nearby guide prepared to defend Trish if necessary.)
For me this cruise was already a complete success as soon as I got to spend this morning around the Komodo dragons! Days that followed were all bonuses.
This was an awesome 18-day cruise across islands of central and eastern Indonesia, plus two stops in Papua New Guinea (PNG), before flying out of Rabaul.
Starting August 23 in Bali, we boarded
Noble Caledonia's small expedition ship the
Island Sky carrying a 88 friendly passengers — mostly well-traveled Brits, along with nine Americans and a few others.
We dined al fresco on the Lido deck for almost every meal, surrounded by an upbeat and remarkable group of fellow travelers.
Only a few stops were "ship to dock." Our remote destinations usually required Zodiacs for wet landings on a beach.
Sometimes our Zodiacs were used for leisurely explorations, not just as water taxis. Above is Charlotte surveying the birds and crocodiles at the mouth of PNG's Sepik River.
Noble Cal's tireless expedition team smoothly ran each day's adventures and presented engaging briefings and lectures as well. Fran (front center) was the unflappable leader.
Our small ship stopped at villages where tourists are a novelty. So it was always fun when curious locals snapped plenty of photos and videos of us too!
Noble Caledonia also makes generous contributions to the local schools and communities that its passengers visit.
The welcoming ceremonies were highlights of the trip, especially the one at Kopor Village near the mouth of PNG's Sepik River.(see the photo on the right and below).
Kopor Village near the mouth of the Sepik River, PNG
Lonthoir Village on Banda Besar
Wangi-Wangi Village
Yenwaupnor Village on Gam Island
Jinato Village on Taka Bonerate
Invited to join this troupe at Vanimo.
Racing long boats on each side of our ship welcomed us to the Banda Islands.
A squid salesman and two of us in Wangi-Wangi where we were wore traditional sarongs.
The collection of Papuan art at the Loka Budaya Museum near Jayapura was striking. My favorites were these large, handsome, intricately carved, wooden shields (merged into one composite pic above).
One hot day, I took a break from the scheduled village visit and took a taxi to one of Jayapura's shopping malls. As the capital of Indonesia's Papua province, Jayapura offers a different perspective. Seeing only rustic villages, no matter how charming, can give you a skewed view of a region.
I always enjoy visiting markets and we saw two large ones. My favorite photo was this assortment of chilies, including long, twisted red peppers and tiny, multicolored bird's-eye varieties. Alas, the ship's cuisine, while good, was not so fiery.
Scaling fish and patiently posing for us.
We were astonished that the villages on remote islands had such good infrastructure — solid concrete houses, good roads and walkways, electricity, water management. Not what I expected.
This fairly recent progress seems to be due to two factors: First, large-scale, direct funding for village governments, known as Dana Desa (Village Funds) to build infrastructure, village roads, bridges, irrigation systems, village markets, and community health facilities.
Second, remittances from family members working in Jakarta, Singapore, and elsewhere allows many families to invest in substantial homes. They can afford to replace traditional bamboo and thatch structures with concrete houses and tiled roofs, resulting in attractive permanent houses, even though local employment opportunities may remain limited.
Most notably in Banda Neira and Banda Besar, we saw old forts and other ruins of the powerful Dutch East India Company which ruthlessly dominated the lucrative trade in nutmeg and mace in the Banda Islands in the 1600s and 1700s.
We cruised along the Pacific's volcanic Ring of Fire, passing a succession of volcanoes — some active, others dormant, and some apparently extinct. Off the northern coast of PNG, for example, we saw the nearly perfect cone of Manam, an active volcano rising more than 1,800 meters above sea level.
Walking on a dark night in Bali, I badly cut my shin. So I had to skip the early snorkeling excursions. By the last few days my leg was rapidly healing and the expedition team devised an ingenious solution: I could lie across a surfboard, keeping my bandaged shin safely out of the water while peering over the side with my mask and snorkel. That is the good news...
The bad news? When we finally got into the water in Raja Ampat, the most celebrated underwater destination of the trip, we failed to find the marine spectacle we anticipated. (Photo by Damon)
I did briefly see a few elements of this photo (by Grant) with the yellow chimney sponges scattered around dull coral. So I did get to (surfboard) "snorkel" in famed Raja Ampat, but the fantasy kaleidoscope remained elusive.
We saw some dazzling sunsets and moons. For variety, I'll conclude with the pic of Sam capturing the moon over the distant town.
All in all, this was another Noble Caledonia triumph — one of the best of my ten NC cruises. The highlights? Those magnificent Komodo dragons, the exceptionally likable passengers, the warm welcomes from Indonesians, the variety of villages we visited, and the well-managed Island Sky.
