By Joanne Hunt
The day had finally arrived that we’d board Ombak Putih for our 3rd adventure and we were just so excited knowing what was to come! Seeing Arie and then Anas, our previous guides, was like coming home to family. It had been 6 years and we’d dreamed about this day for a long time.
Visiting the Melo Village
We kick started our first day with a visit to Melo Village, home of the Manggarai Tribe. After meeting the chief who made us feel very welcome, we were offered a betel nut and arak tasting which was quite the experience! Eek! Next, an exhilarating whip dance was performed by the men and then the incredibly skilled ladies performed their bamboo pole dodging dance. The dancing was really exciting, and we held our breath hoping the ladies’ feet wouldn’t get trapped. We were all invited to join in and had a great time. After this we were off to the harbor to board our beautiful Pinisi.
So many crew from our past adventures greeted us, it was like we’d never left. After meeting the other guests from America, Ireland, London, and Mexico we settled into our cabins and unpacked into our under bed, easily accessible baskets and tried out our very comfortable bed! The ensuite bathroom had everything we’d need, though it was rarely used by us as we washed off under the gorgeous warm freshwater shower on deck after each snorkel.
Following a delicious lunch of many different authentic Indonesian dishes we were off for our first snorkel at Pink Beach which was divine. The coral was pristine and a taste of what was to come. We then cruised across to Rinca Island to see the famous bats. What a spectacular sight as literally tens of thousands of bats took off seeking their evening meal with a backdrop of the first of many jaw dropping sunsets.
Meeting the Komodo Dragon
Our evening briefing about the Komodo dragon visit the next day preceeded a sumptuous feast for dinner and then an early night in preparation for leaving the boat early to be one of the first to see the dragons before the day trippers arrived. The timing of our visits to various places was one of the fantastic things about being on board a SeaTrek voyage. They know the areas intimately and want us to have the most authentic experience without the crowds so visit places either early due to being moored offshore or remote where only the liveaboards can go.
After an early breakfast we went ashore to Komodo Island at 7am. We picked up one guide for the front and one for the back of the group and pretty much straight away we spotted a juvenile Komodo just wandering along beside the track. We chose the medium length track and it was an easy stroll. We spotted a huge one that was drinking from a small pipe they installed underground from over a km away at the village to supply water for the dragons. We all posed with him from a safe distance and our ever-attentive guides took fantastic photos of all of us.
It was a wonderful experience for everybody to see these prehistoric type beasts. It felt a bit like being in a Jurassic Park movie! Following this we had a gorgeous lunch and snorkeled on more pristine reefs seeing stunning coral and exotic fish in abundant pink sandy beach. The reefs are so healthy and it’s an absolute thing of beauty to behold, just magical. Later that afternoon we climbed up a hill to watch the sunset over the national park, which was spectacular, as were all the sunsets.
On the next day we snorkeled over black volcanic sand with bubbles rising up from the sand and saw very different coral, creatures and fish. I took so many photos and videos, it was such a sight to see I just snapped away trying to capture the beauty of this stunning underwater world where all the colors just popped with the black sand background.
In the afternoon after another snorkel in a different location we had cocktails on the beach and a bit of music provided by the multi-talented crew. Every one of them can sing like angels.
After dinner we started heading towards Sumbawa (a 15-hour motor). Lots of people continued to party late into the evening and had a blast that night, but most nights we were all in bed by 9.30pm as the days were so action packed.
We awoke off Moyo Island, Sumbawa. After breakfast we jumped into the tenders to get ashore, then hopped on the back of scooters. The drivers were very careful with SeaTrek’s precious guests! After a few kilometres we then walked through the jungle to incredible waterfalls that were truly stunning. I walked with a walking stick and one of the gorgeous locals helped me along the way. We waded across a river and scrambled up slopes with big rocks or rough steps and he was there at every turn.
After refreshing swims and lots of pictures in the surroundings so beautiful the pictures don’t do them justice it was back to the boat for lunch and an afternoon snorkel. This was a drift snorkel so zero effort was required and there were yet again many different corals to the ones we’d previously seen and literally thousands of fish. Everyone agreed that life could not be better than this.
Before dinner we had our safety talks on the whale sharks as we were going to swim with them the following day. We were feeling a bit apprehensive yet so excited to swim with them. We found out that although they are definitely sharks, they have no teeth, just massive mouths and at 9-10 metres long we were warned to stay away from their mouths and tails, you can imagine why. After the briefing I was off to bed to worry about it, ha ha.
Swimming with Whale Sharks
We took off in the tenders early and we spotted a whale shark just under the surface near Ombak Putih, heck! We cruised across to a big spider net fishing boat where the fishermen tip water with a smattering of plankton and tiny shrimp in it to attract the whale sharks. After giving myself a quick talking to about being brave and to just do it, get in now, I was in!
I put my head under and was instantly in awe as right nearby there was one massive 9 metre shark completely vertical with his mouth up to the surface drinking the water. At first, I was pretty scared as I didn’t initially trust them not to touch me or whack me with their tail as we were so close by. I freaked out at first as the big one dropped into a horizontal position and was swimming straight towards us with his mouth open, something we were told to avoid. He was literally inches from me, and I held onto my friend Fabi and my husband, Bruce, beyond her trying to move myself away from the shark with a lot of swearing! Heck! You soon learn they have amazing spatial awareness, and I began to trust them.
We were with five whale sharks for an hour, and it was absolutely incredible! I cried when we got back to the boat as it was just so magical that I felt incredibly emotional, as I do again now whilst writing about this once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was a mixture of joy, relief and disbelief at what we’d just done. Of course, we all talked about it for days and watched each other’s videos in shock at the size of them and how close we all were.
I’ve made a great shot of one of them my screen saver and I still look at it in disbelief every time I pick up my phone. The SeaTrek guides take many photos of the whole trip to turn them into an e-book for everyone to remember the adventure by and we can’t wait to see the photos from this day in particular once the e-book is ready!
Visiting the Pinisi Boat Builder’s Village
After dinner Arie led our nightly talk about the process of building a pinisi, a traditional wooden boat like the Ombak Putih. After another overnight passage we arrived at the village to see one being built. Ombak Putih was built on the sand like this. There’s no “plan”, they just choose a size and away they go! The craftsmen have incredible skill using timber, wooden pegs and string lines to make these large seaworthy vessels. The ladies there made gorgeous hand woven songket fabric, so I bought one to add to my sarong collection.
In the afternoon some people hiked up the rim of a volcano that blew up spectacularly 10,000 years ago. The crater filled up with salt water and we swam in it for a while before walking back over the top of the hill to go snorkeling on another stunning reef.
Taking Care the Corals
The next morning, we were off to Manta Point where an elusive 2.5-3 meter manta was eventually found at a cleaning station. He was absolutely magnificent. Earlier in the trip we’d spotted one swimming in the depths whereas this one was gently flapping its wings to stay in place. Wow! We saw lots of turtles throughout our trip but saw many here, up close too! Gorgeous green sea turtles are so sweet to watch.
After yet another divine evening we headed out to a sweet little island to be close by first thing in the morning to join a coral restoration team. SeaTrek donates two huge wire frames each time they visit which is such a wonderful donation to a very active French NGO. With the Coral Guardian team we tied 150 thin pieces of wire to a frame then learnt how to harvest pieces of coral with pliers.
The next step was to attach them to the frames by wrapping the wire firmly around each piece. We had to use our masks and snorkels as being live coral it had to be kept under water throughout the entire process. They have over 600 frames and the coral are spectacular and the fish are returning in abundance proving their efforts are very worthwhile. Snorkeling over their coral was just amazing, stunning, colorful and so, so beautiful.
Life as a Seafarer
We’d sailed quite a bit on this trip as we had Gavin, one of the owners of SeaTrek and his family onboard. Gavin is a sailor and loves nothing better than hoisting the sails, which is all done by hand with no winches or pulleys! Quite a feat with the weight of the canvas sails. Lots of men helped to adjust the sails as needed. It was a gorgeous way to while away the time gazing at their calming magnificence.
Our last night was spent on a private island with a delicious BBQ of fresh giant trevally caught by local fishermen, lobster, salads, sausages, pork ribs, chicken, wine, beers and yellow rice to celebrate our time together. They’d decorated our little beach beautifully with white and gold umbrellas and strung up lights and gone to a lot of trouble to make our party very special. Bruce was nominated to give a thank you speech and we all agreed he did really well. The crew “band” played and sang gorgeous Indonesian songs and we all danced and laughed at Adri’s standup comedy for a few precious hours.
On our last day I was trying not to cry. Yep, I’m a crier! We’d packed, visited a local market, had lunch and had a few more hours on our beautiful Ombak Putih. Our friends started to leave, and we exchanged contact details to share our pics and stay in touch, we all felt like one big happy family after our adventures together.
SeaTrek Sailing Adventures you are incredible from the tender boys, truly magnificent cooks, guides, captain, crew, cabin guys. Did I mention the food?! You are all so friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and careful with everything you do in looking after your voyagers, our safety and pleasure. We love you and will be back for a 4th adventure, I’m sure! Don’t change a thing!
*Joanne Hunt is a guest on the SeaTrek with Whale Sharks, Corals, and Dragons trip in July 2024.
