Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lull on the blog, internet has been hard to come by these last few days. Anyway, I’m now in Labuan Bajo on the western tip of Flores (which is the same island I just arrived at when I wrote my last blog post). This is actually my first multi night stop since I started, and it’s been delightful to rest a bit.

Writing the blog in Labuan Bajo

Day 14 & 15 – taking it easy: So after arriving in Maumere in the middle of the night I took it easy for a couple of days, reading a book and just napping away the hours by the beach. To make myself feel somewhat productive I did ride the 2-3 hours up to Kelimutu, a nearby volcano (which was also on the way west, where I was going anyway) to check out the volcanic lakes up there. Apparently the lakes shift colours all the time depending on which minerals are coming out of the volcano, only when I was there it was foggy and they where all the same colour… still worth going though.

Volcanic lakes on the summit of Kelimutu

Day 16 – Longest day of riding so far: Because I had been so lazy the last couple of days I ended up having a solid 400km to ride to get to Labuan Bajo where I was booked in to go scuba diving in Komodo the next morning. That doesn’t sound very far, but the roads on Flores are a constant winding up and down mountains sprinkled with short stretches along stunning volcanic sand beaches (I am uploading a video on instagram, @on_the_scenic_route, check it out!). All in all, google said 9 hours which would probably have been about right if the last 100km hadn’t been covered in dense fog. So it ended up taking closer to 11 hours, but I made it to Labuan Bajo in the end!

Riding along the coast outside of Ende

Then this happened and I was going 20-30 km/h for the last few hours 

Day 17 & 18 – Diving in Komodo: Spending a few days diving in Komodo was part of the plan all along, and it turned out to be just as spectacular as last time I was here a few years ago. Now unfortunately I forgot my camera the first day, so I don’t have that many photos but you’ll have to take my word for it. Komodo is spectacular. Just the amounts of life on the reefs. The fact that you see manta rays (many of them) every day. I can strongly recommend going if you’re into diving (Blue Marlin is a great dive shop, so is Wicked diving).

Hanging out on the dive boat in Komodo national park

Underwater selfie 🙂

Fish everywhere

An eagle ray, to provide some variation to all the manta rays

Next up I’m getting on a ferry to Sumbawa, and from there cross over to Lombok where hopefully I should have internet again to keep y’all up to speed with what’s going on.