Boat expedition to Flores ⛴️

At 9am sharp, our shuttle bus picked us up from the hostel. However, I wasn't entirely sure if we would be able to conquer the hills ahead of us for the next 2 hours. With a lot of effort and prayers, we finally made it to the starting point of our boat tour. First, we checked in and were amazed by how many people were already waiting there. We then continued on for another 4 hours by bus, but this time we switched to another bus headed to the north of Lombok, where our boat was already waiting for us. With excitement, we boarded the boat and got to know our dormitory for the next 3 nights. 'Well, we won't get much sleep here,' we said to each other. Our mattresses were thinner than a yoga mat and extremely worn out (I never knew that was possible). We spent the next 3 nights on the deck of the boat with 30 other people. Soon after, we had lunch on the boat, which surprisingly was good. We reached our first stop after 2 hours of sailing, just in time for the sunset. We went to a small island, one of the 17,000 islands of Indonesia, and walked up a small hill to get a better view of the sunset. At first, it was quite cloudy and we didn't expect much, but it kept getting better minute by minute. We were able to witness an extremely beautiful sunset and end the first day of the tour on a high note. As expected, we hardly slept that night because we sailed throughout the night and could hear the motor loudly. At 5:30am, it was time to wake up as we had our first stop for the day: snorkeling with whale sharks. I had heard about it many times but had never done it before. When I saw the first one from the boat, I was simply fascinated. These animals were equally impressive in the water and much larger than expected. Afterward, we continued for another 5 hours toward eastern Indonesia and made another stop for swimming. We all jumped off the roof of the boat and simply enjoyed the time, knowing that we still had 18 hours of travel ahead. We spent those 18 hours playing cards, reading, and eating. This time, I tried to spend the night on the roof of the boat, but at midnight, the wind became so strong and the waves so high that I sneaked back onto the safe deck. The next day was one of the most exciting days of the entire tour. We started with the Komodo National Park to see the Komodo dragons. We were told that these were wild and quite dangerous animals, so we had to be very careful. However, the first ones we saw were just lying there and didn't move at all. We could only wonder why as we continued on. During the approximately 2-hour hike through the park, we were able to observe 3 more slightly smaller dragons that were more active. The next stop was one of my personal highlights, the pink beach. This beach was truly astonishingly pink and inviting to linger. We spent our time there until lunch. After another 3 hours of travel, we arrived at our last stop of the day, a hike up a hill with an incredible view of the Komodo Islands. The view kept getting better and reminded me a bit of New Zealand. From above, we watched the sunset before returning to the boat. We took the last evening to properly end this tour. After a few shots of rice wine, I tried my luck again and slept on the roof of the boat. This time, the boat was still and I had brought a mattress with me. I was rewarded with the most impressive starry sky I have ever seen, which still leaves me speechless. Lost in amazement and fascination of the countless shooting stars, I could only fall asleep at 3am. But I was woken up quite early by the sunrise. After breakfast, we started snorkeling again and were even able to observe a few turtles and beautiful corals and fish. The rest of the day was spent on the beach and snorkeling with baby sharks. In the afternoon, we arrived in Flores. Thus, a unique and pretty cool experience came to an end. In the evening, we all met again at a bar and raised a toast. For me and Antonia, the next day we had to go to the airport early and return to Bali. This also means that our time together is almost over. However, we can look back on so many beautiful shared experiences! 🫶🏼