We calculated where we wanted to go in Flores and how long
it would take for us to get there and decided that we had one extra day. We
might as well spend it in the middle of Flores and leave Labuan Bajo today.
That was the plan anyway. Apparently that bus had passed. All of the buses had
passed when they left at 7 a.m. while we were still sleeping. Guess we’ll spend
that extra day here in Labuan Bajo!
The Italians had stopped by again this morning and their own
plans had changed due to them sleeping in as well. They decided they would go
and get a boat and go to this island, Kenawa, which apparently has amazing
snorkeling. They loved to snorkel (even carrying their own snorkeling gear
alongside). We had already priced buses, and Pallavi had chatted with some
Spanish girls who were thinking about going to Bijawa tomorrow as well. With
that tentative plan in place, we went along with the Italians (and the Canadian
joined us) to go snorkeling. Again back to the fisherman. These Indonesians are
funny – it feels like they put a price on the nap we’re interrupting at noon to
ask for a boat. No other reason makes sense for why some quoted us 1.2 million
Rupiah! After a long time we found our boat captain from yesterday, and Pallavi
convinced him to take us to where we wanted to go for the price we wanted
(300,000) by telling him he could drink Bintang and sing Adele like he had the
day before.
This snorkel was an epic snorkel. We have never seen so many
different varieties of sealife in one location, so easily. I was sputtering
for air with a malfunctioning snorkel (at least I thought it was
malfunctioning, in reality I’m sure it was user error, but I still insist it was malfunctioning),
but during that time, they saw multiple reef sharks, a sting-ray, some huge
ginormous fish of unnamed origin (maybe Rhino, maybe Bull, we can’t quite find
it), star fish, clams, sea turtles, sea grass-hopper, pearl-kind-oysters, sea
slugs, clown fish, Finding Nemo, you name it. It was way better than Gili Air. There
were very different varieties of fish than on Gili Air. But such a jungle under
the sea. We must have snorkeled for 2 hours. This was about an hour longer than
I am game for at a time, but they all just loved it!
That night we came back, and the Spanish girls considering
coming with us hadn’t made up their mind. We got gung-ho, and just booked our
bus ticket for 130,000 Rupiahs. 5 minutes later and we ran into them saying
they could get a private car for 80,000 Rupiah pp. We went back to the agent to
try to get him to give us a car for the same price, but I’m not sure what was
wrong with this guy. When we asked him, so you don’t want more money, he said
yes. I think you 3 take the bus, and you 3 pay somebody else. Whatever. His
loss. The bus leaves at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, so we got our accommodation to give
us breakfast at 5:45 (instead of 6:00), and we should be all set. I just need
coffee! We also got lots of food at the local grocery store, so hopefully we won’t
have to risk our stomachs tomorrow as well.
The Italians then invited us to go to some Night Market that
exists in town. It’s just filled with mostly fish mongors. You pick the fish,
they cook it. Pretty simple. Now, Thomas’s father is from Sicily, and he worked
at a fish mongers. We learned so much about fish. He picked the freshest fish,
had them make it the right ways, told us how to eat it to avoid bones, and it
was potentially the best meal that we’ve had so far in Indo!
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