Liveaboard through Labuan Bajo

My 3D2N Adventure in Labuan Bajo

There are trips you take, and then there are trips that take something from you — a piece of your ordinary life, replaced forever by wonder. My three-day liveaboard through Labuan Bajo in 2019 was unquestionably the latter. Waking up each morning to turquoise water stretching in every direction, sharing a boat with strangers who became friends, and standing face-to-face with creatures that haven't changed in millions of years — this was Indonesia at its most intoxicating.

What makes this corner of the world so extraordinary isn't just the scenery — breathtaking as it is. It's the way landscape, wildlife, and human culture coexist so naturally here, as though nature and community simply agreed, long ago, to share the same stunning stage.

Culture Spotlight

Stepping Into Komodo Village

Before the islands stole the show, there was the village itself — and it was unlike anywhere I'd ever set foot. Komodo Village is a modest, beautifully honest place. The houses are crafted almost entirely from wood, standing on elevated stilts in the traditional Panggung style — not for aesthetic charm, but for a deeply practical reason: to keep Komodo dragons and other wild animals from wandering inside. Here, architecture is a direct conversation with nature.

Walking the simple paved lanes, I found a community at ease with an extraordinary reality. At the dock, children — no older than ten — navigated small boats across the harbour with quiet confidence, as if the sea were simply their backyard. No lifejackets, no hesitation. Just skill passed down through generations, worn lightly. The boats rocked gently nearby, the salt air wrapped around everything, and for a moment I understood something about Indonesia that no guidebook had prepared me for: this is a people who don't just live beside nature — they are fluent in it.

First Encounter

Day 1: Paradise Doesn't keep you Waiting

We cast off from Labuan Bajo harbour in the early morning, the town still sleepy and golden behind us. Our first stop, Pulau Kelor, set the tone for everything that followed. A short, satisfying trek to its ridge revealed a panorama so improbably beautiful — emerald hills tumbling into clear water — that our group fell briefly, collectively silent. Then, as if on cue, everyone grabbed their snorkels.

The afternoon brought the encounter I'd most anticipated: Pulau Rinca, home to the Komodo dragon. There's a moment on that trek when you spot one motionless in the scrub — this enormous, ancient animal, utterly indifferent to your presence — and time does something strange. It seems to fold backward. You are no longer a tourist; you are an intruder in the Pleistocene, and the dragon simply hasn't noticed yet.

"The dragon lay still in the golden grass, ancient and unimpressed. I had traveled thousands of kilometres to find it, and it could not have cared less. I loved it immediately."

As the sun sank, we arrived at Pulau Kalong — Bat Island. Thousands of flying foxes peeled from the tree line in slow, sweeping arcs against a sky burning orange and violet. Nobody spoke. We just watched as the sky filled, and filled, and kept filling. One of those sights you try to photograph and quickly realise no camera captures it properly. You have to simply be there.

A Birthday to Remember

Day 2: On Top of the World at Padar Island

I turned another year older somewhere in the Flores Sea, which felt entirely appropriate. My alarm went off at 5 AM — not a hardship when the alternative was missing Padar Island at dawn. The hike up is steep and unrelenting, and worth every laboured breath. At the summit, three distinct bays spread out below in different hues of blue and green, cradled by sharp volcanic ridges. It is one of those views that make you feel, briefly and sincerely, grateful for being alive.

From Padar, we sailed to Pink Beach — and yes, the sand is genuinely, inexplicably pink. The colour comes from fragments of red coral mixed into the white sand, and in the right light it shimmers like something from a dream. Snorkeling here revealed a coral garden so vivid and intact it felt almost shocking, a quiet underwater city going about its business beneath the boat's shadow.

The day's itinerary kept giving. Taka Makassar — a thin sandbar island that appears only at low tide, surrounded by shallow turquoise on all sides — felt like something conjured by the sea itself just for us. Ethereal and impermanent, it ranks alongside Padar as the day's finest surprise.

We ended at Manta Point as the light turned golden. Slipping beneath the surface, I found myself alongside giant manta rays drifting in slow, ceremonial circles. There are few moments in life when you feel genuinely small and entirely at peace about it. This was one.

Highlights That Made It Unforgettable:

• Komodo Dragons: Seeing them in the wild felt like stepping back in time.

• Padar Island Views: The most photogenic place I’ve ever been.

• Pink Beach: Sand that’s truly unique and waters perfect for snorkeling.

• Kalong Island Sunset: A sky filled with thousands of bats.

• Manta Rays: Swimming with them was surreal.

• Liveaboard Experience: Waking up in the middle of paradise every day.

• Scenic Beauty: The islands and underwater world were beyond words.
  

Labuan Bajo was more than just a trip — it was an experience that fed the soul. Between the stunning islands, incredible marine life, and the warmth of new friends on the boat, this was truly one for the books. If you ever get the chance to visit, don’t think twice. Go.

Indonesia in a Moment

Sunset, Prosecco & the Indonesian Sky

As the mantas disappeared into deeper water and the boat rocked gently at Kalong, someone passed around a bottle of Prosecco. We sat on the deck as the sun went down — this group of near-strangers from four different countries — watching the horizon burn. It's one of those small, perfect scenes that somehow becomes the emotional centre of a whole trip. The warmth and ease with which people from such different places found each other on that boat felt, in its quiet way, like a reflection of Indonesia itself: diverse, welcoming, and richer for it.

Soft Landing

Kanawa Island & the Art of Letting Go

The final morning had the gentle quality of a good epilogue. Pulau Kanawa — white sand, swaying palms, unhurried reef — asked nothing of us except to slow down and float. After two days of early alarms and epic hikes, we floated. The island seemed to understand exactly what we needed.Back in Labuan Bajo that evening, our group found a table at a seafood restaurant overlooking the bay. The fish was fresh in the way that seafood only is when the ocean is still visible from your seat. We ordered too much and stayed too long, and nobody minded. The conversation kept circling back to what we'd seen — not in a performative way, but the way people talk when they've genuinely shared something remarkable and aren't quite ready to stop holding it.

Go. Don't think about it. Just go.

Indonesia keeps teaching me the same lesson in different dialects. In Bali it's through ceremony and colour. In Yogyakarta it's through history carved into stone. In Labuan Bajo, it's through dragons and silence and children who navigate boats before they can read. The country's greatest gift isn't any single landscape — it's the way its diversity, cultural and natural alike, keeps revealing itself as one coherent, generous whole.

This trip was three days long. The effect of it has lasted years. If you're holding out for the right moment to go — this is the moment. The Flores Sea isn't getting any emptier, and the dragons are still out there, waiting with extraordinary patience.