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Up with the crack of dawn we made our way excitably to the dive centre, continuing our run of luck, the weather again scuppered our plans and we were once agin left twirling our thumbs. Unwilling to waste another day we made our way to the port in the hope of convincing a local boat made to take us to Rinca (Rincha) the closer of the two Komodo Dragon inhabited islands. Money talks and we found ourselves heading out into the bay in extremely upset weather. Thirty minutes in we knew we had taken too big a risk, with the 4 metre waves crashing into our small boat, the headline "Two young tourists die in tragic boating accident" flashed through both of our minds. With gritted teeth and hands clamped to our chairs we went towards the storm, luckily as we moved from the open ocean to the more sheltered bays around the islands the waters calmed down and the sun even made an appearance! With a big sigh of relief 2 hours later we docked in the small bay on Rinca and were greeted by the smiling face of our assigned ranger.
We paid our fees and signed up to a 2 hour trek around the island in search of the elusive Komodo Dragon, the largest and most dangerous lizard in the world. As it turned out the elusive nature of this dinosaur and indeed the elusive nature of every animal on the island meant that after 2 hours we hadn't seen a single animal! Luckily, 2 less than shy dragons were to be found suitably relaxing on the visitor centre's lawn! At first taking them for statues a gentle approach soon had you back stepping as their piercing eyes made contact with yours, we were left in no doubt as to who was the boss on this island! After a pot noodle lunch that attracted the encouraged attention of one of the dragons we made our way back to the boat, through the eye of the storm and back to the relative safely of the harbour. Phew!
- comments
Mum Omg it sounds amazing but very risky especially the diving....glad to know it after the experience rather than before or during. You describe it so well I can feel the tension as I read...thanks for sharing it all...