It was Siddharth's 15th day in Indonesia, Gili T to be precise. Despite reading some pretty mixed reviews, he decided to go for it anyways, that is a 4 Day/Night Boat trip from Lombok to Flores. The trip includes 4 nights (basic) accommodation; meals 3x a day; 1 large bottle of water + coffee and tea throughout the day; snorkel gear (no fins); you can carry your own beer/alcohol or buy from the crew at a slightly spiked rate.
'Day 1: As we reached the pier, the driver pulled up to this tiny white boat. A look of disbelief spread among us as we gazed at what would be our home for the next five days. Armed with a bag of snacks and our backpacks we entered the boat. First thought: What have we gotten ourselves into?As soon as we settled in, we realized it wasn’t too bad. Our boat could hold 25 people and we luckily just had 11 passengers on board. The boat had an upper deck which were the sleeping quarters. As we climbed the ladder to peer inside, all we could see were thin mats laid out on the floor all next to each other. This was going to get cozy. Everyone chose their beds, inspected the bathroom (or the lack of one) and the outside area which they called “the shower.” Despite the conditions, It is pretty exciting! The boat set sail around 4 pm!'
The next morning, you are woken up by the lovely view of Moyo Island. The boat engine finally stopped. After a quick meal of what seemed to be banana pancakes, you are told to jump off the boat so could swim to shore to explore the island. The waterfalls in Moyo Island wasn’t too spectacular and were slightly dirty in the pools below as some locals would bathe here using shampoo and soap. Our guide was a bit lazy and told us to stay in the first tier of the falls.
Our next destination was Satonda Island which was supposed to have great snorkeling and a lake to explore inside. Because the boat could only go so far, we jumped off, and started swimming to shore. The snorkelling was very beautiful! So much diversity for such a small amount of space.
Everyone waited very patiently for a day for the waters to settle. 'At night, we would swim with the planktons!' Yes, you heard that right!! It's something so beautiful that one has to experience it.
Day 4 was very tensed. With people having connecting flights, Christmas plans and so on, everyone got very restless. Plus the SEA SICKNESS. The Group finally decided to speed boat to the closest island with airport, Bima Island! The island had flooded the night before, Ferry wasn't operational for 3 days and no place to spend the night as the flight that could be arranged was for the next morning! Everyone was pretty hopeless however due to some good souls, we found refuge in a student's hostel.
'The trip ended with a lot of fun and exciting stories to share. We missed the Komodo National Park and Manta Rays!! But i'm sure it would have been a very beautiful experience if not the wrong time of the year!!!
