September 28, 2025
We were up super early to be at breakfast for 6am before the boat picked us up at 6:30am. The hotel has an incredible breakfast setup with so many beautiful pastries but the kids went straight for the donuts today.
After an hour long boat ride we arrived at Padar island where we were greeted by a few deer on the beach. We learned that there are lots of deer on this seemingly barren island and they are one of the komodo dragons’ favorite meals. We hiked to the top to get a panoramic view of the bay and beaches. We were told there were over 800 steps to the top and some were quite steep. It was barely 8am when we got started but it was already super hot out and the boys repeatedly let us know how hot they felt. Len especially struggled at times, but multiple water breaks and the promise of a lollipop at the top kept him going. There were hardly any kids on the trail and we were proud that he stuck it out!
We beat the rush to start our hike but by the time we started our descent, the tourist rush was in full force and the narrow path was quite crowded. At one narrow point, Len accidentally stepped on a woman’s foot which prompted her to scream at him, ‘WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!” I replied, “He’s 4 years old” and a bunch of onlookers expressed their agreement and gave the grumpy hiker a ton of nasty looks. I didn’t want to give the grumpy lady any attention but did want Len to know we have his back in situations like that.
Next we got back on the boat to head to a pink beach. We’ve read conflicting reports of how pink the beach would look and this one surpassed our expectations. There were large swaths of white, bleached coral that reduced the pink appearance, but ovreall the color was pretty vivid! Waking along the beach we also found pieces of the red coral that break down into sand to give the beach its pink color. After the sweaty hike, the boys took advantage of the opportunity to cool off in the water for most of our time at this stop and lured Kyle into their “Harry Potter meets pokemon fighting game”.
Our next stop was the long awaited Komodo island! There was a long dock off the island that looked like it could serve a ton of boats at a time, maybe 50 or so. Since much of the tourism in this area is entirely dedicated to sightings of the lizards, it makes sense that this portion of the island is built to accommodate a ton of visitors. Other than the large dock, one of the first things we noticed was the large amount of trash on the beach and in the water– a sad sight for sure. After being matched up with a local guide to take us on our komodo trek, we were on our way. We crossed paths with 3 komodo dragons on the beach before even entering the jungle– 2 females and 1 male. We learned that the males are typically bigger and fatter and live longer than the females. The large male was lying near the beach in a way the made for an excellent photo op that we were grateful for. While trekking in the jungle, we saw another 3 komodo dragons but these were all nestled in among the trees taking shady naps. We learned from our guide, Hari, that only 25% of komodo dragon eggs survive long enough to be born. Other komodo dragons and even the mother herself will sometimes eat her own eggs and young for food if necessary. This fact really blew the kids minds– “The moms EAT the babies!??!”
After our dragon trek, we enjoyed an Indonesian lunch on the beach. Len learned that he kind of enjoyed tofu after learning it was made from beans. Ollie stuck to mostly the rice while Kyle and I enjoyed all of our packed lunch.
Next we made our way to the Taka Makassar sandbank which had crystal clear blue water in contrast to the litter laced brown-ish water near Komodo island. Both boys were excited to go snorkeling and wear flippers for the first time. The water was only 3ish feet deep but the current was quite strong. The boys needed a good amount of support from us to ensure the current didn’t take them away but to also repeatedly reposition their goggles and snorkel. Len struggled the most with his goggles and snorkel and repeatedly took in mouthfuls of sea water and would rip his mask off entirely each time he removed his head from the water. At one point while messing around, Len put his mask on and snorkel in his mouth then showed off his back float (fully submerging his snorkel underwater) then took a big breath in of water straight to his mouth. It was ridiculous and a very Lenny thing to do. I went back to the boat early with Len to drink some water and have a snack. While on the boat, we both excitedly watched as a baby white tip shark swam by. We were assured they were not dangerous and had been told to be on the lookout. Ollie had a glimpse of a baby shark earlier, too, and the boys were thrilled with these sightings.
Our next snorkel site was in much deeper water as we were on the lookout for giant manta rays. The stakes and pressure at this site felt more intense as we were told that we should jump into the water fully suited up as soon as the lookout on the second level of the boat pointed to a manta sighting. Thankfully our guide took in a safety float ring this time so Len positioned himself in the middle and didn’t leave the float for the duration of our manta excursion. Sadly we didn’t see any of the manta rays but Ollie had fun watching the scuba divers below and said, “First snorkeling so next up is scuba diving, right??”
At this point we were all feeling pretty tired but there was one more snorkeling site to check out. Ollie enthusiastically suited back up but Len went back and forth on whether he would join for this go. Predicability, as soon as we all got in the water, Len shouted that he wanted to join. He came in the floating ring again and caught sight of a few fish around the reef before relinquishing to his fatigue and asking to be taken back to the boat. Kyle, Ollie and I snorkeled around a huge reef for ~20 minutes and saw a ton of colorful fish. Ollie’s favorite was a rainbow fish that looked to have whiskers that he deemed the “rainbow catfish”.
We all enjoyed a few hours of downtime in the room before ordering in room service and calling it an early night.
