Arriving off Komodo Island on the morning of February 25th—are we arriving at Jurassic Park?

Entering Komodo National Park

Squeekie sees a dragon!

What is he thinking about?

That tongue is over 18 inches long!

Is he wondering where his next meal is?
This dragon wants a drink of water, but we were in his way

These deer are the main food of the dragons

Also living on the island are these tiny “flying” lizards who jump from tree to tree

There are a few native villagers living on Komodo Island

Aboard the tender returning to the ship


Day Thirty-seven (Wednesday, February 25, 2009)-- Today we awoke as the Rotterdam was arriving at the famous Indonesian island known as Komodo, which is famous for its giant monitor lizards, known as “Komodo Dragons.” Despite the fact that there are local natives living on this island, it has been designated as a national park, and entry is somewhat restricted. Rotterdam anchored in beautiful Slawi Bay, surrounded by rugged mountain peaks which are green and tropical despite the fact that here it is the dry season (so we were told by our local guide). Looking out from our verandah as the ship anchored, I saw tall palm trees outlined against the sky along the ridges of the mountains around us.

Once again we had to wait our turn to ride into shore aboard the tender. When we were ashore we were visited by two signs announcing that the island was a National Park and the home of “dragons.” We were separated into small groups and given a short lecture on safety and environmental concerns. The young woman who gave the lecture once again told us that women having their menstrual period could not come into contact with the dragons because the animal could smell the blood and would attack, thinking it smelled dinner. I inwardly chuckled as I doubted if there were many women passengers aboard the Rotterdam on this trip who were likely to still be having that concern. . . .

Then, headed up by an Indonesian park ranger, we walked off into the jungle. As we walked along the ranger/guide took the time to point out and describe various plants and animals as he saw them. I saw my very first native tamarind tree, the source of a spice commonly used in cooking—after all, they did once call these the “Spice Islands,” didn’t they? Also we learned that the cockatoo bird is native to these islands, and we heard several, but only got a glimpse of one who flew away too fast for either Squeekie or me to react for a picture.

Eventually we came to a watering hole where there were two dragons in attendance. Squeekie, who had the camera with the telephoto lens, got some wonderful close-up shots of this giant lizard, including one where the animal has his forked tongue sticking out. I had the camera with the shorter lens, but that did not deter me from shooting as well. As you can see from the pictures I have appended to this edition of the blog, the lizards ARE BIG and cooperated in getting their pictures taken. The Komodo dragon looks like a dinosaur but is not directly related to either a dinosaur or a dragon; instead, it is the last remnant of a once widespread ancient order of monitor lizards. As advertised, they are huge, often measuring up to 11 feet in length and weighing more than 300 pounds. Monitors are carnivore, living on the deer and wild pigs which inhabit Komodo Island, and apparently also on some of the goats which can be found there as well. Some of the other groups from the ship who made this trek into what seemed to be like Jurassic Park also saw a baby monitor up in a tree, living there to escape being eaten by the bigger animals, but we did not see this for ourselves.

We were told that this was a national park where careful environmental rules were enforced, but I have a suspicion that in fact the rangers have “trained” (if that’s the right word to use) some of the monitors to remain in sight at the watering hole area for tour groups to see by the simple trick of providing food to them at that location. At any rate, every group from the Rotterdam who came ashore to see the dragons (and that was at least twenty groups of guests and one tour group for crew as well) encountered the same two dragons around the watering hole, and when one of the dragons attempted to leave the area it was herded back by local natives with long forked sticks. In any case we did see the dragons, they did look like dinosaurs from another time, and it was a fascinating day overall.

Upon our return to the ranger station we visited the “official” gift shop before being turned over to the local vendors. Squeekie and I each bought polo shirts to remind us of what we had seen today. Squeekie walked some way down the beach fronting on Slawi Bay to get pictures of the bay, the people, and our mighty Rotterdam anchored off “Jurassic Park.” Squeekie said that I looked like Indiana Jones in the jungle with my Aussie bush hat, and I felt more like I was going back in time to Jurassic Park. It was fun!!! Then we had to run the gamut of local vendors. We did purchase a little woodcarving of a Komodo dragon, but that’s all.

Back on the ship, we had lunch with Iris and Don Davidson, and learned that today was Don’s birthday. We had the idea of creating a birthday card for him and my creative Squeekie did a good job of it, using one of the dragon pictures from today with a phrase we cooked up together. We were, however, so tired from our adventure that we did not go to the dining room this evening, so the card had to wait until the next night to be presented.

Today also was our beloved Leslee’s birthday and we felt sad not to be with her on this special day. Our Munchkin is freezing her knees off in Seattle, teaching kids who don’t always want to learn, and she is alone (with our grandpuppies Beowulf and Becks, of course) because her beloved Fabian is aboard ship in the Caribbean right now. Leslee, please know that we LOVE you and MISS you! Happy Birthday from a different time zone a half-world away.


Day Thirty-eight (Thursday, February 26, 2009)-- We are sailing on the Java Sea, heading west along the Indonesian islands to get to the island of Java, where we will land tomorrow (Friday). This is an “at sea” day and we were happy to use it to try to catch up on our writing. I am over ten days behind on the blog, and I suspect that this will continue for many more weeks. When we first booked this cruise we were concerned by the many at sea days, but we now realize that these at sea days offer recovery time. While the Rotterdam is traveling from one place to the next we have time to write, reflect, absorb, and otherwise come to understand the many new things we are seeing. . . .

Tonight at dinner we presented Don Davidson with his (belated) birthday card. I think he really liked it! My Squeekie is such a creative person!!! Dinner in the dining room was special—tonight was the Indonesian Dinner. The dining room had Indonesian themed decorations, and the daughter of an Indonesian officer and Usman, the doorman from Deck 4, were dressed in Indonesian ceremonial costumes and posed for pictures with the guests as they entered the dining room. All the stewards, including the Filipinos, were dressed in batik shirts, sarongs, and those curious Indonesian hats. It was a real pleasure to see how the Indonesian members of the ship’s crew and staff are so proud of their nation and wish to share about it all they can—that is, in my opinion, the BEST form of nationalism one can find. Also, they have been pleased with how Squeekie has been using some of the nice Indonesian phrases when she speaks with them.