Labuan Bajo and Diving

---

Labuan Bajo, what a poop hole! The city has trash everywhere, the rats and the smells are starting to gross me out again, but the people are still amazingly sweat and filled with hello’s and smiles! We found a great little family ran place up a hill off the main road called Chez Felix. We let them know that our intentions were to stay 3 nights to start and see where we go from there. To our shock, I swear this never really happens; the hotel was booked on the second night. I know those who are reading this won’t really get it but I just couldn’t believe it. My response was what do you mean you are full? The lady of course smiled and offered us to stay in a spare room in the family house, and of course we accepted.

Because the city is such a poop hole, our main objective was to spend as little time here as possible. What does that mean? Diving with Bajo Dive!!! Now, everyone that we have talked to has said the diving in Komodo is the best, and this place deserves that title completely! I have never had a more amazing experience. Besides the beauty Komodo is known for its currents underwater. On our first dive, our dive master Kay, said oh this is a “cute current” today. No f!*%ing way! I was fighting for my life down there. I lost Dave at one point and literally thought “good-bye Dave” my main goal was to not loose Kay. Then I was just so tired fighting against the current, I thought about giving up, and then quickly had the resolution that I wanted to keep living. It was so high speed, I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, and after only 31 minutes we surfaced alive but barely! When trying to remember what I saw on that dive, nothing but my life flashing before my eyes! The second dive however was so peaceful and amazingly beautiful, up until this point (31 dives) I had never seen a reef that wasn’t damaged until this site, what a truly beautiful experience. The next day I became very sick and had to take the day off and spent it in bed very weak. It broke my heart because Dave and the rest of Bajo Dive got to go out the place where the day before they saw 9 Manta Rays, an animal that I am dying to see underwater. Sadly and happily Dave didn’t see them on his dive so I didn’t miss anything. He was a really good sport though and took great care of me while I was sick.

I wasn’t feeling the best yet but on the 3rd day of diving the group was planning on diving two of the most renowned spot of Komodo; Kings Canyon and Crystal Rock. So I had to go. The current gods were with me that day the two dives were two of the most peaceful, beautiful and relaxing dives of my life. As a diver, something finally clicked and at the end of the both dives each over an hour, I came up with almost as much air left in my tank as the dive masters! I honestly can never describe to you the beauty of these dive sites and that makes me sad, because I saw things down there just blew me away. This place is reason enough for anyone to get certified to dive and come to Indonesia. My final dive was the following day, I was still pretty sick so only did one dive at Manta Point, hoping to see mantas. Nope, no go this time. What I did get to see was the aftermath of what dynamite fishing does to coral reefs and it disgusted me. These are now protected areas but this still happens in other places and it is just sad.

The final day in the Flores, we made the greatest choice to get the heck out of the poop hole Labaun Bajo! We rented a motor bike and set off for a waterfall that was something like 35km away, no one could give us exact directions. At about 35km we just started asking the locals in the area if they knew where this waterfall was and after fourish U-turns we finally found the right road that led us toward the waterfall. The drive along was great, everyone and I mean everyone either waved or gave the head nod, I am sure they just thought it was the funniest thing to see two white people on a motorbike!

Along the road we came to this little village and again asked for directions from this older man. He pointed us in the direction and said some stuff we couldn’t understand and we thanked him and moved on our way. About 150 feet down the road we ran into a bunch of kids that started to run alongside the motorbike cheering, laughing and yes, running as fast as we were driving. At one point they all stopped and said Cunca Rami (the waterfall). It was far off in the distance but wow, it was beautiful. With the motorbike turned off we could hear the thunder. As we were asking the kids if we needed to walk at this point the older man showed up and just took it upon himself to guide us. At first, I have to admit I was annoyed b/c it meant we were going to give him money, but about 15 feet into the straight down walk through the forest, I was relieved to have a local, and things just got better from there.

About fifteen minutes of walking straight down hill we came upon an open area of terraced rice fields and when we began walking through, it started to rain. Just when the rain started to pour, we came upon a little hut that had four women and one man in it. As the rains poured we took shelter. Their hospitality was unmatched by any I have seen so far. They were chewing on this stuff that was reddish orange when you spit it and offered some to Dave, which he accepted. He told me that it tasted very bitter, made his tongue numb, and at one point he appeared to me as being pretty buzzed. The people shared coffee with us, tried to teach us to say “dog”, and let us have a quick photo session.

As the rain began to let up, we started walking toward the waterfall again. The journey continued through some more rice fields and then came to a rapid stop at a raging river, which I quickly learned we were crossing. The older man stepped into the river and then reached back for Dave’s hand, which Dave followed suit and reached for mine and we began to cross the river. At that point, right about the middle of this waist deep river, I had the realization that this was the greatest day I have had in a very long time. Once on the other side it was a quick jaunt through some rice fields to the base of this amazingly beautiful, very rushing, and loud waterfall. There was so much water coming off of the falls that I didn’t take any pictures. The image will be forever in my memory and so will the journey but just wait there is more.

On the way back, as we passed the shelter the ladies called us in for food. They feed us until all three of our bellies were full. On the menu was some purplish rice, potatoes and spinach. YUMMY! After lunch, they tried to teach us how to say butterfly, which Dave said very funny and gave everyone a big laugh and then it was time to set off again. Back through the rice fields and just at the start of going uphill I turned around to take a couple of more pictures. All of the ladies were back out in the fields working, but even though they were busy, they still took the time for finally wave good-bye!

Back at the top, we couldn’t thank the man enough for the most amazing experience. We ended up giving what equals about $12, and the look on his face was pure gratitude. We said our good-byes and set off on the bike, for about 50 feet then the bike died, all the kids came around us and I got off the bike and began walking uphill. While Dave tried to figure out what was wrong with the bike the older man and family invited me into their home and offer me more coffee or bananas. Pretty much everyone in the village was gathered around us by the time we got the bike going again (the engine was flooded). Once again we said our good-byes and headed home.

To finish our last day off in Flores, we went to a nice bar that has a lookout and we enjoyed the sunset while sipping Guinness. We then stopped by Bajo Dive and thanked them again for a great time and then it was off to bed for the very early flight the next day.

---