Heading back to Komodo

Daughter and I leave Friday, heading back to Komodo for a couple of weeks.

Birmingham to Atlanta to LAX, then overnight to Singapore, on to Bali where we will overnight again before flying out early to Komodo.

Staying my favorite dive resort there. She'll get in plenty of day dives and one night one each day. I'll be face down snorkeling. Both of us taking multiple cameras.

We'll do a day at Komodo Island where There Be Dragons. The island being closed to visitors in January, 2020 so she's getting in while we can plus some time snorkeling at the world famous pink beach.

Lots of diving with black mantas, plus we are in whale season so we hope to run across a few. Expect our usual wild dolphin escorts in and out.

Reverse the trip and home at the end of September. Her first time in Indonesia and plenty of layover time at Singapore's Changi Airport to experience it. Platinum standard of airports, IMO.

Why is it being closed to visitors in 2020?

gobucks0409 said:

Why is it being closed to visitors in 2020?

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Couple of reasons. They've been having trouble with people stealing the young ones & selling on the black market. Want to assess their vulnerability & what they need to do. And do a headcount on how many they really have.

Then there is the idiot local Governor who wants to move all the people who've lived there for generations off the island, then charge $500 to $1000 because in his opinion, only the rich should be able to pay to see them. I agree the charge is crazy low (under $20) but that's insane.

There are other islands where you can see Komodos (they swim to them) but it's the smaller ones not the bigger ones you can see on Komodo. Still, a medium dragon looks big enough when it's coming at you.