We landed in Labuan Bajo, North West Flores on a Thursday. We had a couple of days to explore prior to getting a boat from Flores all the way to Bali on Sunday. Hugo came down with a high fever and our first evening we did little more than watch the sunset at Amelia Viewpoint; a beautiful hilltop on the outskirts of the city and have BBQ'd fresh fish in the central market. On Friday we explored the little fishing port, already visably booming with the recent influx of tourism. Hotels and new roads were being built at every corner & hundreds of new sailboats filled the bay. We watched the blazing red sun set over the bay on the Waecicu beach, which we had earlier snuck onto when they mentioned the €20 price tag to access the private beach through the hotel!

The following day we chartered a boat to do some snorkeling in the bay, our fisherman Lelis spends most of his time on the water and his little boat was kitted out with a little kitchen and mattresses to sleep. Our first stop was Kalor island which had wonderful snorkeling although somewhat chilly (27°!). We spent awhile duck diving down to the colourful coral and exploring the reef. Our second snorkeling spot was exceptional, and we saw loads of new fish. We tried out hand at fishing the traditional way with a spool of finishing line and a hook, but after an hour of failed attempts we gave up! As the sun began to set we positioned the boat next to Kalong island - to see the flying foxes! Thousands of huge bats live on Kalong and just after the sun goes down they all leave for mainland Flores to hunt. Many boats were waiting, all hoping to catch a glimpse of these giant species. First one came, then a handful and within a few minutes the sky was completely covered in thousands of bats diving and swooping around the boat. It was impressive to see their 1.5m wingspan just above our heads. The display was beautiful to watch, their dark shadows contrasting against the red sky.