Kimi’s Birthday present
After a 3 hour motor sail from Labuan Bajo to Rinca Island in the Komodo National Park, we anchored by the park entrance in 80 feet of water near the coral shelf. The bay was full of tour boats and a few of our friends from the rally. We were greeted with monkey’s on the shore and I knew this was going to be good!
We didn’t waste any time and headed in to purchase tickets for the next morning at 6am to hopefully see Komodo dragons. We had heard a few other boats who had not seen any or very few dragons but were told if you go in the early morning, they are more active and it was a better chance to see them….. and it WAS!
SV Volo (Sandra and Max) took the tour with us 
We opted for the long tour about an hour and a half 
High-5?!
We also saw other animals….
“Moo….?” 
cute little guy 
These guys mate for life 
No idea what type of monkey this is but they were all kinds of mischief!
We started our tour by seeing about 6-7 Komodo dragons right by the employees housing….
Breakast time 
Mating season just ended…but not for this guy!
And then we were blessed by seeing one of the largest males on this island. Our guide, brave soul, took my camera and set it on the ground to film this large beast. While our camera was on the ground…Sandra was filming with her camera….here are shots of what came next….
Here come big daddy 
“what they hell is this thing in my way?” 
That is a crazy tongue…
Camera vs. Dragon…..
Dragon won! 
Let’s try this again…. 
Take two…. 
Score: Dragon 1, Camera 1 
Got cha!
But then we watched him check out a nest…it was just mating season and the females dig holes in the ground to bury their eggs….but they dig 2 holes one as a disguise….
Dragon poop! It’s white because of all the bones they digest! 
Dragon tail trails…oh my!
After we got back to the boat….elated about our Komodo dragon experience, we headed off to another island, Gili Lawa Durant, to anchor for the night. We were met with SV Mirniy Okean (Carlos and Linda) and SV Blue Roger (Frank and Sandra). We all had seen the dragons the day before and decided to have dinner on Slow Flight and exchange adventures!
Gili Lawa anchorage…reminded us of Mexico in the summer…desert on land but the life was underwater 
Mirniy Okean with Carlos and Linda hiking up the mountain 
Sandra from SV Blue Roger (and her husband Frank) are from the Netherlands…they brought over some cheese with the Dutch flag…we were so impressed….SV Anna Caroline we thought of you!
After a wonderful night we decided to take off the next day for Lombok….the wind looked good and was going to die off soon so off we go! Must say one of the BEST birthday celebrations to date!
Next up….Lombok….building a school…building a community….building lasting friendships!