Indonesia: Flores + Komodo + Bali - July 2011
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation of an article originally written in French. I apologise for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have resulted. If you read French, click on the French flag below to access the original, correct text:
Français
This is the Pascha. Well named boat, on which I lived like a princess, during my six days diving cruise in Komodo, in July 2011. Six fantastic days, out of time.
Small update of 2016 (five years after this trip) : the Pascha doesn't exist anymore, I heard it sank... So don't ask me how to book it or how much it costs...
We sailed from island to island, in this archipelago located west of Flores, Indonesia. Komodo is a protected marine park, where I dreamed for a long time to go diving.
Private cruise
Once I arrived in Labuan Bajo, a port located in the west of Flores, I contacted Jerome, in charge of the cruise and guide of the dives on the Pascha as agreed by e-mail with Komodo Adventure (update : the site and the operator no longer exist, as I mentioned above).
"Ah, well, you're in luckJérôme tells me on the phone. You're going to be all alone on the boat."
I can't believe my ears. I have him repeat it to make sure I understand.
"So, I'm the only customer this week... But you're not canceling because of that?" But no. The boat leaves anyway, whether there are one or nine people to board. This is the policy of the owner of the business, Jérôme explains to me.
How about that?! 😮
I can't believe it. What's coming up for me right now is a private cruise!!! Totally. I'm jumping for joy, euphoric.
Well, yes. No group constraint: great for the underwater photographer that I am! And for safety, it's ideal: I'll be underwater in pair with Jérôme, who will only have to worry about me, instead of a whole group of divers. I am really lucky.
We agree to meet in the evening, with Jerome, to eat together and so that he briefs me on the cruise. We sympathize very quickly and we cease to give "you" to pass to "you".
The next day, I discovered "my" boat, and the four crew members (a captain, a mechanic, a cook and a handyman who piloted the dinghy for our launches). They will take care of me all along the cruise.
Jerome will explain to me that they are a bit surprised too, to see me disembarking all alone. They wonder if I rented the whole boat.
But no. I just had a freak stroke of luck.
And I happily spread out my small belongings in the large "family" cabin in the back, which can accommodate up to five people. I feel like a real princess.
Discovering the Komodo Park in these conditions is an incredible luxury. But the best is yet to come. And it is under water that it happens...
😉
I returned to Komodo for a diving cruise five years later, in July 2016 ... And I found a new little boat, really great, in the same kind of way as the Paschabut in a lot more comfortable, the Duyung Baru. The articles about this 2016 trip are here :
→ Indonesia: Komodo + Raja Ampat - July 2016
